Archive for the ‘Progress Report’ Category

Snake: Onto The Outline Edits

Posted: October 2, 2012 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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I love this image, it is so unique and reminds me of an Algerian love knot.

Well as you know, I’ve been wanting to do some change-ups to my serial killer novel Snake, including changing a big part of the outline. So I went over what I’d already written, edited the heck out of the chapters to make them a better read, and just now I finished chapter 34, which is the last chapter of Part II of the novel. I did plenty of cutting, taking out an entire chunk of the opening of the novel (among other things), adding some important details and bits of action that I forgot to add to certain scenes, and even changing one of the characters and his motivations in order to make more sense not only to the reader, but to myself as well.

The strange thing though, is that while I took out a lot of unecessary stuff so that some chapters got much shorter in terms of pages and word counts, others got much longer. Remember how in one post I listed all the pages and words from the Prologue all the way to the end of Part II as 138 pages and 25,346 words? After the edits, it came out to 148 pages and 37,082 words. Talk about an increase, right?

So while I’ve done that, I still have some more to do. I’m going to edit the outline to make the story more exciting, and then I’m going to get to work getting my other novel, Reborn City, out to the public in a timely manner. So you know with all this, a job, and college, I’m a very busy boy. But hey, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Look out for my next post on Snake, I’ll be giving a few clues as to what’s changed with the story and then I’ll get to work on Reborn City. Later.

The Biggest News I’ve Ever Written About On This Blog

Posted: September 30, 2012 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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The Jewish New Year recently came to pass. And with new years in any culture, we wish to make changes for the coming year so that hopefully, this year will be a good one. Well, I’ve decided to make a change.

As you well know, I’ve been trying the traditional publishing route for some time now (write and publish a bunch of short stories; write a novel; get an agent who can refer you to the best publishers; company publishes your novel). This process has been the norm for several years, but it does have its flaws: for instance, the big publishing companies are ruled by the need to make money, so they only publish work that they feel could be profitable, which can lead to numerous rejections for authors whose work doesn’t meet one criteria or another. Not only that, but the companies themselves have a lot of control over the author’s work, having the author edit it fifty different ways so that it can be more commercial or more profitable or whatever. All so that the author can reach the highest number of people possible.

But, self-publishing is on the rise, and people who have been reading Rami Ungar the Writer for some time are probably aware that I’ve been toying with the idea of self-publishing. Self-publishing allows an author to have more control over his or her work, recieve more profits from sales, and not be obligated by big corporate contracts. The pitfalls include that most self-publishers don’t make a lot of money off of self-publishing, and when they do it’s usually because a traditional publisher has made some sort of deal for their novel (this is what happened with Fifty Shades of Grey). Self-published authors also have to do most of their own advertising, and with the power of the Internet, anyone can upload anything, even if the work looks like a kindergartener wrote it.

But still, self-publishing is becoming more and more popular with every single day among writers, and now it’s got a new adherent. That’s right: I, Rami Ungar, have decided to self-publish, and since one of my classes has given me more confidence with computers, I’ll be doing it without the help of a service, instead compiling the whole thing myself and putting out my work as e-books (at least until I have the money and knowledge to do my own paperback).

My first self-published work will be my science fiction novel Reborn City, which I hope to have out next year at some point. I plan to take one more look at it for editing purposes, have someone else look at it afterwards (probably someone really into science fiction) and then, based on that person’s suggestions, edit again. After that I’ll set up my own independent press, one that’ll be dedicated to horror, thriller, science fiction, and fantasy, and which will allow me to have the most control over my work. It’ll be like how Akon has his own label, Kon Live and Konvict Muzik, but uses big labels like Universal to distribute his work (in my case, the Universal will be Amazon and B&N and Smashwords and such). I won’t say what I’ll name my press, but I do have a name for it, which I’ll reveal to you after I get the necessary legal paperwork out of the way to set it up. That, and a website and possibly a Facebook profile (yes, I’m considering using Facebook to get my work out there, please don’t make a big deal out of it).

I will then get a cover made for Reborn City, format the whole darn thing for an e-book, get RC copyrighted (and ISBN-ed; I’m not sure if one of those are necessary exactly but it’d be good to check), and on a release date that I will choose once I’ve formatted RC into an e-book, I will let the whole world read my work for a mere $2.99 per download.

I hope all of you will show me your support in this endeavor, and possibly consider reading RC when it comes out and letting your friends know about it. If you have any tips on how to do all this, please let me know, as your feedback is always helpful to me.

I’ll let you know when my new press is up-and-running, and when Reborn City will be released. Thanks for reading, and I hope you’re as excited as I am!

Getting Back Into Snake

Posted: September 24, 2012 in ideas, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Remember when I said that after I finished that short story for class, I would jump right back into the exploits of my mafia-hunting serial killer the Snake? Well, it took me a day or so to get around to the first chapter (I had classes and homework, I wanted a chance to sit down and read a couple graphic novels, and then there was that errand downtown I had to run today, but why am I boring you with that?). I took a look at the opening I’d written and I was like, “You know, this sounded so cool when I first wrote it, but now it just seems kind of…extaneous and unnecessary.” So I cut out and rewrote the opening…and a bunch of other stuff. It was like I was taking the gristle off a slab of meat.

No, wait. It was like I was taking the fat out of fresh milk. Not as elegant a metaphor, but it’s a bit more original, and I give you all permission to use it after I’ve just used it.

So now on to the rest of the chapters, all thirty-three of them. I plan on doing some more backstory on some of the more major characters, plus making the Snake much more empaphetic, because honestly, when we finally meet him face-to-face (sort of; he wears a mask) in chapters three and four, he’s more sinister and scary, and not at all the kind of guy you want to root for. I also want to include the media’s portrayal of the Snake, make him like some sort of symbol for what the police could be doing with a nearly untouchable organized crime family, because if there’s one thing that can rile law enforcement up, it’s when journalists poke at police work (no offense meant for journalists who actually cover police stories and criticize them for whatever they may or may not have done).

All this in addition to the usual stuff that comes with editing. After that I’ll get into the outline and see what I can fix up. Maybe I’ll include some brushes with death and a new ending where the Snake not only faces off with the mafia family he’s sworn to destroy, but with the police officer and FBI profiler who’ve sworn to bring him in. There will be blood, betrayal, some literally deadly fights, love, character growth, and possibly an explosion or two.

I’ll also add in chapters where we see the underworld social order changing, because when you have a serial killer who’s killing your group’s members and getting away with it, you know others, both mafia and possibly otherwise, will try it too.

We’ll see what we get, but from the description I’ve just given, and the outline I’ve already written, it’s looking like a whole new novel. Hopefully it’ll be a better one too.

The First Draft Is Done, Thank God!!!

Posted: September 23, 2012 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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First draft of what, you may ask? Well, I’ll tell you: remember that short story I had to write for my fiction-writing class that was taking forever and a half to get done? Well, I just finished the first draft for it and let me tell you, that piece of work was a piece of work! Sixteen pages, nearly fifty-four hundred words, and more literary-style writing than I’m used to.

Anyway, the working title of this story is Doll’s Game (no, this is not the short story about the creepy doll) and I’ll probably get around to editing it in a few weeks, before it’s due. In the meantime, I’d like to get back into Snake, make some adjustments to some of the work already done and go over the outline to see if there is anything I can improve upon for the latter half of the story. I’d also like to read some books I’ve been meaning to get to, but with the amount of classes and homework I do, do you think it’s possible? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Speaking of homework, I’ve got to get some done, so I’ll talk to all of you later. Bye!

Do Stories Evolve? Apparently They Do

Posted: September 18, 2012 in Progress Report, Reflections, short story, Writing
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I said a while back that while partying at a club near campus, I came up with an idea for a story that I could write for my creative writing class. Well, it’s been several weeks since then, and I’m still working on that short story. But let me tell you, it’s changed since the original idea popped into my head. It started out as a story about a girl who thinks she might be from the nineteenth century growing up in the twentieth century and being confused about her identity; then it lost the part where she actually was from the nineteenth century; and now the story, which was originally in first person, is now…well, it’s still first-person, but it’s the main character addressing someone else in the room with her.

There have also been minor changes along the way, things that do not really affect the story as much as these other changes have, but even as I’m trying to finish up the first draft, I’m finding myself amazed that a story still in the writing stages is changing so much. It started out as literary with a touch of supernatural strangeness, but the supernatural strangeness has been cut out and there’s just a literary story that’s unlike anything I’ve ever written before, mostly because I do not really care for literary with notable exceptions.

This makes me wonder about other stories I admire, and if they underwent huge changes in the midst of being written. I know Japanese manga and anime may have many plot changes as the story progresses, but that’s mostly because manga and anime for the most part are influenced by reader and viewer popularity, so a story arc might be added, changed, or cut out altogether in order to bring up the popularity of the story.

But did J.K. Rowling, who made me want to be a writer in the first place, make certain characters more or less prominent than she originally intended, or did Stephen King want to make Randall Flagg the leader of a whole cadre of demonic villains in The Stand? Did Thomas Harris originally intend for the Red Dragon to be a singer with a dark past instead of a sufferer of a cleft palate with a history of abuse and violence? And did George Lucas originally intend something more steampunk than regular science fiction when he first concieved Star Wars?

In actuality, other stories I’ve written in the past underwent huge changes (Ripple had a different ending in the first draft and Zahara Bakur of Reborn City was one of several main characters before she became the main character in my mind). But the scale of the short story I’m working on now (it’s title, for now, is Doll’s Game) is something I’ve never encountered before, so I’m wondering what this will lead to later. Is more change in store for me? Will I ever get a finished first draft? And what else do I have to discover about this story, what hidden tricks will I uncover next while writing it?

Tell me about your experiences. Did a story you wrote change a lot during the writing process? And how so? And did you like this change? Please tell me, I love to hear from others, especially those with more experience than me.

Snake: Part II Done

Posted: September 17, 2012 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Creepy Mayan snake god gobbling someone up. I have a feeling my character would find some connection to this image.

Well, I finally did it! I finished Part II of Snake, though truthfully it’s coming about four days later than I expected.

Part II deals a lot not only with the main character’s quest for revenge, but also with the circumstances that caused him to take up serial killing. It totaled about twenty-one chapters, eighty-six pages, and twenty-two thousand and thirty-three words. Add that to the prologue and Part I, and you have a total of thirty-four chapters, one-hundred and thirty-eight pages, and twenty-five thousand, three-hundred forty-six words for the rough draft of Snake. Several times chapters were added together and split in two in order to keep the story flowing and the tension high. I have to say, at certain points it was an arduous process writing out this section of the novel.

Now that I’ve got Part II done, I’m going to wait a little while before I start Part III, which is probably the longest of the parts in Snake, take some time to finish a short story and edit a couple more. I also plan on going over the outline of Snake and see what I can do to make the plot more exciting, because as it is it’s a good story, but I want to make it great. I plan on doing some more character development with the Snake and some of the people close to him, which will probably mean going back to previous chapters and doing a few additions. I also plan to add some scenes showing the fallout of what happens when a serial killer goes after a mafia family and not only evades the family but the police itself. And lastly, I want to change the climax, see if I can change the setting so that not only does the Snake face off against the mafia, he faces off with the police too, and does it in front of everyone.

Sounds more exciting that way, anyway.

I’ll let you know when I begin Part III. Wish me luck.

Translating “Snake” Into Russian

Posted: September 13, 2012 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Chinese symbol for “snake” surrounded by a snake. Pretty cool, huh?

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve written about the Snake. Like, several weeks, at least.

Oh, for thsoe of you who don’t know, I’m working on two novels. One, a science fiction novel titled Reborn City, I’m trying to market to publishers write now. The other, a serial killer thriller called Snake, is in the middle of its first draft. Currently I’m working on chapter thirty-three of Snake, which isn’t very far in considering thrillers are notorious for having many chapters with less than ten pages per chapter.

One of the things I’m doing for Snake is that I’m also working on some Russian transliteration, as my main character speaks Russian throughout the novel. I’m working with one of my university’s Russian professors on this (and if he’s reading this, thank you so very much for your help), and he’s been a big help. It’s not always easy, though: according to my professor, getting phrases and words I’d normally use in English translated and then transliterated into Russian can be difficult, as I not only have to get across the meaning, but the intention as well. It’s like getting down on one knee and saying “I love you, will you marry me?” to a foreign girl in her native language, but you actually end up saying “love marry you” or “marriage me you” instead. The effect’s just lost.

Still, I think a pretty good job’s been done, and every bit of Russian up to chapter thirty-two has been transliterated. Hopefully when I see my professor again, I’ll have some easier phrases to translate. We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we? I know where I want to go with this story, but how I’m getting there and what happens in the meantime is still up in the air in some ways.

All for now. Talk to you later.

Aasif is Published in Mobius Magazine!!!

Posted: September 1, 2012 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Oh, happy first day of Septhember! The Buckeyes are preparing to kick Miami of Ohio’s butt, the sun is shining, and a certain little short story got published! The web address for Mobius Magazine is down below. Once you get to the website, you’ll find my short story on the left under fiction. I hope you enjoy reading it.

This story was inspired by the Kony 2012 video that came out back in April, and you can definitely see the influence there. The story itself may have taken me a week to write, but I credit the fact that I had great inspiration behind it that it didn’t take longer.

Please feel free to tell me what you think of the story. Did you like it? Hate it? Was there a particular part that stuck with you? Did you think a certain character may have been a racist caricature of some ethnic group or another? Whatever your thoughts, please leave me a comment and let me know.

So, without further ado, here’s the address for Mobius Magazine. Hope you like what you read.

http://mobiusmagazine.com/

200 Comments!!!

Posted: August 30, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report
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This evening I reached the 200 comment mark! For me, that’s a big deal, as it means people are actually stopping by this blog to read it and give me their thoughts. Thanks to everyone who’s been with me all this time, a special thank you to everyone who’s ever given me their thoughts, and a very special thank you to my dad, Rabbi Michael Ungar, who gave me my 200th comment when he commented on my hair. Abba, you’re the man.

“The Street Urchin’s Gift” Is Getting Published!!!

Posted: August 27, 2012 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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Okay, so I’m logging onto my computer with the aim of getting alittle homework done before lunch. But what do I find out? That a short story I wrote last year, “The Street Urchin’s Gift” is going to be published by The Writing Disorder next June, sometime around my birthday. Can I just say one thing? Awesome!

The Writing Disorder is an online magazine that caters to a wide variety of interests, including poetry, fiction, art and reviews, and does everything from literary to genre. I found them while looking for a magazine to send “The Street Urchin’s Gift”, and thought they’d make a great match, and I sent it in. It took a while for them to get back to me, but it was well worth it: today I got the email, and you cannot imagine how excited I am!

“The Street Urchin’s Gift” started out as a story I wanted to write for another magazine, one that dealt with Victorian and Edwardian England and liked scary stories. The story itself centers around making an impossible choice when neither one benefits you, and the moral problems of that. When I found out the magazine I had in mind went defunct, I decided that “The Street Urchin’s Gift” deserved another chance. Seeing that I decided right off the bat to go with the Writing Disorder, I’m very happy with the choice I made.

I would like to thank The Writing Disorder for accepting my submission and will try to send a little business your way. In fact, here’s a start: if any of you have a short story or poem that you’d like to see published, here’s the link to the website of The Writing Disorder. Hopefully it’ll be a match for your work.

http://thewritingdisorder.com/

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