Archive for the ‘ideas’ Category

Weekly Exercise #1 (8/22/13)

Posted: August 22, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Scary Stuff, Weekly Exercises, Writing
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Spooooky!!!

Last night I had an idea during my evening meditation for something I could do to help improve my writing. I would’ve done it earlier in the day, but I’ve been busy since today was the second day of classes. But now I have some time since I finished my homework and I thought I’d share my idea and its fruits before I start cooking dinner.

My idea was to write a short little piece of writing–maybe 1-3 paragraphs–whose sole purpose was to tell a scary story in as few words as possible. Basically, it’s an exercise in scaring people in as few words as possible. BOO!

Why am I doing this? Several reasons: one is that if I can write these vignettes and see how people react, I can get a better grasp on how to polish up my craft in terms of writing and scaring. The second reason is that any one of these little vignettes could lead to a full-length story, should I find them helpful enough in the story writing, if I particularly enjoyed the story depicted within, and if reader response is positive enough. And finally, it’s also a marketing ploy. Yes, a shameful marketing ploy. I’m hoping that if people react positively to these exercises, I can get them interested in my longer works, like The Quiet Game or Reborn City (out November 1st).

I hope to get these out once a week, giving me time to come up with new ones and so that people don’t get sick of them. I also plan to list all the Weekly Exercises on its own separate page, with every exercise listed with the most recent first. I hope at least I’ll benefit from these exercises, and so will my readers in the long run.

So without further ado, here’s Weekly Exercise #1:

She was awoken by the baby screaming and immediately closed her eyes, hoping it would quiet on its own. When it didn’t, she threw the covers off and got her robe on. Was there a night that it would just leave her be? She’d never wanted this stupid thing that couldn’t take care of itself, and it was reminding her of that every night with its ceaseless screaming. Well no more. Either it shut up tonight or she would shut it up for it!

She reached the baby’s room, her fingers clenching and unclenching, ready to strangle it or snap its neck for some decent sleep. But then she saw the baby floating in the air, fast asleep. And then she realized that the screaming she’d heard wasn’t coming from the baby’s room anymore. It was coming from behind her.

A Novella Idea

Posted: August 21, 2013 in ideas, Reflections, Writing
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If you see a pun in that title, you’ll realize it’s one of THE worst puns in existence. I’m not even sure why I made it.

Earlier today I had an idea for a story that I’m tentatively calling “Rose”. I’m not going to get into details about it, though I will say that flowers and plants do play a big role in the story, if the title didn’t give it away, and when I write it I’ll probably listen to a lot of songs about obsessive love and stalkers. I somehow came up with it while sitting in my Science Fiction and Fantasy class today (I’ll probably be able to recall the thought process behind it better at a later date, because it’s a bit of a mystery now), and I wrote it down when I got home today.

Now at first I thought it would make a great short story. But then…I realized that this story would be longer than your average short story. Then I thought, “Perhaps it could be some weird, creepy novel.” But that was too long. So I thought to myself, “How about a novella?”

Now, I’ve never had any definite opinions on novellas. I’ve only read a few in my entire lifetime, most of them by Stephen King (anyone familiar with “N.” or “Everything’s Eventual”, by any chance?). I’d never considered writing one before. Short stories, which are the foundations for a career in fiction writing, are hard enough to write for me, and novels are my true passion. Why would I have time for a novella, that strange middle-ground between the art of short stories that is sometimes so elusive for me and the novel that is my freedom and passion?

But when I thought of this story, it somehow clicked that a novella format would be best. I wouldn’t have to struggle to extend the story, and I wouldn’t have to pack it into a neat little package. The story would fit in the format of a novella. And from there I formed my first real opinion on novellas: they are perfect for those stories that can’t fit into the format of a short story but would suffer as a novel.

I’m not exactly sure when I’ll write this novella–though I have an idea or two–but I look forward to writing it, like I look forward to writing all the stories I come up with. Until then, I’ll probably churn this one in the bowels of my imagination until I have a better idea of the story I’d like to write with it. After all, my stories are usually a bit better when I’ve given them a little time to mature in my imagination.

Oh, fun fact before I finish this post: this novella is the 60th idea for a story I’ve had, not counting short stories or articles I’ve written. With the amount of ideas I have, I’ll at the very least never run out of ideas for stories to write, and at the very best I’ll be very prolific. Either way, it’s good news.

Why Asylums Make Great Locations

Posted: August 12, 2013 in ideas, Reflections, Writing
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The other day I was daydreaming, brainstorming, and reflecting on a number of subjects (one of the lovely things about me is that my head is in the clouds about half the time). During this particular brainstorming session, I thought up an idea for a novel where half the story is set in an insane asylum. As I wrote the idea down, i thought to myself, “Asylums are great places to set a horror story”.

And that’s when my head exploded with an idea for a blog post. And after the mess was partially cleaned up, I started thinking of all the reasons why someone would want to use an asylum for the setting of a story, especially a horror story. I realized that asylums can add many layers and aspects to a single story in terms of character development, plot points, build-up and suspense, and a variety of other reasons.

I will try to list as many of these aspects and layers as possible in this post without boring you. If I help anyone come up with an idea for a story, then I’m happy to be of service.

Okay, reasons why an asylum is a great location for a story. Here we go:

(The following post will use the terms “asylum” and “mental hosptials” or “mental wards” interchangeably. We apologize for any confusion regarding this flexibility.)

American Horror Story: Asylum’s own Briarcliff Manor. You go in…but you never come out.

1. It’s closed off to the outside world. Asylums and mental hospitals–heck, even menal wards–are like their own little words. No one can get out without express permission from someone in power or without a daring escape plan involving car chases, guns, and possibly a hidden underground tunnel from when the asylum was a TB hospital. Within the hospital itself, there is a set life that cannot be interrupted by outside forces. It’s a little claustrophobic, if you think about it. Especially when it’s a ward that occupies only one-fifth of a hospital floor.
And the intimacy of such a space–everyone’s problems, neuroses, delusions, paranoias–are apparent in such a small space. The amount of openness and lack of privacy can increase the sense of claustrophobia, almost filling up the area of the asylum with its glaring lack of privacy. Talk about terrifying!

2. Everybody who’s there has something. I hesitate to use the words “crazy” or “insane”, because labels can be damaging. But you get the idea. Everyone put in an asylum has some sort of problem that needs addressing through a combination of drugs and talk-therapy.  It can be difficult to live in such an environment, whether or not you actually are suffering from a mental illness (both have been known to happen). And if weird stuff like demons or magic or whatever starts appearing around you, you can’t be sure if you’re really seeing what you’re seeing, if this is a result of your own mental illness, or if you’re being influenced by someone else’s delusions. It can get pretty freaky, which adds to the terror and mystery.

3. The people in authority aren’t always good or wise. This is true on many points. Sometimes guards and orderlies can be overly rough with patients or take certain liberties with them that can be downright illegal. Doctors may believe that someone is sick when they are not (there have been studies that show that if a normal person went into an asylum complaining of voices, they would be instantly committed and nothing they could do to convince people they were sane afterwards worked, passed off as stubbornness or as a result of the illness). And there have been cases when doctors, management, and owners of asylums have deliberately mistreated patients in order to make the most money from the states and the family of those committed. It’s very sick, but unfortunately all these and more have been known to happen.

The voices in your head. Do they confuse you…or help you?

4. Underfunding can make things difficult. There have been state hospitals for the mentally ill and for those with physical and mental disabilities in the past and today that, due to underfunding, have seriously hurt the people those facilities are trying to protect. There was a hospital in Pennsylvania for the mentally and physically disabled, where they had maybe two nurses for two hundred patients, and believe me there was a lot more patients than that. Because the nurses, bless them for the work they did and with so little pay or help or compensation, were so busy cleaning and getting food to these patients, they never had the time to help some of the younger patients with basic activities, such as learning how to walk. Instead, some of them just stayed in bed 24/7, until they died or became adults.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Imagine how those sorts of problems could shape someone forced to live or work in such a place.

5. Perfect place to do a little reflection. If you want to get your head shrunk at an asylum, then by all means do so. Despite the problems with asylums then and now, they are founded with the purpose to help people sort their problems. I’m pretty sure the movie It’s Kind of a Funny Story was about a kid who used a mental ward to help sort through his problems and combat his depression. Who’s to say your character can’t do the same while s/he has been committed? Surely they could use a little character development while they’re locked up with all the time in the world to examine their minds.

That’s really all I have at this point. If I think of any others, I’ll do a second post. Until then, happy brainstorming. Don’t come up with anything that might cause a mess later.

An Open Letter to Stephen Moffat

Posted: August 9, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Writing
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(For all you non-nerds out there, Stephen Moffat is a writer and current show-runner for my latest obsession, Doctor Who. You may skip this entire post if you would like. I understand that not everyone is a fan of the show. Though if you are interested in checking out the show and want to know what the heck I’m talking about, please check out the show. It is mind-blowing.)

Stephen Moffat, current showrunner of Doctor Who.

Dear Mr. Moffat,

First off, congratulations on the selection of a new Doctor. Peter Capaldi, although not the actor I thought would play the Doctor, seems like a good choice and will do well with the part as long as he doesn’t wear the Master’s beard in the role.

Second, I’d like to suggest some ideas for future stories or story arcs for the upcoming series of Doctor Who. Now I know you are a busy man, and that you have enough on your plate and enough talented writers with much more experience than I do when it comes to Doctor Who. But I have plenty of ideas that I can’t just keep stuck in my head, so I thought I’d share them on my blog. If ever this letter goes viral and you stumble upon it, I hope you at the very least take a look at them, just to see what you think of them.

Okay, here’s some stuff I think could be interesting to use in Series 8 and 9:

A new villain. Yes, I know every story in DW has a villain of some sort, whether it be Vespiform, Sontaran, or Martian water virus. But I’m thinking more about an iconic villain, something on par with the Daleks or the Cybermen. With the Master dead and the Daleks and Cybermen being the most used (and therefore most easily defeated) villains, I’m thinking a new villain that will challenge the Doctor and come back several times to haunt him. Some suggestions include:

Imagine Peter Capaldi against this femme fatale.

—The Rani: A Time Lady full of evil and a love of freaky experiments, it would be a great throwback to the classic series if the Rani returned to menace the Doctor and Earth. And I know that all the Time Lords are supposed to be dead, but if the Master could survive the Time War, why can’t the Rani?
—An anti-UNIT organization: UNIT protects the world from alien invasions and works for the good of humanity. But what if there were people who collected alien technology and monitored their movements just to take over the world? It’d be Torchwood meets the Master, in a sense, with a bit of James Bond SPECTRE mixed in. It would certainly be a change of pace for the Doctor, considering he likes to see the good in all people and here he’s seeing the worst of humanity with the worst of alien tech.
—Something from the Time War: The Doctor mentions in The End of Time that the last few days of the war were hell, with “the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-Have-Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-Weres”. What would happen if something from that era made an appearance in the Doctor’s current time? The Doctor would have to confront some really dark memories and defeat an impossible enemy that would wreak all sorts of destruction like in the Time War.
—Something from before the Universe: In DW and its spin-offs, there have been villains who are said to have come from before Time itself (ex. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, End of Days, Secrets of the Stars). What if there was an arc where the Doctor encounters several different creatures and forces that existed before the Universe, and none of them being exactly good or evil? Sounds like a lot of fun, if you ask me.
—The Valeyard: An enemy of the Sixth Doctor, the Valeyard is supposed to be an amalgamation of the Doctor’s dark sides from every previous incarnation that shows up between his twelfth and final incarnations (between Peter Capaldi and whoever comes after him, in other words). Evil and scary, he could be brought into being through some wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey trick and cause all sorts of havoc, the kind the Master never could create. I’d love to see that!

Who would work best with our new 12th Doctor?

New companions. I’m not saying you should get rid of Clara Oswald. I like her, and now that the mystery of her appearance in other eras has been solved, we can delve a bit deeper into who she is as a person, which to me is a pretty big mystery in itself. I’m thinking a companion to go with her, or to come after Jenna Louise Coleman decides to retire. And here are my suggestions for that:
—Luke Smith and K-9: Last seen at the end of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane Smith’s alien/human hybrid son Luke had just gone off to college with mechanical K-9 in tow. Now that Sarah Jane’s actress Elizabeth Sladen is dead, I’m wondering what happened to Luke afterwards? Perhaps he and K-9 could meet up with the Doctor and go for some rides on the TARDIS, reminisce about his dear old mum, and maybe even form a father-son bond. If you ask me, Luke’s like a younger version of the Doctor in some respects, so they’d probably hit it off as mentor and protege. And I know there may be copyrights issues with bringing K-9 on, seeing as he has his own show in Australia, but it’d still be fun to have him along.
—Someone more enigmatic than the Doctor: In some books and movies, you get a character that’s so mysterious, that’s always keeping a secret hidden, who always seems to know more than you do. They don’t lie, but their words are so wrapped up in riddles that you have to really figure through their words to understand them. Pair that with the Doctor, who always is keeping secrets even when you think you have him figured out, and it could make for some interesting conversations.
—Jenny: The Doctor gained a daughter through some weird technological bio-genetic processes in Series 3. He thinks she’s dead, but she’s still alive. What would happen if she popped back in for a visit?
—A grade schooler: I know, the Doctor doesn’t usually take anyone younger than 14 onto the TARDIS, and when he does usually it’s at the behest of one of his companions. But imagine if the Doctor was forced to take a child onto the TARDIS with him, perhaps one that has been displaced in time and space, and take care of said child for a story or two? The Doctor hasn’t had any parenting experience for a while, so at the very least he’ll be able to give us a few laughs and one or two heartwarming scenes.

New Stories. Yes, every series has new stories with new aliens and new villains and whatnot. But here’s my ideas for some new stories:
—A Visit To Earth’s First City: The Doctor stops at a Mesopotamian city that has been forgotten by history. There, he encounters aliens trying to pass themselves off as gods, and not the benevolent kind.
—The Big Race: When setting the TARDIS on random, the Doctor lands at a space port where every year there’s a space race. When the Doctor’s companion(s) are held for ransom as prizes, the Doctor has to use his wits to win the race and save the day with the TARDIS.
—TARDIS-Hunters: The Doctor encounters a group of aliens who hunt down TARDISes and their pilots. Why are they hunting TARDISes? And what do they plan to do with the Doctor’s TARDIS?
—The Convention Center: Landing in 21st century Los Angeles, the Doctor finds himself at a convention for a TV show that bears a remarkable similarity to his own life. Why does such a thing exist? And who is behind it? Or what?

Well, that’s really all I have to say in terms of what you should do for the upcoming series. I hope you like these ideas, should you ever read them. And if you want me to, I’d be happy to write some of these ideas into episodes. I’d literally hop across the pond on one foot, if that’s what it took.

I wish you luck with the upcoming episodes of Doctor Who and I hope for at least another 5-10 years of the Doctor at least.

Hoping you are well,

Rami Ungar

PS Before I forget, can you do a spin-off of Doctor Who featuring Vashtra, Jenny Flint, and Strax, aka the Paternoster Gang? Torchwood‘s on hiatus for nearly two years, The Sarah Jane Adventures has ended, and the K-9 TV series is not really a Doctor Who property, so a show revolving around Vashtra and the gang would be great entertainment, especially if they clash with Torchwood sometimes.

Slender Man And Why I Like Him

Posted: July 17, 2013 in ideas, Reflections, Scary Stuff
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See what I see? It’s what the Slender Man is supposed to look like.

Lately I’ve been fascinated with the Slender Man. Okay, not so much lately. More like for a long while now. It’s only been recently that I’ve been doubly psyched with the Slender Man, enough to write a post about him anyway. I blame that on the fact that I saw a really awesome and totally freaky indie movie on Slender Man, proving that indie films can actually be terrifying.

Of course, those of you who are not horror aficionados are probably asking yourself, “What the heck is this guy talking about?” Well if you haven’t gone to Wikipedia yet, allow me to explain. Slender Man is an example of modern-day folklore. To be more specific, it started out as an Internet meme. A guy created some photos on his computer that showed a tall man in a suit with long limbs and no features on his face standing really creepily in the background. The photos came along with excerpts from what was supposed to be longer stories of people who have had experiences with the Slender Man. More people created photos showing the Slender Man, and that led to fanfic-like stories on the Internet, artwork, cosplay, and eventually a video game called Slender. The game was a hit, which led to more Slender Man-based work, including a YouTube series or two and some indie movies, one of which I saw this evening on my computer, and more on their way.

Check out this totally awesome trailer for an upcoming adaptation called Entity:


I’m a little dubious on whether or not including a possible government connection is a good idea, but I’m psyched to see this movie when it comes out.

What I really like about this particular Internet meme is not just its popularity, but how powerful it’s become, to the point that it’s become public consciousness like Bloody Mary or the man with the hook who escaped from the mental facility. Heck, some people are even starting to believe that the Slender Man is real, or at least a very old urban legend. That and the consistency of the tales qualify the Slender Man as folklore (though technically any story out there and often religious objects can qualify as folklore). And the tales are pretty consistent throughout: the Slender Man is some sort of spirit or demon that hides in the woods and spirits away people, usually children, and then kills them or devours them or their souls. Sometimes he or his victims leave notes around warning of him.. And occasionally he’ll manifest with multiple tentacle-like arms on his back. Cuh-reepy!

Of course the best part is that the mythos leaves so much to be filled in, and since it started as an Internet meme, Slender Man is in the public domain.  Which means anyone can make their own version of the Slender Man story and add, subtract, or spin it any way they want. Of course they have to keep certain aspects so as not to upset the fanbase, but it’s still so awesome. I even have an idea for a novel that’ll utilize Slender Man, or a version of him.

And like I was saying, the Slender Man is an example of a really viral meme and its impact on the global age. Something as small as a couple of doctored photos can multiply and become part of the public consciousness, the subject of games, online TV series, and even movies. Imagine what others could create doing the same process, with the same idea of a supernatural being utilized. Perhaps a ghostly lover found at lakes. Or maybe something involving will-o-the-wisps. Or perhaps a photo showing Elvis in modern-day New York eating a hot dog!

Okay, that last one is a bit of a stretch, but you get the idea, right? It’s the creepy version of Gangnam Style, and there’s potential for much more to materialize. And I can’t wait to see what the people of the world will create.

Do you have a take on Slender Man and/or viral memes from the Internet?

Individual Pages For My Books

Posted: July 7, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Writing
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I was reading a post on Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors the other day and one of the authors, Ruth Nordin, suggested that if I were to have a page for my books, I should have individual pages for my books, or at least individual books for each series and each stand alone novel. I decided that was a good idea, so I went ahead and created three new pages, one for short story collections, one for the Reborn City series, and one for Snake.

I think this was a very good idea, and I’m glad I did it. The page for short story collections leaves me a chance to put in more entries if I ever put out another collection of short stories (and there’s always a possibility of that, believe me), and so does the page for Reborn City and its sequels. And as for the page for Snake, I only wrote a fuller description for the entry, but I think it’s more enticing than what I had before, distinguishes the Snake as a protagonist and lets people know what the conflict is without giving too much away. I rather like it.

If you want to read the pages, please scroll up and look at the entries next to Home and About Me. They should be there.

An Idea From A Dream

Posted: July 6, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Writing
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It’s just amazing what you can find on Google, isn’t it?

Last night I went to bed sometime between half-past eleven and midnight, had some trouble falling asleep, had a nightmare or two, needed a drink of water, finally got to sleep, and then I had the wackiest dream. When I woke up, it was past ten and I was late for synagogue. But it was okay. You know why? That dream I had, the wacky one? It ended up being the basis for an awesome novel idea that I refined throughout the day.

The dream involved me and a bunch of wizards in a cabin. I was a young apprentice, and my own master was telling me to get a certain spell book for a spell that would recreate the ten plagues. In the dream, certain phrases kept going through my mind–Divinity of Israel, Vashta Nerada, etc–and in that weird dreamy way they were all connected and relevant and made sense.

When I woke up, I thought it was a weird dream to have and it was going to make me late for synagogue, but I later held onto the details of the dream and figured they were a gift from The Big Guy Upstairs, a little something to metaphorically chew on for the Sabbath. And I did manage to get to the synagogue for the second half of the Torah service. Heck, I managed to catch a few ideas for the novel from the rabbi’s sermon. If that’s not God doing me another favor, I have no idea what is!

And this is my 500th post. What an interesting thing to write about for it. Gotta give the Big Guy His props when they’re due.

Now I’m going to try and finish a book I started yesterday before I go to bed. Tomorrow I’m going to be doing so much writing I won’t know what to do with myself. Wish me luck!

The Project(s) For This Summer

Posted: June 16, 2013 in ideas, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Well, Reborn City is off to the copyright office, I hope to have a new cover for The Quiet Game sometime this week, and if God’s feeling particularly nice, the copyright for The Quiet Game will finally come in. I only have a single short story to finish up before I’m free to work on my next two writing projects.

And since you’re reading this post, I’m assuming you’re curious as to what my next two projects are. Well, I’ll tell you: this summer, I’m writing not one, but two novels! Yes, two novels. I plan to switch off between chapters, doing one chapter for one novel and then doing one chapter for the other before switching back to the first novel.

But now you’re probably wondering why I want to do two novels. The reason is that I was able to write Snake in six months. Yes, that’s the reason. That’s the fastest I’ve ever written a novel, and even the first draft was a damn good one. And let me tell you, I have a lot of stuff I wish to write. I want to write the sequel to RC, which I’ll be calling Video Rage. Actually, I kind of have to write that one. But there’s a bunch of other novels that I want to write, and if I only do one book at a time, I’ll never get to some of them in a timely manner.

Then again, if I do too many at once, I may get burnout and my work will suffer. So two seems a fair balance. With that in mind, I’ll be able to get to do more of the stories I want to write in the future. And right now, I’ll be able to work on two very interesting, very distinct stories…though the protagonists are similar in some ways. Not many, but some. Enough that they could be friends if they ever met. But they won’t.

Alright, enough rambling! Let’s go over those two novels! One of course is Video Rage, which is the sequel to Reborn City. RC, as we all know, is about street gangs in a post-apocalyptic future and their connections to a very shadowy organization. VR will pick up where RC left off, following the characters around as trouble finds them at every corner…and there will be some internal conflict that may threaten to tear our group of protagonists apart. How will they stay together? And how will they survive a world that is stacked against them? That’s the excitement of VR.

The second novel, I’ve only spoken about once. Does anyone remember that article I wrote, back around March, about some prominent rape cases at the time and how they related to a novel I wanted to write? If you don’t remember and need a refresher or you’ve never read that post, please go ahead and click this link, but it’s that novel mentioned in the page that I want to write. I feel it’s time to start on this particular story, for a number of reasons, and not just limited to the ones listed in that article.

So what is the name of this particular novel, about a girl who was raped and the travails she goes through in the novel help her heal and confront her past? I decided that it’s be best to name it after the character herself, and as for a name, I’ve decided to go with Laura Horn. Laura will confront her past, and in so doing, she will also save the nation (I plan on setting the story in Washington DC). I think it’ll be a great challenge to write and I can’t wait to see where the story goes.

So Video Rage and Laura Horn. Between the two of them, I’m going to have a very busy summer. But I think it’s also going to be a very productive one as well.

Let’s get started!

Great Stories vs Great Lines

Posted: June 1, 2013 in ideas, Novel, Reflections, Writing
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Every author wants to write a great story, one that’ll be remembered for years and years after the author has passed on from this life. It’s the reason why so many of us spend years bettering ourselves, polishing ourselves and learning from as many experts in the field as we can so we can be great at our craft.

But what about writing great lines? Every author also has a desire as the person who coined a phrase like “To be or not to be”, or “Luke, I am your father”, or “When you play the game of thrones, it’s either you win or you die” (That last one I had to find through Google to get the quote right). How do you create a line that will be remembered throughout all time and be dissected in high school and college classrooms for generations to come?

I wish I could offer a trick to creating a great line that’ll stand out in your work. Unfortunately, none exists that I know of. In my experience, the most famous lines happen through accident and luck. Take Stephen King’s The Shining, arguably one of his best novels. The term Redrum has become a part of our social consciousness and is often used for creepy (or sometimes comedic) effect. I bet when King created the term though, he was just looking for something scary and strange, a device to add another layer of menace and mystery to the Overlook Hotel. I also bet that when the novel (and later the movie) became a success, King was very surprised by how popular the term Redrum was becoming.

Or how about “Live long and prosper”? Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, was drawing on his Jewish roots, as that phrase and accompanying hand symbol were used by the priests in the days of the Holy Temple to bless the nation of Israel. When they were looking for an iconic catchphrase and symbol for the Vulcan character, Nimoy suggested, “How about ‘Live long and prosper’?” It stuck, and thanks to the show’s sometimes mind-boggling fandom, the phrase entered into our culture.

(By the way, that story has been a beloved tale among Jews for decades ever since the show began, and we still get plenty of oppurtunities to tell it and sometimes educate non-Jews about its Biblical significance. L’chaim!)

I guess the best way I can say for someone to create an excellent line is to just write as great a story as you can, and hopefully someday, just by writing a great story, you’ll pen or type out a sentence or phrase or piece of dialogue that’ll really catch the reader’s eyes and resound in their consciousness. Basically, keep doing what you’re doing as a writer and someday a great line may be born.

What’s your take on creating great lines? And what constitutes as a great line in the first place?

Bringing Two Ideas Together

Posted: May 31, 2013 in ideas, short story, Writing
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Last night I edited two short stories whose editing phases were long overdue because I was busy finishing up Snake. Today I turned to the problem of finishing “Vile”, the short story that I began over the semester but got stuck on. Earlier while hanging out at the library, I was looking over the first page and I thought to myself, How did I write this? It’s terrible. When I considered why it was so bad, I realized it had a lot to do with what I had been trying to accomplish with this story.

When I first came up with the story, about a man who comes back to life through the wonders of cryogenics, I’d set out to write a science-fiction story that was deep and philosophical and reflective, like Star Trek fans often claim the original series was and like a lot of science fiction can be. Despite my best efforts, I’ve never been much of a trekkie, and I apparently can’t write a deeply philosophical story with a sci-fi background, no matter how much I try. And believe me, I’ve tried.

Take a look at Reborn City, for example. It’s a science fiction novel, but it has moral-filled and philosophical themes. Those came later though. I never intended all the morality and philosophy to get in there in the beginning. It just got in there during the planning-and-writing process. The moral of this: I can get deep…but I need a great adventure or horror story to get deep in.

Which is why when I read “Vile”, I wondered to myself, how can I make this a good story without getting stuck again? I went back to the basic idea behind the story: a guy is brought back to life through the power of science, but things don’t go well afterwards. So how can I proceed? I thought about it…and then an idea came to me. I’d been struggling with another story about a demonic possession gone wrong. Could I combine the two? Indeed, I found a way to do so.

So now I’ve got a story I’m pretty sure I won’t get stuck on and be able to finish it. I just need to write it. In fact, I’m going to go do that right now. I’ll see what comes up. Hopefully it’ll be a terrifying sci-fi story with the deep themes I wanted, but the themes don’t clog the writing process.

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