Alright, remember on Thursday or Friday last week I said I was working on a story involving a succubus, I got about two pages in, and I had trouble figuring out where the story should go next? Well, I figured it out, thanks to an hour-long session of meditation and thought-clearing. I now know how best to go from here on out, so after I finish this blog post and take care of a few more things, I’ll get to work on the short story.
That reminds me, do any of you readers have any rituals or tricks you use when you’re stuck on a story and can’t figure out what exactly to do? Let me know; I’d love to hear them.
I was reading a horror/romantic-comedy manga recently (yes, those combinations do happen in the world of Japanese comic books) and one of the characters, a succubus, had to face and accept a hard truth about her life, all the while preparing to fight a great evil (can’t a demon girl get a break?). The sub-story kind of touched me and I suddenly got the idea to write a story involving a succubus.
So for the whole day, I’ve kind of been doing research on succubi. I looked at the Wikipedia page, I read online testimony from people who said they’ve been visited by incubi and succubi, and I even watched a few videos on YouTube. Right now I’m watching a special on books that’d been excluded from the Christian bible because I heard part of the series focused on Lilith, who according to many traditions was the first succubus.
So far no plot has made its way into my twisted head, but if I don’t get one soon, I’ll come up with one based on whatever comes up from one of those random word generators. Hey, if it works for high school English teachers, why can’t I use it.
So if you have any info on succubi and other such spirits, feel free to let me know. Just don’t send me one if it’s a malevolent spirit! I’ve had too many experiences with bad spirits over the years, and I’m not looking for any more!
Hey, how’s everybody doing? Remember I told you that a science-fiction story I wrote was getting published back in July, but the editor of the magazine wasn’t specific on when it would be published? Well, just got an email from the editor: he was waiting for a nice collection of short stories to come to him before he began the publishing process, but now that he’s reached his quota, my story Ripple should be hitting the net in November at some point.
Now, I know some of you are thinking, Isn’t that a little late in the year? Well if you ask me–and since you’re reading my blog, I’m assuming you already asked–if you ask me I’m just happy it’s getting published at all, so better late in the year than never. And until then, we know another short story I wrote, Aasif, is getting published next month, so that’s something to look forward to, right? Something to tide us over until we can read about aliens visiting Earth.
So until next time, have a great weekend, and try and stay cool!
I’m taking a break from Snake while I wait for an expert I’ve made an acquaintance with to get back to me on a couple of details. I’m also still searching for an agent for my other novel Reborn City, so I have a bit of time on my hands. So, what does a writer do when he has one novel he’s trying to find an agent for, he’s taking a break from the other novel, and a bit of free time on his hands that he wants to fill with some good writing?
Well in my case, I blog and work on short stories. The fact that you’re reading this is proof that I’m doing the former. As for the latter, there are a few projects I want to devote myself to in the next few days. One of those projects is a short story I wrote back in June. As I believe you should let a piece of fiction sit for a little while before editing it as a way to look at it with fresh eyes, I think it’s time to take a look and see what needs to be cut, changed and added in. You might remember this short story; it’s the one where I had trouble with this concept I wanted to work with but after meditating I had a few new ideas that made it easier to write the story with that concept. I’ll get to work on that after I finish this post.
The other project, I really have to thank my friend and fellow blogger Jason Alan, whose website you can check out here (http://jasonalanwriter.wordpress.com/). Anyway, a while back he posted a photo of a doll he found on the ground while roaming through France and it inspired me to write a story involving an evil/cursed doll. Now, I know what you’re thinking: there are so many knock-offs of Child’s Play out there, so can you really make an original story involving an evil doll?
I’m hoping; I added in a few things while coming up with the story that I think will make this story original enough that it won’t annoy or disappoint any readers of horror who are hard to please (speaking of which, am I the only guy who liked Dead Silence? It had the ghosts, the theme music, the living dolls…yet it got such bad reviews and I’m not sure why). I’ll probably get to work on this doll idea after the editing, and hopefully tonight.
Oh, and in case any of you want to know what this picture Jason took that’s so captivated my imagination is like but don’t want to go on his site (can’t understand why you wouldn’t), here’s the photo:
Creepy, huh? Are you surprised it’s stirring the warped imagination I have?
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, another one of mine is getting published! Oh my god, so happy right now! The illustrious magazine Mobius, which deals with literature involving/revolving around social change, has decided to publish a short story I sent them, and it’ll be coming out in their fall edition in September (I’ll do a post then when it comes out).
“Aasif” was inspired by the Kony 2012 video, which I’ve covered before on Rami Ungar the Writer. I thought about doing a story involving child soldiers and the warlords who force them into killing, and then I started writing. What resulted was “Aasif”, and I’m so happy it’s getting published.
If you want to visit the website for Mobius, maybe see if you have anything that matches their criteria, the link’s below. Gotta go, I’m dancing in my kitchen.
Oh my God! Big news, ladies and gentlemen! I don’t know how many of you remember, but a while back I wrote a short story involving alien visitors to Earth called “Ripple”. This evening I got on my computer and saw that the editor of Nth Degree, a science-fiction magazine, had emailed me. He wrote he was going to publish “Ripple” as a featured story in the magazine’s online edition and would be letting me know soon when the story would go up.
Well, as soon as I read that, I started dancing in my room! I put on disco music on my computer and started boogie-ing down! I’m so happy write now, it’s hard for me to stay calm. Thank you to Michael Pederson, editor of Nth Degree, for accepting “Ripple”. I cannot wait to see it online!
If you want to check out the website–maybe submit something to it–the link is down below. Oh my God, so excited right now. I still can’t stop dancing! I’ll give everyone a heads-up post when the short story comes out. Have an awesome day, just like I’m having!
I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it on Rami Ungar the Writer, but I’m into a form of Eastern meditation known as Sahaja Yoga. It was founded in the 70’s and the goal is to awaken the dormant spiritual energy inside you so that somebody can not just correct problems in their lives they may be having, but in order to achieve Self-Realization, a form of spiritual evolution. Sahaja Yoga is very popular and easy, and it has followers in over a hundred countries.
Why do I mention this? Because just today I had some trouble with an idea for a short story and I was able to overcome that trouble with the help of Sahaja Yoga. It happened like this:
Just this morning, I woke up with an idea for a short story in my head: what if someone had lived a life, but had forgotten that life through the interference of someone else, and started remembering their former lives after several years? I’m not sure if I’d dreamed that or if I’d come up with that idea while sort-of half-asleep, but when I was fully conscious it sounded like an excellent idea.
Just the one problem: how could I write an original, exciting story with that idea without sounding like I’d stolen someone else’s idea? I sturggled with the idea, unable to come up with an exciting take or angle to work with, until I went to meditation class today. As soon as we started meditating, my mind cleared and all of a sudden my mind was filled with ideas for the story. Eventually, by the end of the meditation, a half-formed story, with names, places, a plot, and even a few lines, was in my head. I could not wait to get home and work on it. but first I thought I’d write a post about it.
Anyone else interested in Sahaja Yoga now? If you want to, there are websites that can help you learn. It’s absolutely free-of-charge to learn, and the people who are apart of it are so nice. Oh and don’t worry, it’s not like a cult: it’s more like those clubs you went to as a teenager where people dressed up as their favorite Star Trek characters, only with potential health benefits.
I’m including a link for a website used among a lot of Sahaja Yogis, and a video where the founder, Shri Mataji, teaches you the first steps to learning to do the meditation. Try it out; you may find that it helps you in your work like it helps me.
Well, this is my fiftieth post. A milestone by anyone’s considerations. And like all milestones, this is a time to look both back and forth. Which is what I’ve been doing lately:
These past two weeks or so, I took a look at some old short stories back in high school, one of which happened to be inspired by a very creepy dream I had. Neither one got accepted for publication, and after so long I could see some of the reasons why they were rejected. So in the meantime, I thought I’d edit them and maybe see if they were any better after a good editorial bath and polish. So far, I’m thinking they may be more appealing to publications, but I’ll have to wait and see if they actually get published, because I may just be taking too much pride in my own work. Anyway, fingers crossed.
Also, after I’ve finished editing these old stories and have found time in my busy collegiate schedule to sit down in front of the computer, I plan to pen (or type, actually) some new stories. One will be based on that Law & Order: SVU dream I had a week and a half ago, though it’ll probably end up being more of a thriller story involving events after the key evidence has been collected than your typical police procedural (I’m not sure I could write that sort of story in under 20 pages anyway without making the story too complex or full of technical details).
The other story will be based on the concept of kotodama, which is a Japanese belief that words have power and can affect the lives of people around us. This belief is found in many other cultures besides Japan, and we can see throughout history and up to today how accurate a belief it is (I tend to think that what happened to Rush Limbaugh and Sandra Fluke after Limbaugh said some very nasty things about Fluke is an example of kotodama on a large scale). I will be blending this concept with a very dark event that happened in my life recently, though I haven’t figured out how this will blend yet or how it will end up coming out. But I’ll figure that out when I get to it.
Thanks for sticking with me up till the fiftieth post. I’m so glad that people are reading Rami Ungar The Writer and I hope to bring only good news to you in the future. (wouldn’t it be nice if kotodama could take effect with that last part, huh?)
Okay, so I’m watching Once Upon A Time on Hulu yesterday and one of the characters, August, who’s a writer, says that whenever he has writer’s block, he goes back and looks at what he did so that he can find “a nugget of inspiration” he may have left behind. Yeah, it sounds kinda funny to hear, but that’s what he said.
Anyway, I’m writing this new short story, and boy do I have such a case of writer’s block. I just can’t figure out how to make the story flow. I have the idea, I just can’t make the words come out. So I thought, “Hey, why not? I have to find something to help me get this out.” So I’m reading what I’ve already written, and then I think to myself, “You know, I don’t really like how my narrator is telling the story.” So I go along and change the style of narration and pretty soon the words start to flow again! Before I know it I’ve got three-and-a-half pages written and a few more on their way.
Has this happened to anyone else? Have you heard advice from some weird place and just found out that the advice is legitimate? Please tell me, so I’ll feel less embarassed.
I know, that title sounds like something after a NCAA basketball game, but I’ve already used “update” twice in relation to winter quarter, and I don’t want to be redundant.
Now on to the news. Well, I had a slightly lower GPA this quarter, a 3.1, but I’ve got less classes next quarter and despite the reviews of some of them, they don’t seem too difficult or terrifying to me, so hopefully I’ll have a higher GPA than this quarter. I’ll even be taking a class on the search for extraterrestrial life and ways of going about it (yes, my school offers a class on that, you can take it to fulfill a science requirement). Although I don’t believe in alien visitations, I still think the class will be interesting to take. Though if we’re going by what our book teaches, it’ll mostly be what allows life on Earth and how we go about looking for that on other planets.
And as for writing, I’m still working on the final edit for Reborn City, but I hope to get some more of that done. I also wrote a new short story based on the Kony 2012 video I mentioned in my last post. I hope, after that story’s been edited, that a certain magazine I know might want to take it. Fingers crossed, right?
I’m looking forward to spring quarter. More flexible schedule, more time at work, what could go wrong? Wait, don’t answer that.
See ya next post, when it strikes my fancy to write one. Have a good spring break.
Rami Ungar The Writer 