Archive for the ‘Progress Report’ Category

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!

On Wednesday, I created the cover for Reborn City out of a photograph and Photoshop. Problem was, I wasn’t completely satisfied with it. So, after much thought and encouragement from the ever-helpful Matt Williams, I turned to CreateSpace. If you don’t know what CreateSpace is, it’s a program through Amazon that you can use to self-publish ebooks, paperbacks, and all sorts of wonderful things. I’d never considered using CreateSpace because I heard it costs money, but I learned that only some services do, while others are very DIY and free-of-charge. And I like those options.

Now check out the old cover:

RC cover

Now check out the new one:

Reborn City

Same photograph, better picture. Sure, there’s no graffiti-esque writing, but this looks better, more professional. And maybe someday, if God is good to me, I can create the cover of my dreams with a later edition.

And guess what? CreateSpace also does print-on-demand paperbacks for no cost to the author, just a small percentage of royalties. Do you know what that means? It means all my books can be someday turned into ebooks and paperback editions! All you have to do is order them from Amazon!

And of course I’ll try to do this with The Quiet Game, get the cover to be customized so that it stays the cover. That’s one I can be satisfied with, I just hope I can get it onto the editions. I hope you’re as happy as I am! If I can, I’ll get the cover loaded up tomorrow, along with sending RC to the copyright office. It’s going to be fantastic!

Expect Reborn City November 1, people, and The Quiet Game this summer whenever that gosh-darn copyright is processed. Ooh, I’m so excited. Hope you’re excited with me!

Ladies and gentle-bloggers. I would like you to see the cover to my science fiction novel Reborn City. Behold:

RC cover

Pretty neat, isn’t it? I had trouble getting the photo onto Photoshop at first, but eventually I got it on with some help. The rest was simple as pie. Once again, I used a photo as the basis for the cover. This time around, the photo was of my hand, with the Hydra symbol inked on (not like tattoo ink. My sister used a Sharpie). The cool thing is, readers will think the hand on the title belongs to male lead Rip, and they wouldn’t be far off, seeing as I intended it to be Rip’s hand. The title was meant to mimic spray paint, as that’s what would be used in Reborn City to mark walls.

Although not what I had exactly in mind (when is it ever?), I think this is a pretty good cover and I hope to create more like it in the future.

I’d like to thank my sister Adi for creating the symbol on my hand and for sending me the photo from her phone. It’s a good piece of work, and it’s going to end up on the “Books by Rami Ungar” page.

What do you think of the cover?

Boy, the good news keeps on rolling! Hunt in the Slaughterhouse, another short story I’ve been struggling to find a home for, has finally been published. It’s the story of an undercover cop investigating a neo-Nazi group. When he gets caught by members of the group, things get crazy!

This was one of my first experiences in writing thriller stories, though near the end it took a slightly slasher-esque twist. Either way, I really liked it, and I wanted to see it published. Unfortunately, a lot of places I submitted to either weren’t interested or never got back to me. But there was some light at the end of the tunnel: I remembered how Horror Zone, the magazine that published Revenge for a Succubus’s Beloved (read here if you haven’t read it yet), had taken a short story that had also struggled to find a home, and published it within a couple of days. I sent them Hunt in the Slaughterhouse two days ago, and they published it this morning. And apparently it’s doing well: sixty-something people have already read it, and four people have given some positive comments on the story.

I’d like to thank Horror Zone for publishing my short story and I wish them success in the future. And if you wish to read Hunt in the Slaughterhouse, follow the link here. I hope you like it and let me know what you think.

Oh, I am feeling good tonight, ladies and gentle-bloggers! After going at it for hours on end with only a few breaks to eat, use the bathroom, and working with my sister to create the base to the cover, Reborn City is done! It’s been a crazy and long process for this novel to reach this stage, begun in 2009 and finished right before I graduated high school, but I’m happy we’ve reached this stage.

I’d like to thank my sister Adi Ungar, who helped me with the cover (I’ll unveil it tomorrow after I’ve worked on it a little, God-willing), Matthew Williams for his tireless editing and tolerance to my semicolons and prodding (you’ll get part of that prize, I assure you Matt), and to all those who have supported me over the years and given me advice and encouragement.

Starting tomorrow, the easy parts of the publication process begins: I’ll write a dedication, a note to the readers, a letter of acknowledgement. Then I’ll format the novel so that it’s easy to read on e-reader. After that I’ll get the cover done and send it all to the copyright office, giving me plenty of time till November, when RC hit’s the digital stands. During the waiting period, I’ll create a book trailer, do interviews, create a Facebook page, spread the word, and get people excited. Oh, and The Quiet Game will be coming out during that time, so I’ll do some work on getting that out as well.

I’ll also decide what I want to write in the meantime (though I have a pretty good idea of what I’ll be writing at the moment). I’m looking forward to moving on and writing something new, I can tell you that much.

Wish me luck. I can promise exciting things from here on out, ladies and gentle-bloggers.

Ladies and gentle-bloggers (I so have to patent that term), I have wonderful news.  My friend and fellow author Matt Williams (you can check out his work here) has sent me the final chapters of Reborn City, my science-fiction novel. He has also sent me his praise and some great feedback, so I can’t wait to get to work.

In fact, I’m going to get to work now. I’ve got 5 or 6 chapters to edit still, and then RC will be done. Then I will be able to write a dedication and an acknowledgements page, create the cover myself (I already have an idea for what I want the cover to look like), format the chapters for e-reader, and send it off to the copyright office. At this rate, I’ll be ready for publication by November, which is my ultimate goal. I can even create a book trailer for RC in that time. It’ll be great.

Thanks to Matthew Williams for looking through each chapter and giving me plenty of great feedback. I hope you’ll consider looking at RC‘s sequel, Video Rage, when I’m ready for beta readers to look at that. And thanks to everyone who’s been supporting me since I first began to write RC back in high school. I cannot wait to finally hand it to you and let you read it.

Just pay me a $2.99 download fee first so that I can afford to buy groceries, okay?

Off to edit now. Wish me luck!

Yes, I have some good news for you, and I cannot wait to share it with you. So I shall not mince words and just tell it to you, in order from smaller pieces of news to bigger pieces of news. Here we go:

1. I finally bought a Kindle. Yes, I finally bought one. It took a lot of saving of Amazon gift cards, taking part in those websites where you fill out surveys for prizes, and more than a little resisting the urge to buy mangas I can’t get at my local library or through interlibrary loan services. But yes, I finally bought one, and it should be arriving sometime next week. I’m very excited, not only that I’ll have my own Kindle, but I can download the books of friends and fellow authors I’ve met while blogging and on Facebook. Heck, I can even download and read my own fiction on my Kindle.

And speaking of which…

2. Daisy has been downloaded 130 times. Yes, the short story I published as a promotional piece for The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones has been downloaded that many times. I’m very grateful to all those who are downloading and I hope that if you decide to do a review on Amazon or Smashwords or B&N or wherever, that you let me know so I can feature it here on Rami Ungar the Writer. And if you haven’t read Daisy yet, please do. Unless you’re easily scared to the point that you soil yourself when you get scared, in which case I don’t recommend reading.

And last, but certainly not least…

3. I’ve accepted a new opportunity. Some of you may remember I wrote an article for the blog Self Published Authors Helping Other Self-Published Authors. Well, one of the blog’s writers, Ruth Ann Nordin, emailed me and said she really enjoyed my article and asked if I would like to be a regular contributor to the blog. I had maybe a moment’s hesitation before I emailed an emphatic “YES!” As of today I am now a contributor and will have a profile page and whatnot soon. I already have a few ideas for what I’d like to write, including interviews with other self-published authors and some more articles with tips for writers on how to do this or that for their stories. I’m really excited and I would like to thank Ruth Nordin for thinking so highly of my article and  for giving me this chance. I won’t let you down.

That’s all for now. If I have any more good news, I’ll be sure to share it with you. Wish me luck in the future.

Creepy, is it not? Even if it is a cartoon.

Oh, I’m feeling good. I took the last twenty chapters (all less than ten pages, let me remind you) and edited them. I think I ended up increasing Snake‘s word count by about six-thousand or so words, but all in all the entire book will be around three-hundred and fifty pages once I format it for publication (so don’t go running off afraid to read my thriller novel. If you’re going to run away, be it for the content and not for the page count).

I like this draft. I ended up doing a lot of character development and explaining some things that I realized did not make a lot of sense. I also gave my characters more character history, and even added two full chapters. I think I also cut out some of the unnecessary words and what not, made the plot run a bit smoother.

All in all, it’s a good draft. I’m not sure if at this point I want to send it to the presses, do another draft, or if I want to send it to a beta reader again. In any case, I’ll think about it over the next few months as I take a break from the Snake and his blood-filled world. In the meantime, I’ve got two short stories to edit, one to finish writing a first draft for, and two to research. Plus my good friend and fellow author Matthew Williams is almost done reading my science fiction novel Reborn City, which means I can get ready to send it to the copyright office.

All that can wait till tomorrow though. I plan on celebrating finishing the third draft with a marathon of Doctor Who and Torchwood. Good night and thanks for all the support!

daisy-cover

I just went over the number of downloads on “Daisy”, the promotional short story I published for The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. Guess what? The number of downloads has passed 100 (107 to be exact)! Thank you all for downloading and for reading. I hope you continue to read and to download, and if you feel so inclined, please write a review online or spread the word among your friends. It means a lot to me if you do.

And while I have you, I’d like to let you know that on the page listing my books, I’ve added Reborn City and Snake to the list, along with projected publication dates. Take a look for descriptions and for projected dates.

Man, it’s just good news after good news after good news lately! I heard about this online magazine called Horror Zone on Facebook recently and I checked out their website. They seemed like a good place to submit my work, so I sent them “Revenge For A Succubus’s Beloved”, the succubus story I wrote last summer and then rewrote during the fall. I’ve been struggling to find a publication that would take this short story, but these guys did! They even gave it a little “Revenge” logo thing near the beginning. I don’t watch the show, but you have to love what they did there.

If you want to read the short story, you can click here and you’ll be redirected to the site. Once again, thanks to Horror Zone for publishing my short story, and I hope to do business with you again in the future. In fact, I already have a short story in mind. For now though, I think I’d like to go for a jog, get some exercise in.

Hope you’re having as awesome a day as I am!