Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

Good morning, Followers of Fear. A lot of you have been clamoring for me to publish some of my NaNoWriMo project, Toyland. Now, I usually prefer to give it a few more drafts before I share content from my stories (especially my novels). However, I don’t see what harm sharing the first two lines can do.

That’s right. Longtime Followers will remember this. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now as always, I should list the rules of this once-ubiquitous writing meme. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a post on your blog titled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed/published story.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback and try to get them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging is encouraged but not necessary).

I’ve titled the post correctly and explained the rules. Now for the first two lines of my Gothic horror WIP, Toyland. Enjoy:

The autumn semester of Mason Prather’s sophomore year of high school at Auckland Academy began with more drama than he could have ever predicted. To be precise, the drama began during Move-In Week, when the exclusive boarding school’s six-hundred students moved into the dorms in the North Building.

Was that a good hook? Did you get interested in the novel after reading that? If not, remember, this is still a first draft. I still have a long way to go before the whole novel is ready for public consumption.

Anyway, what were your thoughts on the opening? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

As for tagging people, I think I’ll skip it this week. However, if anyone would like to take up this meme, you’re more than welcome to. Take the graphic above as well if you like. That’s why I made it.

Well, that’s all for now, Followers of Fear. I have a full day of work ahead of me, so I’m going to get ready for that. Until next time, have a good weekend and pleasant nightmares!

I’m a little amazed how quickly the month has gone by. As of today, there are only nine days left in the month. And after that, a different kind of countdown will commence.

But onto the main subject of this post. As you all probably know by now, I’m taking part in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, this year. My project this year is called Toyland, and it’s a Gothic horror novel about a boarding school haunted by a ghost obsessed with a children’s book. And while the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write an entire fifty thousand word novel, I’d be happy to make it halfway, or even more than thirty thousand words (how much I wrote the last time I participated).

So if you read my post from last week, I was over twenty-one thousand words and six chapters into the novel. I guess it was inevitable that there would be a slow-down after getting so much done in two weeks, because this past week I only made so much progress. I didn’t even get any writing done on Monday or Tuesday, in fact, and that might’ve been the case yesterday if I didn’t wake up sick and had to stay home. Yeah, that happened. And for all I know, it may happen again (it is that time of year).

So how much progress did I make? As of last night, I’m in the middle of writing Chapter Eight and the novel is currently 26,746 words. Which is still good progress, but I was hoping for more by the time I typed up this report.

At least I’m close to making that thirty thousand word goal.

I’m also at the point of the first draft where I am questioning A LOT of my creative decisions. Should I include this? Should I write out that? Does that sound too preachy? Am I getting away from the point of my novel? This is something every creator goes through at least once while working on a project–I went through it every day during some of the later drafts of Rose–and it’s never fun. For the most part, I’m just trying to move past those feelings and make more progress on this novel. Because at the end of the day, even if this novel is totally bonkers, it’s my kind of bonkers, so at least I’ll be happy with it.

Anyway, I’m going to try and get some more progress on this chapter done tonight. However, I’m also going to try to go to bed early tonight, because as I said I’ve been sick recently and I don’t want a relapse.

With that said, I’ll sign off now, my Followers of Fear. The next update for Toyland will likely be December 1st, after NaNoWriMo’s done and I have the latest tally on the numbers. But don’t worry, you’ll hear from me in the meantime. And until then, pleasant nightmares!

So yeah, Toyland is going to be a lot longer than Rose, and way more than fifty thousand words. I always did like an expansive story.

So as you’re probably aware by now, I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, this month and I’m trying to write a fifty-thousand word novel before the month is out. This is my second time participating, and I’m writing a Gothic horror novel called Toyland about a boarding school haunted by a ghost obsessed with a children’s book. And while I’ve set myself a deadline of January 31st, I’ll try to get as much of it done this month as possible.

In my update last week, I wrote about how I was a little over eleven-thousand words and 3.5 chapters in. As of last night, I’m in the middle of writing Chapter Six and am currently at 21,566 words. So this story’s already into the novella word range, and it’s still going! I bet by the time I done, I bet this book will be four times its current length. Maybe more.*

And honestly, I’d be fine if that turned out to be the case. While it’s still a first draft and there’s still plenty of work to do (not even thinking about editing at this point), I feel like this is some of my most mature writing yet. By this, I mean my voice as a writer has matured. It’s reached a new level, gained from so many years of writing and editing and experimenting. I’m giving up the last of the clumsy bits that mark me as a new or young writer. I’m breaking out of my chrysalis.

Is this making any sense to you? I hope so, otherwise the points above are all meaningless.

Anyway, we’ll have to wait till the final draft comes out before we know for sure just how much I’ve improved as a writer. But in the meantime, I’m enjoying working on this story and seeing it take form. Even though I wrote an outline and I know what’s going to happen, I’m discovering new things with every word. Hell, what words I use are part of the discovery, and they come together to show me just how these scenes I’ve outlined actually shape out.

That’s all for the moment. I’ll be sure to update you all next week, but in the meantime, I promise there will be more than just a review in the meantime. I mean, there will be a review, but there will be more than that.

Anyway, until next time, my Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares!

How’s your NaNoWriMo going? What’s the writing process for you been like?

*For context, the first Harry Potter book was around seventy-seven thousand words, so that should give you an idea of what we might be dealing with in the future.

Hello, Followers of Fear! It’s been an entire week since I last posted. Did you miss me?

As many of you know, this year I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, this year. For those of you who are unaware, the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a fifty thousand word novel in thirty days, or about 1,667 words a day. There’s no prize for actually making the goal (and it’s doubtful the resulting novel will be any good, as it’s a first draft), but it’s a good way to see what you’re capable of and push yourself. At least, that’s how I look at it.

So this year’s project is called Toyland, and as you may remember, it’s a Gothic horror novel about a boarding school terrorized by a ghost obsessed with a children’s book. This is my first Gothic horror story, as well as my second time participating in NaNoWriMo. How’s it going so far? Well, as of last night, I’m a little over eleven-thousand words in over three-and-a-half chapters. Over a fifth of the way there!

That’s my update. See you later.

Just kidding. I have more I want to discuss.

I have to say, it was a good idea to take some time off from the office to work on this novel. I’ve had a lot more time to write, which means I was able to get through three chapters in just under a week. It might’ve taken a month to get the same amount of progress if I didn’t take time off work and just wrote in the evenings. If I do NaNoWriMo again next year, I may take time off again to get a good head start.

As for writing in the Gothic sub-genre, that’s been a learning experience. As I mentioned in my post on Gothic horror (click here to read the full article), the genre has a very particular set of tropes that sets it apart from other genres of horror. However, there is more to the genre than I had room to include in that article. For example, you have to devote a lot of space to describing your main location. After all, Gothic horror is very place-centric. Hill House, The Overlook Hotel, the house at Kill Creek, your mother’s house (yes, I went there, and in more ways than one). All those locations are described in detail. Lots of detail. Gothic tries to make you aware of the place the story is in at all times, especially the darker aspects of it.

In that vein, I’ve spent a good chunk of Chapter Two just describing Auckland Academy, the main setting of the book. And I’ll be further emphasizing the location as the book goes on, as well as in subsequent drafts.

Of course, I’m still early in the novel. Including the chapter I”m in now, I have twenty-six more to go, and plenty more to learn about Gothic literature. I’ll let you know how things go when we reach November 14th. Hopefully I’ll have made plenty more progress by then. Even if I have to go back to work on Tuesday.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ve got some errands to take care of, so I’m going to get on that. I promise though, you won’t have to wait a week before I post again. Until next time, my Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? How’s it going for you?

So it’s about three days till National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. For those of you who are unaware, NaNoWriMo (which at this point is an international event) is a yearly challenge held every November (though some writers do it when they actually have time for it), where writers will attempt to write a fifty-thousand word novel within thirty days, or just under seventeen hundred words per day. Anyone who actually manages to get that amount wins bragging rights and a sense of accomplishment.

Anyway, I’ll be participating this year, my first time since college. And with all that writing, there’s a good chance I’ll be blogging less during that time. I do plan to post regular updates on the progress of my NaNoWriMo project, as well as any reviews of movies/shows/books I feel I need to post. And if anything pertaining to my career pops up (like something getting published or released, God willing), I’ll post about that. But in case even that’s not happening much, I’d like to leave this post so people know what’s up with me and my work while I’m neck-deep in storytelling.

It’s possibly an exercise in narcissism, to think you all are interested in that, but hell, it’s my blog. I’ll do what I want here. Onward ho!

Toyland

The one-sentence pitch for my NaNoWriMo project is, “A boarding school is haunted by a ghost obsessed with a children’s book.” It’s a Gothic horror novel with hints of the weird, and I’m very excited to be working on it. The first chapter is already half-written in my head, as well as several other scenes. I’ve gone through the outline at least seven times, so I think it’ll be free of plot holes and other issues. Whether or not it’ll be any good, we’ll see. But I’m hopeful. After all, there were plenty of times I thought Rose was terrible. And it’s doing relatively well for my first book with a publisher.

NaNoWriMo

As I’ve stated in a few previous posts, I’m taking time off from work for the first third of November to work on Toyland. The plan is to get up around seven or eight each morning, eat breakfast, write, eat lunch and read, write some more, and then knock off for the evening. Maybe see a movie if anything good is playing. Of course, I’ll adjust these plans as situations evolve. You never know when I might need a run an errand or something along those lines. Or write a blog post. Or get drawn into anime or a horror television series and binge several episodes in a row (ah, the fun of ADHD and procrastination).

After I return to work, I’ll be spending a lot of time doing catch-up and whatnot, so I may have to work late some days and not get to write some evenings while I recover my equilibrium. However, the point of participating in NaNoWriMo this year isn’t to finish the book in thirty days, but just to give me one hell of a head start. So even if during the last twenty days of November I don’t get as much as I want done, if I get plenty done during the first ten, I’ll be satisfied.

River of Wrath

Unfortunately, my beta reader has not had much of a chance lately to finish this book. And unfortunately, I need their feedback on certain subjects before I can edit this story. So it’s going to be a while till I get to edit this novel (which, coincidentally, I finished almost a year ago. October 30th, 2018 at about one in the morning. That was a fun night).

On the bright side, by the time I get to it, I’ll have plenty of energy and desire to get it done. And maybe another book or two out. I can hope, anyway.

The Short Story Collection

I’ve been busy on that, believe me. These past couple of months, I’ve spent writing and editing short stories for the collection. I just haven’t been posting every time I finish one because I wanted some of them to be a surprise! As it stands, this collection is about ten stories long. I’d like three more, two short stories and maybe a novelette or novella. With NaNoWriMo and Toyland only a few days away though, I’ll have to put it off till I’m either done with the latter or ready for a break (hopefully done with it). Fingers crossed when that time comes, I’ll be done faster than you can say, “It was a dark and stormy night.”

Rose

Yes, I have some news on Rose. As I said above, the Kafkaesque horror story of a young woman turning into a plant creature is doing very well. In fact, I got my first sales report a couple weeks ago, and it was very encouraging. With Rose getting so many new reviews in October, hopefully this’ll continue into the next quarter.

And in the meantime, the audio book is coming along swimmingly! As I said, I’ve heard the first fifteen minutes, and it sent chills up my spine! And last week, my publisher shared with me the cover art for the audio book. The way things are going, it could be out early or mid-November. And when it is, not only will I be the first to download a copy, but I’ll be making sure everyone else knows to check it out too.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in checking out Rose, I’ll leave the links for it down below. And if you do end up reading Rose, please let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and reviews help me out in the long run.

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

 

Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. If I don’t catch you around Halloween, I’ll catch you at some point during the first week of November. Until next time, pleasant nightmares and Happy Halloween!

Hello, my name is Rami Ungar, and I’m pretty much in the best mood ever. Not even that sacrifice getting loose and running to the police station can’t bring me down. Why? Well, the sacrifice’s warrants are going to prove problematic and I’m merciful with my cultists. But the real reason I’m so happy is because I’ve been receiving so many new reviews of Rose!

Now if you’re unfamiliar with Rose, first off, hi, welcome to the blog. Second, Rose is my first novel with a publisher, a fantasy-horror novel about a young woman turning into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). I wrote it as my college thesis originally, edited it on and off over five years, and then somehow got it published about four months ago with Castrum Press.

And as I said, a lot of new reviews have been popping up lately. Many of them have come from book bloggers, some of whom have left their reviews on Amazon and Goodreads as well. In fact, on Amazon Rose has over twenty reviews. Which, is a huge deal. Not only is that more reviews than any of my other works, but once you get past twenty, Amazon includes your books in that little space that says, “Customers Who Bought This Book Also Bought.” So thanks to everyone’s reviews, Rose will have slightly more visibility on Amazon in the future.

And what reviews they’ve been, too! Most of them have been extremely positive.* One blogger said, “Ungar has created a new horror monster that isn’t quite like the rest.” Another said, “Don’t let the beautiful, delicate cover fool you–this is out-and-out horror.” My job here is done.

Anyway, I’m just really thankful for all the reviews. I’m still trying to establish myself and carve out an audience. And with all these reviews, I’m hopeful Rose will be read by more people, and help me build my audience for the next book I put out there, whatever that is.

If you want to read any of these reviews, I’ll post the links below and update as more bloggers post reviews. After all, they deserve just as much exposure for giving Rose some much-needed exposure. I’ll also include links for those who want to read Rose themselves. And if you do end up checking it out, let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love feedback, and it helps me out in the long run.

Also, thanks to Blackthorn Book Tours for putting Rose in the hands of so many reviewers. You’ve been such a big help for me lately. I hope we can do this again someday with whatever I publish next.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Review Sites: Goodreads, Isobel Blackthorn, Alison’s Catty Book Corner, Power Librarian, The Book Review Hub, Whispers and Wonder (great interview), The Bookwormery, #CupidIsWatchingMe, Alex J Book Reviews, Unwrapping Words, Book, Blog & Candle, Bookshine and Readbows, A Little Fool Reads, Book Reviews & More, Tattooed Bibliophile, Iseult Murphy, Literary Retreat, Megan’s Haunted House of Books (interview and review).

*Actually, I’ve been really lucky in the review department. I’ve only had one lower than three stars, and the person who left that on Goodreads said she wouldn’t leave a full review because she only gave it two stars. Which honestly only makes me curious. What did she dislike about the novel? It’s going to bug me for a while.

Something weird has been happening this week. Weirder than usual, anyway. On Monday, I came home and found my Alice du Maurin Pullip doll in the hallway of my building. As if it were waiting for me. As far as I could tell, no one had been in my apartment, so nobody could have moved her.

This is the photograph I took of the incident.

Then on Tuesday, I found her in the stairwell. Again, there was no sign my apartment had been entered without my knowledge.

And then today, she was waiting for me again! This time with her little arm up, as if welcoming me home.

By this time, I was getting a little annoyed and a little freaked, and resolved to hide a security camera in my room, where I keep my doll collection. I was going to catch whoever was moving my Alice du Maurin around.

But first I was going to take a nap. I replaced the doll in the cabinet and went to sleep.

When I woke up though, I found this staring at me from the foot of my bed, with the cabinet door wide open behind her.

And I swear, I heard a voice whisper, “Why aren’t you writing a new story?!”

Happy Halloween.

Two days ago, I made the drive down to Cincinnati, Ohio–a city I have not been to in over ten years, I might add–to attend Evil at the Overlook Lodge, an event put on my by the Ohio Chapter of the Horror Writers Association, and one of two events open to the public in the month of October.

And can I just say, this event was a ton of fun? For one thing, the bar is simply beautiful. It looks exactly like the bar in the movie The Shining, and has a lot of memorabilia around the space meant to evoke the movie (which, for all I know, are actual props from the movie. I really should’ve asked). Even if I’m not a fan of Kubrick’s film, I can appreciate the love for the movie and the attention to detail like any fan can.

Not to mention the staff are so much nicer and less murderous than the staff of the Overlook Hotel.

And we had a decent sized crowd, made up of friends of the various authors (I had a cousin of mine who came to hear the readings), as well as some of the bar’s regular patrons. And of course, there were the authors. Now, originally we were going to have four authors, including myself, but one had to cancel due to circumstances outside her control. Still we three–H.R. Boldwood, Anton Cancre, and I–managed to make do. And we did have a lot of fun.

And let me just say a few things about my colleagues there: they are both talented writers. H.R. Boldwood read to us a couple of short pieces, including one where she had a volunteer do sound effects to accompany her story. With or without sound effects though, both stories were great. And Anton Cancre, I have found, knows how to put on a performance. He read to us a couple of poems, and even performed a piece with a friend of his where two wendigoes discussed their particular dietary needs, all to the tune of a guitarist. To say the least, it was an experience.

HR Boldwood

Anton Cancre

And as for me, I read from Rose, specifically the opening. And yes, I was wearing my cloak. I find the dramatic effect helps with the storytelling. Or it makes me look pretentious, but I like to think positive.

And the winner for most affable vampire is…me!

Afterwards there was some talk, some drinking (though since I was driving home right afterwards, I couldn’t drink), and even a few sales here and there. Overall, a good evening. And if we were to do it again, I would gladly come by again.

In the meantime, we have another reading coming up, this time in my own backyard. HWA Ohio will be teaming up with the Bexley Public Library for A Night of Horror with the Horror Writers Association (click here for the event page on Facebook). There will be readings from some of Ohio’s best writers of the macabre (plus me), as well as discussion of horror and possibly a few Halloween decorations. And I’ll be coming by in a new costume, so you’ll want to show up for that.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m diving back into my stories, so it might be a while until you see me again. Or it might be tomorrow. Who knows what the future holds? Whenever I next post, I wish you all pleasant nightmares in the meantime. See ya!

 

I made a little design for this year. It’s how you can tell I’m serious.

Recently I announced the subject of my next novel/my NaNoWriMo project, Toyland. And with November 1st fast approaching, I thought I’d go into the novel a bit more before I start posting once a week about my progress. Plus, I’ve had two reviews in the past week and possibly two tomorrow, depending on how close to my territory Joker lands. Gotta break things up with some variety or I just don’t feel right.

First, let’s go a bit more into what Toyland is actually about. As I said before, Toyland is a Gothic horror novel taking place in a boarding school in southern Ohio. The protagonist’s name is Mason Prather, a teenager who enjoys anime, wants to be a lawyer someday, and is the stepson of the boarding school’s headmistress. However, the autumn semester of his sophomore year proves challenging in many ways, and not just academically. Odd occurrences keep popping up at school, and people are either getting hurt or in danger of getting hurt. All this seems to emanate from a strange girl with dark hair seen around campus by Mason and his friends, as well as from a children’s book Mason finds in the school library.

I’ll give you three guesses what the name of that book is, and the first two don’t count.

Next, let’s talk about researching this novel, because that was a lot of fun. Looking back, I’m not sue when I first settled on doing this book, let alone for NaNoWriMo (curse you, slippery memory!), but I’ve definitely been becoming more familiar with Gothic fiction and its trappings for at least a year. Some of you may remember my post from last summer on what Gothic fiction is, and I’ve continued reading Gothic stories since then, including The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Hell House by Richard Matheson, and rereading The Shining by Stephen King this past winter.

Yeah, lots of fun research that felt more like play at times. But once I decided to work on Toyland next, I started taking in a different kind of media: anime. To be specific, I watched the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Princess Tutu, and Ringing Bell (I also tried to get Made in Abyss, but it’s not streaming anywhere, and I didn’t want to shell out for the Blu-Ray). There are two reasons why I chose to watch these anime as research, but I can only go into one without giving away spoilers. Now these anime, especially the first two, are known for their dark and surreal imagery (especially Madoka). Imagery that’s supposed to be pleasant to the eye but instead comes off as dark, strange and surreal are going to be big parts of Toyland, so I felt watching these shows would be good research.

That, and you can’t go wrong with watching these anime. They’re popular and have even won awards.

They’ll probably show up in an anime recommendation post at some point.

And now that I’ve watched all those series, as well as researched different styles of architecture for the school (I’m going with Queen Anne revival) and have watched a film I will never watch again or let my kids watch, I think I’m ready for November.

Well, almost ready. The other night after reviewing the outline and posting on Facebook and Twitter that I hadn’t “found any plot holes,” I may have found a plot hole. And I’m not sure how to fix it. I hate plot holes in my stories. I spend hours making sure my stories don’t have any (or many). So I’m at the drawing board, looking for fixes or work-arounds. Hopefully before November, something pops up.

Well, if you need me, I’ll be sleeping off my exhaustion from the past few days. Until next time, Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares.

So yesterday evening, a video was uploaded onto YouTube. But not just any YouTube video: this video was a review of my novel Rose by DeathGroundReviews, a YouTuber whom I’m met through Twitter, where he uses the handle Death Ground Writer. He reads and reviews a lot of speculative fiction, especially horror, and he decided to read and review Rose. The result is this video, which I highly recommend you check out.

Pretty awesome, huh? First off, I love Death Ground Writer’s voice. He’s got a scratchy quality that I think is great for podcasts and narrating scary stories. Which makes his reading of a short passage from Chapter One of Rose all the more creepy (and that music in the background is nice icing on the cake).

Second, after he does his reading and before he does his review, he talks about the novel and how he came across it. We actually talked quite a bit over Twitter before he posted the video, and as you heard, he includes a lot from those conversations in the video. Though to answer your question, DWG, I’m not a pantser,* but a plotter. I plot out 95% of the stories I write, sometimes with several pages worth of notes, names, and plot points. It’s just with Rose, I had to adjust the outline as I discovered issues with the story and had to find new ways to fix themm. Thus we have a story where, at one point, over two-thirds of the novel were rewritten to fix one or two major flaws with the stories.

And obviously, I liked his review. While stating that he likes it and would recommend it, he also goes into what he didn’t care for in the novel. I’m happy to hear that there were things that could be improved. And no, your preferences aren’t weird. I can understand, though if, in the future, a novel requires that kind of storytelling, I probably will use it.

Yes, I know I should state what exactly his criticism was, but I figure by not telling you all the specifics, you’re more likely to watch the video.

Speaking of which, if you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you check out DeathGroundWriter’s video and give it a watch/listen. And if you like what you see/hear, give the video a like and consider subscribing. Doing so supports his channel and allows him to continue doing what he’s doing, so I recommend you at least think about supporting the channel.

At the same time, if you would like to check out Rose, I’ll include the links below. Please consider checking the book out and, if you read it, please consider leaving a review. Positive or negative, I love receiving feedback from readers, and your thoughts help me out in the long run. Believe me on that!

Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ve got exercising to do and stories to write up. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

*Pantser, for those who don’t know, is a writer who discovers the story as they write. Basically they make it up as they go along, only they do it much better than someone who needs to come up with a quick cover story for why something they did is really suspicious.