Rami Ungar The Writer

I’m Writing What I Know For Once

Posted: February 11, 2013 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
Tags: college life, editing, entertainment, Ohio State University, short story, writing

Last semester, I wrote how I continue to write about subjects I have no personal experience with, despite my creative writing class’s textbook’s insistence that I do so. It wasn’t that I thought anything from my own life wasn’t good enough for writing about, it’s just that I was more interested in writing about a demon causing a human to become a cannibal or a war between humans and werewolves than I was writing about my anxiety before a test or my sometimes stormy relationships with my sisters. When people like my dad would tell me to at least give it a shot, I would usually reply, “That’s too scary for literature.”

But lately–and I blame the workshops I’ve been taking for this–my writing has taken a more personal tone. Over break, I wrote “Enigma” (later renamed to “In The Lady Ogre’s Den”), which has an autistic child as the main character. I’ve worked with kids with autism before, and I’m even on the spectrum, though I’m very high-functioning. Later I wrote “Old Sid” for class (I’ll be turning that one in a week from Wednesday) and that story takes place on the Ohio State campus, where’ I’ve either been working, learning, or both for the past two years. And recently I’ve been working on a short story called “Three Life Saving Phone Calls”, which is based on some dark experiences in my life that for a time made me very depressed and even contemplated suicide. Sure, I’ve changed so much around that it’s now only very loosely based on my life, but if someone were to look closely, and if that someone knew a lot about me, they could see through the fictional veneer and spot what I’ve taken from my own life and put into the story.

Why the change? Like I said before, I think it might have something to do with the workshops I’ve been taking. The emphasis on literary fiction as opposed to genre fiction requires me to be more personal than I have been, and a lot of what those workshops have been teaching me I’ve assimilated into my writing. I guess finding ways to make my own life and experiences interesting is part of what I’ve taken away from these classes. I’m not exactly sure if it’s the best thing for my writing–after all, I’m still devoted to genre fiction, and I prefer to use imagination rather than confront an actual serial killer–but while I’m stuck with this new appreciation for things in my life and using them in my writing, I might as well take advantage of it to the fullest.

And besides, who knows? “Three Life Saving Phone Calls” seems to be just literary enough that I could submit it to a major literary journal, one that pays its contributors. That’s the hope, at least.

What about you? Do you use your own life in your writing, or is your work so strange that your life couldn’t find a place in your work?

Getting A Promotional Work Ready

Posted: February 10, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
Tags: editing, publishing, short story, writing

As many of you know, I’m preparing to release a collection of short stories known as The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones (you can find the link for the Facebook page below). As I’m getting ready though, I want to also release some other stuff, drum up a little excitement. Which is why I’m hopefully going to be releasing a promotional short story later this week, so that until The Quiet Game comes out, you’ll have something to at least get an idea of what my writing is like (especially if you’ve never read any of my work before).

I won’t say much about the short story in particular, except that I will tell you I wrote it in high school and have given it several edits over the years. However, as my high school English teacher Mr. Guinan said, “There comes a time when a story is done. Not perfect, but done. When you can’t do anything else to it, when you can’t polish it or improve it anymore. It’s just done.” And this story is definitely done.

So tomorrow I’ll see about creating a cover that matches the story, turn the whole darn thing into a PDF file, and when I have the copyright, I’ll upload it onto Amazon and onto Smashwords (the latter makes it available on Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and a bunch of other sites). Now, the copyright is still going to cost money, so I’m on the fence on whether or not to charge for downloads (and if so, how much). So if you have an opinion either way, please let me know. As always, I value your opinions.

I hope to have more on this short story soon. I also plan to create a page called “Other Work by Rami Ungar”, but I’ll get to that when the time comes.

And once again, thanks for reading and thanks for supporting me. I really appreciate it.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheQuietGameFiveTalesToChillYourBones

I Can’t Believe The Entertainment Industry Is Taking Most Of The Flack

Posted: February 10, 2013 in Politics and Leadership, Reflections
Tags: entertainment, government, gun control, politics and leadership, proper decisions

Today on the bus downtown I was reading my latest Entertainment Weekly, and there was an article talking about how the entertainment industry is under increasing scrutiny for gun violence in the United States and different perspectives on the debate. Not long after that, my friend and fellow blogger Matt Williams posts an article about how two Swiss human rights organizations have recommended taking certain aspects out of video game violence because in the real world those same aspects might constitute war crimes if performed (for said post, please click this link: http://storiesbywilliams.com/2013/02/10/war-crimes-in-video-games/#comment-8258).

Has the world lost its mind?

First off, the movies, TV shows, books and video games are all fictional. FICTIONAL! Not real, never happened, the product of someone’s imagination and transferred to us using words, visuals, and (increasingly) technological gizmos. If you can mistake something in a movie or a video game for real, I think that points to some underlying psychological disorder.

And that’s the problem here, isn’t it? People with psychological problems getting their hands on guns, and often they get them through legal means more often than they get them illegally. In fact I read the other day an article about a man who was released from a mental institution after being incarcerated for murdering his mother. Not long after he got out, he bought up a ton of assault weapons and wrote in an online diary that he thought about killing all the time. It wasn’t until a police officer noticed the man had bought the guns, realized who the man was, and that he shouldn’t have guns in the first place did the man get arrested again. Seriously folks, we need more help for the mentally ill and better protection from dangerous weapons.

By the way, nowhere in this article did video game violence come up.

In fact, not a lot of killers are actually influenced by the entertainment industry to become killers, if any at all. Eric Harris was a sociopath who influenced Dylan Klebold, a manic depressive, into becoming a killer. Adam Lanza seemed to have Asperger’s syndrome and a few other problems, plus access to a bunch of guns in his mother’s house. The guy who shot the Sikh temple in Wisconsin was a neo-Nazi who believed he was doing the world a favor. The guy who shot up the first responders in New York was inspired to kill by Adam Lanza! The guy who kidnapped the child off the bus in Alabama seemed to have a thing for conservative pundits on the radio (not very entertaining, right?) and possibly suffered from a persecution complex. And James Holmes? Well, I’m not so sure The Dark Knight is wholly responsible (I have my own theories on what drove him to murder, but I’m not a psychologist, so unless asked to tell I’ll just hold off).

In fact, our psychological state of mind is based on biological, sociocultural, and environmental factors. So if James Holmes’s biology, culture, environment, and his social circle was defined by The Dark Knight, then maybe we might have to examine the entertainment industry. Besides, there are no studies that indicate a link between video games and gun violence. Not even a correlation, which is only a possible indicator of causation. Emphasis on possible. And the people who say that there is a link that just hasn’t been found yet, such as Wayne LaPierre, are usually in favor of gun rights or are actually paid to advocate for gun companies. Should we really believe these guys when they say the guns they own and try to sell say that guns can’t be apart of the problem our society is facing?

Besides, I still believe that humans are rational beings with the power of choice. Most people know that killing is wrong, that firing a bullet at someone means they probably won’t get up again if they’re hit, and that the soldiers in video games or the serial killer I created or Bruce Willis’s character in the Die Hard films are not real and therefore so is the gun violence, which means the cool gun violence in those examples are as real as the tooth fairy. And most people choose not to kill others. Those who do, and do it with assault weapons are, like I’ve said before, are mentally ill and need pscyhological counseling.

So stop blaming the entertainment industry. Yes, there’s more violence in media these days, but that’s a response to both the world and what the world wants in its media, but if we start censoring our TV shows and video games and movies, I think we’re doing more to set up a totalitarian state than we are by confiscating dangerous weapons. And where does the censorship end? When media is dull and boring? It’s a horrible direction to go down.

So let’s not censor. Instead, let’s actually work to create a safety net for those with mental illnesses that make them dangers to themselves or to others, keep military-grade weapons out of the hands of citizens (even well-intentioned ones), and institute universal background checks. That’s a responsible response to the wave of violence the United States is facing right now.

Review: Justin Bieber on Saturday Night Live

Posted: February 10, 2013 in Review
Tags: entertainment, review, Saturday Night Live, Weekend Update

People are free to disagree with me. I’m fine with that. But I must say it, because it has to be said: I was not that impressed by Justin Bieber on SNL tonight.

I think the funniest skits were the ones where they made fun of Bieber, like during the Miley Cyrus show sketch. However there were moments where Bieber shown through as having comedic talent. That opening monologue, where he messed up Black History Month facts was hilarious. And the Californians sketch is goofy as ever. Oh, and Bieber as a greaser–ha! They made the impossible look halfway possible.

Still, this is one of those episodes where they really didn’t know what to do with the host, so they mostly made fun of who and what he is, with a few brilliant moments besides (for another illustration of this, check out the Bruno Mars episode from October).

However, the regular cast members were phenomenal as usual. I love Vanessa Bayer’s impression of Miley Cyrus, and those Booker T. Washington sketches always get me, especially when Jay Pharoah and Keenan Thompson do their thing as Principal Frye and the gym teacher. Plus that one sketch with “glice” and Taram Killan acting like a total doofus was hilarious. Even Bieber couldn’t keep a straight face. And let’s not forget that Cold Open, where they made fun of the Super Bowl blackout was genius. I couldn’t stop giggling. And during Weekend Update, Thompson once again wowed with that dude from every commercial. That was so hip and fun.

Oh, and speaking of Weekend Update, despite what was said on Richard III, he didn’t actually kill his nephew, and he wasn’t particularly ruthless. In fact, nobody knows who killed his nephew, or if it was even murder; they just seemed to disappear one day. It’s a historical mystery. Not only that, but Richard III seemed to be very merciful, from what I’m told; he pardoned or gave reduced sentences to several people involved in a plot to overthrow him. Can you believe that? The whole bad image of him that history and Shakespeare gave about him was part of a disinformation campaign by the House of Tudor, who took over the throne after destroying Richard’s Plantagenet house. The whole point was to make Richard look like a villain so that the uneducated masses would look upon the new rulers more kindly than the old ones. I’m a History major, so I know this stuff.

I know it’s not essential to this review to point that out, but I had to anyway. I can’t stand it when history is obfuscated by ignorance or misinformation (which is why I also fight against Holocaust deniers).

Now back to the review.

Really happy to see Whoopi Goldberg in the monologue. That woman is an inspiration. And the Grease parody sketch was so funny, you could ignore that an 11-year-old was in a high school. Also, I thought seeing Bieber with his old hair in the “Glice” sketch was a treat for me. The music was not my thing–I don’t like Bieber–but I’m sure there were others who thought it was soulful. I was more surprised that there wasn’t any big performances with some of his more pop music hits, to tell you the truth. And that Valentine’s Day message was crazy funny. I’ve never seen Bieber’s supposed sex appeal skewered like that before.

And who knew he was so inked? Yes, I noticed that stuff. Call it a weird detail to notice, but notice it I did.

Overall, a good episode. Not great, but good. 3.5 out of 5. Good night, and if you disagree with my assessment, please feel free to voice your opinion. I’m always open to differing opinions.

Every Writer Does This

Posted: February 8, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
Tags: entertainment, ideas, writing

It’s not uncommon for people reading fiction or watching a movie to identify with a character and say to themselves, “I want to be like that character”, or “I so wish that could be me.” We’ve all done it at least once. For years, I waited for a letter to go to Hogwarts, and was a little disappointed that I never got one, even if I knew it wasn’t possible to get one. Teenage girls today look at the Twilight books and films and wish they were so lucky that two hunky, supernatural guys would fight over them, even if one of them has some personality problems and wants to bite you. And I think plenty of us have wanted to blow up the Death Star or use the Force (I know I want to be a Sith Lord).

But it may surprise some people that writers of fiction do this too. In fact, it’s not uncommon for writers to insert themselves in their stoires, sometimes in very heroic or very different roles that are unlike who they really are. Now, you may be thinking, why should a writer do that? Shouldn’t they be creating figures we ourselves want to emulate, not figures they want to emulate or wish to be? But if you think about it in a certain way, it makes sense:

Nobosdy ends up a writer by accident or by purpose. We end up as writers through the various events in our lives. Yes, some of us show talent early on, but we don’t end up becoming writers just because we display talent. I ended up a writer because I liked to create stories, and writing allowed me to take those stories and share them with others in a very efficient way. Not only that, but I had plenty of people over time who encouraged my writing and helped shape me into the person I am today.

Imagine what would happen if I had never learned to love writing though. What sort of person would I be? Well, maybe I’d be a psychology major instead of double-majoring in History and English. I’d be learning about psychopathy and trying to become an analyst for the BAU. Of course, I wouldn’t look forward to the Stats classes. Those are tough!

Or imagine if I’d never come to Columbus and made a fresh start, but instead stayed at the same school in my old town where I was bullied. I might get fed up with it and one day just snap. This would lead me to become a delinquent with anger issues, and eventually I might go to jail for all of my fighting and other bad behavior. Or maybe an intervention might occur, I’d repent my ways, and become a lawyer dedicated to reforming schools.

Or imagine I was a girl. Would I still write? Might I instead be interested in a different lifestyle? Perhaps I’d be a friendly rival of Lady Gaga in terms of fashion and singing! Or perhaps I’d have done some stupid stuff in high school and I’d be a single mother working her way through college. How would I find time to write with all that going on?

You see what I’m doing here? I’m imagining myself in different roles and under different conditions. And as each person is the star of their own story, I’m basically imagining myself in a story where I’m the star and I’m very different from who I am. It’s not too hard after this to apply myself in a different character role for a completely different story.

And the examples above are only the start. It could get wilder, especially since I write fiction with horror/sci-fi/fantasy elements. Imagine what I would be like if I grew up in a world where psychics were a real phenomena, and about 10% of babies were born with it. Imagine that I was born with psychic abilities. What would my life be like? Or what if one of my siblings was a psychic and I wasn’t? Would jealousy make me do strange things?

Or what if we lived in a world where South Africa was the dominant superpower on Earth? How different would our culture be? Would I still be living in the US, or would I live in Johannesburg?

What if humans weren’t the ruling species of Earth, but some other creature was? Would the relationship between humans and this ruling species be symbiotic or would we be hunted by them? How would I feel about the relationship?

Or imagine if the Kingdom of Israel had never fallen, but had lasted for centuries, expanded beyond its original borders, and Islam and Christianity were minority religions like Judaism is today. Would I live in Israel? What would I be doing there right about now? What other countries, faiths, and cultures would exist? What sort of technology would be available, and would the religious establishment allow or ban certain types of technologies?

Or imagine that humans never aged beyond fifteen, died at sixty-three, lay eggs instead of gave life birth, and turkeys were considered divine symbols? What would the world look like, and what sort of strange comedic science-fiction story would I be living?

You see how this is for writers? We put all these possibilities into motion when we sit down to write and we insert ourselves into the story in some capacity. It’s weird, but it’s what we do, and as you can see from above, it’s a lot of fun to do. I actually do it a lot. And if anyone tells us that we could never be military captains or wizards or the pop divas with supernatural abilities, we just say, “It’s fiction. Besides, who says if things weren’t a little different, I might actually be these things?”

What’s your favorite role to imagine yourself in when you insert yourself in a story? Do you think you could be any of those things if life were a little bit different?

An Idea That Came Too Late

Posted: February 6, 2013 in ideas, short story, Writing
Tags: editing, ideas, short story, writing

I spoke a few days ago about how I had written short stories that were terrible, and that I tucked these short stories away until I can find some way to improve, edit, and/or rewrite these short stories. Lately several of these short stories have gotten edited and rewritten, due to inspiration coming my way and helping to improve the stories while keeping the basic ideas. I’m happy about that.

However, I mentioned a four-year-old story that I’d hoped would get a rewrite or edit someday. I just needed the idea. And tonight I got it. I had such an idea to run with, one that would turn this crappy story into a suspenseful, emotional rollercoaster. I was so happy and thrilled.

But that thrill only lasted a few seconds. You see, the short story I wrote in high school was about a school shooting. And no matter how good of an idea I got, it’s just too soon to do this sort of story. There’s a raging gun debate, parents, teachers, and students are scared stiff that their school might be attacked next, all sorts of options are being discussed. But most of all, there are just too many raw feelings after Sandy Hook.

As great as an idea as I had this evening, I couldn’t write this story without feeling a little guilty. In fact, I’m not even sure I want to rewrite it now. It’s just too soon, and I don’t know if there will ever be a time when I’m comfortable rewriting this story. I’ll keep it stored away on my flash drive, just like I’ve done since high school. Maybe I’ll even edit it someday, when the fears have died down and the memories have dulled a little with time.

For now though, it’s best that I don’t work on this story, especially with so many other stories for me to edit and write. I think that’s the best decision. Don’t you think so too?

Checking Into Copyright Law

Posted: February 6, 2013 in Living and Life, short story, Writing
Tags: college life, Ohio State University, publishing, short story, The Quiet Game, writing

Okay, so today I stopped by the school library to see about copyright laws (if you’re going to self-publish something, might as well be protected by law from people using your work illegally and without permission). According to the woman whom I talked to, it’s actually much easier than I thought to copyright your literary work. A little costlier than I thought, but only by twenty dollars. Compared to tuition money, it’s not too bad. And hey, if this is a success, it’ll be worth the investment.

By the way, I’ve been thinking of releasing a short story not in the collection as a little promotion for The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. What do you guys think? Would you buy one of my short stories if it was priced at ninety-nine cents? Oh, and if you’re uncertain, I’m choosing between a kidnapping thriller and a scary story involving neo-Nazis. What say you?

The Reality Blog Award

Posted: February 5, 2013 in Living and Life
Tags: blogging

Thanks to tazeinmirzasaad of The Transcending Borders Blog (http://transcendingbordersblog.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/reality-blog-award/) for nominating me for the Real Energizing Amazing Lovely Inspiring Yippee (REALITY) Blog Award, one of those Internet meme awards so common to the blogosphere that always bring a warm glow to our hearts when we recieve them.

For this award, I have to answer 5 questions. Here are the answers I made up:

1. If you could change something, what would you change? I think I would create peace in the Middle East, especially in terms of Israel and her relationships with her neighbors. Of course, this would be the top of a very big list; there’s a lot in this world that I would like to change that I shouldn’t need a genie for (*cough* gun problems *cough*).

2. If you could repeat an age what age would that be? I don’t think like that; I begrudgingly accept my mistakes and move on. That’s just how it is with me. If you dwell on the mistakes of the past, you can’t expect to move forward, can you?

3. What is something that scares you? Oh, you know I can’t reveal that? I’m a horror writer; we’re not supposed to be afraid of anything.

4. What is one dream you have not completed and do you think you will complete it? I want to be a successful author, and with God’s Grace, I’ll achieve that dream. Just got to keep writing, one word at a time.

5. If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be? I’d be a sorcerer with the power to stop evil in the world. But unfortunately, I didn’t get a letter to the equivalent of Hogwarts is in America, so I’ll need either a genie or a wizard to give me his book of spells right as he dies in my arms. Anyone got a genie they don’t need? I think the second one has to happen by chance for it to work.

And now for the 3 bloggers I’d like to nominate for this award:

1. Caitlin Kelly of Broadside Blog.

2. Pat Bertram of Bertram’s Blog

3. Cristian Mihai of Cristian Mihai.net

Thanks for the awards, and congratulations to the nominees. You are all my inspiration to keep writing.

Update on “The Quiet Game”: Another Short Story Is Ready

Posted: February 4, 2013 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
Tags: editing, publishing, scary stuff, short story, The Quiet Game, writing

The next short story in my upcoming collection of short stories, “I’m Going To Be The Next James Bond”, is finally ready for publication. This was the fourth short story I wrote over vacation, and it’s one that gave me a bit of trouble writing. Nevertheless I got it done and boy, do I like how it turned out. It’s weird, it’s creepy, it’s a little spooky. Hopefully readers will like it too.

I didn’t have to change much for the final draft. My beta reader for this short story, my mother Rabbi Wendy Ungar (yes it’s my mother, but she gives pretty solid advice, not just praise), told me to add in some creepy elements in order to better the story near the end, and that’s what I did. Now there’s a gross undertone with one of the characters, something that might make you a little afraid of that character too. Thanks Ima for the advice and for using Stephen King stories for it too.

I need three more stories in order to publish “The Quiet Game”. Hopefully my beta readers for those stories will also get back to me soon. In the meantime, I’ll keep you updated on the progress of everything as it coalesces. For the Facebook page for “The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones”, click here: