The Quiet Game: Review #3

Posted: August 21, 2013 in Progress Report, Review, short story, Writing
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Today I logged onto The Quiet Game’s Amazon page and was surprised and pleased to see a new review there. Not only that, but it was a review from my grandfather, Richard Warren. Knowing him it probably took 20 minutes and plenty of coaching from either my grandmother or my mom to help him post the review, but thanks for taking the effort Grandpa. I always appreciate feedback.

Here’s what my grandfather had to say on The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, which he entitled five tales can be stronger and gave a 3-star review:

“These five tales are interesting. I read 3 stories one day & two the next. They held my interest, but I feel they could better, longer.”

Well Grandpa, the good news is that I’ve improved a bit from the time I’ve written these short stories, so the next time you read my work, I hope it’ll be a bit better then than it is now. As for the length, they’re short stories. They can only be so long before they turn into novellas. If I write another collection–and there’s always a possibility of that, so be on the lookout for future announcements–I hope to include more stories and possibly make them of a longer length. Who knows?

As for The Quiet Game, it is now currently holding a 4-star average and is still doing well. I’m pretty sure more copies will be sold by my next expected update, which will be September 17, exactly two months after the book’s publication. Until then, I’ll have plenty of things to occupy myself. Speaking of which, I have homework and laundry to take care of, so I’m going to get on that.

Until then, I’ll blog on you later, and once again, thanks to Grandpa for writing a review and giving his honest opinion. I appreciate it.

The Power of Bad Memories

Posted: August 20, 2013 in Novel, Reflections, Writing
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Some philosophers and psychologists will say that memory is what makes us who we are, and it’d be hard to say they’re wrong. The retention of past experiences plays a great deal in shaping our personalities, our sense of selves, and how we interpret and react to the world around us. As I’m writing Laura Horn, one of the novels I’m working on at the moment, I’m beginning to understand this concept of memory and what it has over us.

My protagonist and titular character Laura Horn is a victim of sexual assault. Her dark experiences have never been dealt with and she’s still affected by not only the experience of what she went through, but by the memories she has of the assault.

I think for most people, good memories tend to sleep below the surface of our consciousness, always there but not at the forefront of our thoughts until we need them. For example, someone could be driving down a road they hadn’t traveled down in a long time could remember the last time they travelled down the road, maybe with a lover or someone they really liked and what they did that day. Immediately they may feel happy. less stressed, or more excited about their life and their day as the memory returns to the sea of our consciousnesses.

Bad memories though, tend to act like monsters. Fresh memories or those that were formed relatively recent, tend to be worse. They latch onto your consciousness with their teeth and claws, reminding you of their presence, of dark experiences and horrible mistakes, and they never let go, upsetting your day and causing you terror, anger, anxiety, and other negative emotions.

I have more than a few memories I would rather forget, and this is reflected in the way I write Laura’s interactions with her memories. Whenever her memories surface,  she tries to push them away and berates herself for bringing those memories forward in the first place. I feel the same way whenever my bad memories surface, though I learned that instead of pushing them away and berating myself over them, I’ve learned it’s just much healthier to accept the memories as they are and not get too upset over them.

Like I said, Laura hasn’t dealt with her experiences and her memories of those experiences, let alone how to healthily deal with her memories. Because of this, she’s still very stuck in the state of mind she had when she was attacked. She’s terrified of the world around her and most of the people in it. She wishes for the past to change and to return to a happier time, even though she knows this will never happen. Her life is dark and she is terribly unhappy.

I’m hoping as time goes on and I continue writing, I hope I can help Laura move past her experiences to a happier state. To me, this story is more like Laura telling me what her story is about rather than me making up events as I go along, so I’m hoping as time moves along, our collaboration on her tail will yield some positive results.

Until such a time, I have to examine how Laura interacts with her memories of her assault and how those memories be affected as she gets ever closer to the main events of the story, which will change her life forever. And maybe, while doing so, I’ll come to understand my own life and experiences, especially the bad ones, a little bit better.

The Case For Genre

Posted: August 19, 2013 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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At Ohio State, the two professors in the English department who are published and celebrated authors (at least locally celebrated) are literary authors. In the two fiction workshops I took last year, the focus was on literary writing. As my undergraduate advisor tells me, “Ohio State is mostly about literary.” And whenever genre is brought up, I hear a lot about how it’s not OSU’s thing, or there’s more of a focus on literary fiction, or that there are no professors who write genre fiction among the staff.

As a genre writer, particularly one of horror, I have to disagree with this. Yes, literary fiction is more focus on character development and on character-driven stories than genre. I am willing to admit that. However, I find it somewhat hypocritical that contemporary genre fiction isn’t worth examination and study in the English department. Yes, there’s a couple of classes that examine science fiction and fantasy, or famous monsters from literature, or YA fiction (I’m taking that first one this semester). But that’s not an acceptance of genre fiction. Ohio State still doesn’t accept genre fiction, at least not any within the past fifty years.

Personally I find that strange, considering how much genre fiction is used in required courses and in general scholarship. I mean, look at it: Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth are examined in classes all the time. If those were written today, they’d be classified as psychological thrillers with supernatural elements. And A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest would most likely be fantasy stories.

Ever read Beowulf? That’s in early British fiction courses all the time, and it is fantasy if ever I’ve seen fantasy. Rip van Winkle? Definitely a ghost story, seeing as Captain Hudson came back and put the titular character to sleep for twenty years. Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft? Horror writers and, at least in the case of the former, mystery writers. Frankenstein? The first modern science fiction novel. Dracula, anyone? It’s the basis for the modern vampire legend. Ever read Fahrenheit 451, or 1984, or Atlas Shrugged? They may be philosophical and full of character development, but they are certainly dystopia stories!

So why not contemporary genre fiction, if all this older genre fiction is worthy of attention? Perhaps because it’s popular, or maybe because some of its authors’ fame may not last a hundred years after their death. Maybe the stories haven’t had as much of an influence on literature as others have. Who knows?

But to exclude modern genre fiction just seems wrong. After all, the majority of people see literary fiction as boring or too elite. If English Studies is supposed to examine the English language, how it is used and how it affects the common man, and how it should be used, shouldn’t genre fiction be given as much consideration as literary fiction? Because honestly, genre fiction can have as much an effect on English literature as literary fiction, and sometimes even more.

So don’t exclude it. Include it, with all your academic heart and soul. You may find something there that is worth studying and makes including genre fiction more than worthwhile.

The Catalyst: An Essential Element For Fiction

Posted: August 19, 2013 in Reflections, Writing
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Catalyst: like a line of dominoes.

According to Wiktionary.org, a catalyst is, when used in literature, “an inciting incident which that sets the successive conflict into motion.” In other words, fiction, which is reliant on a conflict of some sort for the story to occur, cannot exist without the catalyst that starts it all.

I’ve been thinking about the catalyst for a while now, and I’ve come to believe that the catalyst is actually a pretty interesting and underappreciated element in fiction writing. Imagine what would happen if Katniss Everdeen had never volunteered to take her sister’s place in the 74th Annual Hunger Games and instead of Peeta, Gale had gone to the Capitol? There would be no story. Katniss would somehow go on with her life after a period of depression, and maybe even still get together with Peeta at some point, but would anyone really want to read that? That single catalyst, Katniss volunteering to save her sister and Peeta being selected to go with her to the Capitol, is what makes the story interesting, that draws us in and makes us want to see how events unfold.

And the catalyst for a story can take many forms. It’s usually the first thing you learn in writing any story. In a romance story, it’s usually boy and girl meet for the first time. In a mystery, it’s the occurence of a crime that needs to be solved. In stories like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or The Hobbit, where a journey is prevalent in the story, it’s that inciting incident that causes the need to go on a journey that gets things going. In a zombie novel, the catalyst is (obviously) the appearance of zombies.

You look at any story, you’ll identify a catalyst. Heck, my own stories all rely on the catalyst. In my WIP Laura Horn, the catalyst is the titular character recieving a particular item that causes her to be the target of a government conspiracy. In Snake, the loss of something important to the main character is what causes him to beocme the Snake. And in Reborn City, events that happen to the founders of the Hydras about a year and a half before the story even starts serve as the catalyst.

And speaking of RC‘s catalyst occuring a year and a half before the story starts, you can find plenty of stories where the catalyst to the story occurs a long time before the story starts. For example, for years Harry Potter fans couldn’t identify why Voldemort wanted to kill Harry, thus causing the whole story that would be Harry’s life, but after Book Five, they realized the catalyst for all of Harry’s life was Professor Trelawney’s prophecy being leaked to Voldemort, thus setting his sights on killing Harry.

“Freud was half-right: the causes of all problems are mothers and prophecies.”

Of course if you want to get technical with it, the story began in 1925 when Voldemort’s mother used love potion on Tom Riddle Sr, leading to their elopement, Voldemort’s conception, and his birth. But I digress. The point is, a story can rely on events that occurred years, decades, or in some cases centuries before the start of the actual story to act as the catalyst (I’m thinking of The Lord of the Rings trilogy when I say centuries, by the way). It’s actually a little mind-boggling, if you think about it.

So what more can be said about literary catalysts? Probably a lot more than I could probably come up with, especailly in a blog post. But to finish this post, I’d like to say that without the catalyst, the fictional stories we love so much, despise so much, debate so much, examine so much, and write fanfics to so much, just wouldn’t exist, and I think our world would be a lot less interesting to be in.

Fall Semester 2013: What’s Going On Leading Up To It

Posted: August 18, 2013 in Living and Life, Poetry, Writing
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It’s happened folks, I finally did a post about my school life that doesn’t have a sports metaphor or analogy to it.

In four days, I will start my third year at the lovely Ohio State University. Yes, my Michigan relatives, I said “lovely”, and don’t use the fact that we’re without a president to troll. Our football team will still kick your butts come Thanksgiving weekend, so go watch Downton Abbey and be glad the people on that show never get hit by giant football players wearing scarlet and grey!

So now that I’ve sent some wolverines running with their tails between their legs, let me tell you what I’m looking forward to this semester: first, I’m taking five classes this semester, though it feels like six since one is split up into a lab and a lecture. That class happens to be Introduction to Biology, which I’m predicting will be my most challenging class this semester. However I’m determined to get all A’s this semester, something that I’ve been trying to do ever since I got here. On the off-chance that doesn’t happen, I’m making sure to come away from this class with at least a B.

Another class I’m taking is an online Introduction to Sociology class. It looks like it’ll be a challenge as well, but if it’s anything like my Anthropology and Psychology classes of past terms, I’ll most likely get anywhere between a B- and an A, which is what I plan to work towards. I’m also taking an English class required by the English department called Writing For English Majors. You think with a title like that the class would be self-explanatory, but it’s not. Trust me, I’ve read the description and it probably won’t make sense till I read the syllabus. How typical is that?

And there are two classes that I’m really psyched up for this semester: a class called Science Fiction and Fantasy that’s a literature course, and Holocaust as History. The first one is as its title suggests, a class that examines themes in sci-fi and fantasy fiction and applies it to what we read and our world. There are some very interesting books in this class, and we’ll also be watching 2001: A Space Odyssey for class. Looks like I’ll be able to pull out my HAL 9000 impression for this class. And it’s also a chance to possibly advertise Reborn City.

The other class is also pretty obvious from its title. The Holocaust is the focus of my History major, so I’m looking forward to the subject matter. We’ll be reading, among other books, both volumes of the comic book Maus, which if you haven’t read I seriously suggest you do. I’m hoping to learn a lot about the Holocaust from this class, more than I already know, though I don’t think you can read or learn anything about the Holocaust without learning something new.  I can’t wait for it!

Some other things are coming up that I’m looking forward to: my roommate Morgan and I moved into our new apartment a couple days ago, so it’s going to be an adjustment for the both of us, paying rent and bills, cooking and cleaning, getting along with another person in the same living space (though we seem to get along pretty well already). Plus we’re the resident managers of our building, so there are responsibilities for that. Hopefully we can hack it!

Also there are the usual things with classes, getting homework done and doing all my requirements for my classes and whatnot. Plus I have work three days a week, so I want to get a lot done with that and keep my paycheck, maybe earn a little extra with a few extra shifts. And I want to finish Video Rage and Laura Horn, get RC out and finish the final edits on Snake.

And there’s some new stuff this semester: in September I’ll be applying for a trip abroad to see some of the most important sites of World War II Europe, and trying to get as many scholarships for said trip as possible. And I want to be a bit more sociable this semester, instead of spending every evening in front of the TV. Meet new people, make friends, and maybe go out on a date or two. Who knows? I just want to see what happens.

But of course, the ultimate goal is to get good grades. And I will work hard for that, believe me.

Finally, I would like to leave you with a little poem in honor of Morgan and I moving into our new apartment. It’s called “Night-Night Flat” and if you can’t guess what it’s based on, then you’ve been missing out, my friend.

Nighty-Night Flat:

In the land of the Bucks,
There is a two-bedroom flat.
It’s apart of a building
Which may have bats.

In the flat there’s a novelist and an engineer
The novelist writes scary stuff,
But his roommate has nothing to fear.

There’s a Doctor in the fridge,
He doesn’t travel through time or space,
His last name is Pepper,
And he has an excellent taste.

There’s a very creepy ghost over there,
Who we hope will be good to his hosts.
You see, it’s not the renters,
But the ghost who should beware.

On the TV there are four funny nerds.
The tallest one is very absurd.
And in a large rectangular box,
Is a vacuum cleaner that totally rocks.

There are several characters running out of the novelist’s imagination,
They somehow become physical and fill the room with their talk and animation.
And in the engineer’s room is a bunch of books,
Each with a very special opening paragraph for a catchy hook.

Nighty night flat.
Nighty night bats.
Nighty night building.
Nighty night other flats.

Nighty night novelist.
Nighty night engineer.
Nighty night to all their friends and peers.

Nighty night Dr. Pepper,
With your wonderful taste.
Nighty night ghost, who won’t disturb his hosts.
He just learned that the novelist’s parents are rabbis,
And quite possibly also exorcists.

“Oh, so you’re the one who stole my boxers! You’re going to get it when I sick the cheerleading team on you!”

Nighty night nerds on the TV,
We’re not really sure what the really odd one’s girlfriend sees.
Nighty night vacuum that totally rocks.
You are powerful in the way that you suck.

Nighty night characters from the novelist’s imagination.
Nighty night engineer’s books, which are good enough to cause sleep deprivation.

Nighty night Buckeyes everywhere.
And nighty night Brutus Buckeye’s underwear.
Yes, I said that, and I went there.

The Quiet Game: One Month Later

Posted: August 17, 2013 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Review, short story, Writing
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It has exactly been one month since The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones came out. Yes, one month. Feels like a lot longer, but it’s only a month. A pretty crazy month too. I moved into my new apartment with my roommate Morgan, I worked most days, I saw some old friends and met some new ones, and in four days the fall semester starts (more on that later).

I’ve sold 25 print paperback copies and ten or eleven digital copies so far (there’s a guy I met who said he’s going to be downloading the book tonight. Depending on how long it takes for KDP to register a download, I may not find out till tomorrow). Also, I’ve gotten another review on Amazon, this one from Jason Haxton, owner of a box that is said to be possessed by a dybbuk, a demon from Jewish folklore. You may also know him as the author of the book The Dybbuk Box, a book detailing his experiences with the box, and the movie The Possession, which is based on Haxton’s book.

Here’s what he had to say on the book, which he gave 5 stars. The title of the review is Nailed It:

I happened across The author Rami Unger about a year ago when he was researching the paranormal online.
He nailed the Dybbuk story. Write more… soon! Jason Haxton Author of “The Dibbuk Box:.

Pretty awesome, huh? And coming from an author of a really excellent book and someone who’s experienced the supernatural before, I take it as a compliment. Plus his review has brought The Quiet Game‘s rating to a 4.5 average. I cannot complain. Oh and Jason, I have a book coming out in November. If you want me to let you know about that one too, I will.

If you’re interested in reading The Quiet Game, check it out on Amazon or Smashwords. And however you feel about the book, please write a review if you have the time. I always appreciate feedback, whether it be positive or negative feedback that I’m hearing.

Hope things are going well with you tonight. I’ve got another blog post and some writing to do before I go to bed tonight. Wish me luck.

Review: Elysium

Posted: August 16, 2013 in Review
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It’s been a while since I’ve seen a movie such as Elysium, one that’s not just visually, but also intellectually stimulating and emotionally invigorating. I was so glad my roommate Morgan and I went to go see it.

Plus we had a laugh afterwards making fun of right conservatives’ reactions to this movie.

Elysium, directed by District 9‘s Neil Blonkamp, depicts a world where the rich literally live above us all, in a Mercedes-logo satellite called Elysium where there is no war, crime, or sickness and all the buildings look like a cross between mansions, Greek temples, and sci-fi edifices. On Earth, the rest of humanity have to deal with poverty, non-existent education, sickness, and crime. That is, until Max de Costa, played by Matt Damon without any hair, gets hit by radiation during a workplace accident and learns he has five days to live. Returning to his old criminal contacts, Max will go to great length to go to Elysium and save his life. What happens next will change the course of human history forever.

What was interesting about this film was that it didn’t follow the normal flow for a sci-fi action movie of this sort, which is introduce the world and the conflict, dive right into the action, have your resolution after a ton of explosions and deaths, all while avoiding character development that can’t be done in a few frames or in a very tense emotional scene with romantic or beautiful background music. Instead, Elysium flows more like a novel, with a slow but steady build-up to the catalyst that causes the conflict in the story, several twists and turns of action and espionage and deceit in the middle, full of character development that penetrated deeply into your soul, and an ending that, while unconventional for sci-fi movies, left you feeling satisfied and full of joy and hope.

Unless of course you’re a right wing conservative, which means you left this movie in tears because you thought you saw the future.

Elysium was well-executed in terms of filmmaking. The settings were vivid in their portrayals of excessive wealth and terrible degradation, the special effects were extremely realistic, and the ways you could relate this film to our own lives and the United States political system these days are many (not surprising, considering whom the director is). My one complaint is that at one point, the all-powerful healing machines do something that I think is a little like cheating, but other than that an excellent movie.

For all of the above, I give Elysium a 4.5 out of 5. Best of all, no bad sequels. I cannot wait for what Neil Blonkamp will make next.

My Fourth Self-Pub Authors Article

Posted: August 16, 2013 in Journalism, Writing
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It’s been a little while, but I’ve written my fourth article for that wonderful website, Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. I wrote and posted it yesterday, truth be told, but afterwards I started moving into my new apartment, and the cable guy wasn’t scheduled to come and install the Wi-Fi until after I left for work today, and I’m only writing this now because it’s lunch break, so please forgive me for letting you know earlier.

This article, called Can & Should You Ask For Reviews?, discusses whether or not you should ask for reviews from friends and family and how you should go about it if you decide to do so. Already it’s caused quite a bit of discussion, with many people saying they disagreed with my conclusions and with some people adding onto my advice. I’m glad everybody’s discussing the article, even if not everyone agrees with it.

Go check this article out and check out the rest of the website by clicking on the links above. It’s quite a helpful website for authors of all stripes, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Self-Published Authors are Not Entitled to a Free Ride

Posted: August 14, 2013 in Writing
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These days, you have self-published authors asking their readers to finance their editing fees, the creation of the book cover, and even vacations/plane tickets/living expenses. And when these authors don’t get “donations”, they can throw hissy fits.
This is not acceptable behavior, and will only harm the author in the end. We as readers don’t owe them anything, especially without garauntee of anything back. For more, read this article by novelist and fellow writer for Self-Published Auhtors Helping Other Authors, Ruth Ann Nordin.

Unrequited Love In Fiction

Posted: August 13, 2013 in Reflections, Writing
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We’ve all felt it at some point. Unrequited love. That feeling of such deep attraction to someone who may only see us a friend or like a sibling, maybe a coworker, and sometimes they don’t even notice us at all. It’s heartbreaking, gut-wrenching. We yearn for that person, even though we know that yearning will never be returned. And the feelings we feel hurt us, they slay us from the inside. We want to let go of these feelings, because the ache we feel for these unattainable objects of desire is just so much that some days we can barely stand it. And yet we find it so hard to let go, because as painful as those feelings can be, they can also enhance us and make us enjoy life and being with the people we love, even if they don’t love us back.

Perhaps that is why when a character in a book, TV show, or movie has unrequited feelings for another character, we feel it so keenly, rooting for them while knowing that in all likelihood, those feelings won’t be returned and we’ll have to watch them suffer throughout the story.

I’m actually using a character struck with a case of unrequited love in one of the novels I’m writing at the moment (I won’t say which one because I’m guarding the plots of both rather jealously), and I feel very sorry for this character, for many reasons but this one especially. He’s friends with one girl but he wishes to be more with her. She seems him only as a friend or a kind older brother, and she’s not even aware of his feelings, so it’s tough on him. Still, he goes to great lengths to help her, and that makes him feel good and that at least he can be friends with her.

As I write this, I’m wondering why authors write stories or characters involving unrequited love. Obviously there’s a market for stories where the character(s) is in love with someone they can never have. It’s something most people can identify with emotionally, and it’s definitely an obstacle for the character to overcome. And even when the story doesn’t focus exclusively on the character’s feelings for someone who has no romantic inclinations for this person, it can make for an interesting subplot.

In fact, I think every author should experiment with unrequited love in a story at least once. It’s a sad sort of story to write, but it’s still one that authors can empathize with in most situations, and by drawing on personal experience, you can write a story that feels real. Plus the fans (should you be lucky enough to have any) will really dig it.

What’s your take on stories about unrequited love? And no, you don’t have to tell us your own experiences unless you really want to.

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