The Inspiring Blog Award

Posted: October 3, 2012 in Living and Life
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You know, I never put much stock into blog awards, but a really good friend of mine on the blogosphere nominated me for an award, so I’ll do the same shtick and nominate a few others. But before I do, did someone else nominate me for an award a while back? I remember being nominated, but I didn’t do anything about it. Oh well, I’ll have to check it out later.

Anyway, I have to write 7 things most people don’t know about me before I nominate anyone, kind of the rules of the award. Okay, here I go:

1. I’ve used firearms before. Although I’m very much into sensible gun control, I’ve used both military grade rifles and simple handguns before. The first one was while in Israel, when I took part in a 4 1/2 day training simulation in the Israeli army, which culminated in us going to a firing range to shoot some weapons into targets (best part of the whole experience, I tell you!). The second time was at OSU’s pistol club, where for $10 you could purchase about fifty rounds and shoot holes into little paper targets. It was exciting and I enjoyed it, but I was very afraid of what my dad would say, even though I did it mostly for researching what using a gun was actually like. I didn’t tell him for nearly a year!

2. I once made some friends think our hotel room was haunted. One time I was rooming with some friends at a hotel, and I was the only one in our room one evening. I also had the only key to the room and I was about to take a shower, so I decided to leave the door open a crack for them. Just as I’m about to get into the bathroom, I hear my friends outside say, “Why’s our door open?” Me being me, an evil idea popped into my head and I hid behind the door, slowly opened it, and then slammed it shut.  My friends ran screaming, “Ghost!” This still ranks among my top 5 pranks I’ve successfully pulled.

3. I got a special mention at my graduation. My graduation had less than 20 people. That meant that not only did everyone give a speech that afternoon, we also had our own little blurbs that we wrote ourselves in the graduation playbill/pamphlet thing. On mine, two of the things I wrote were, “Known to always have a comment” and “In his past life was either Ludwig van Beethoven or some powerful demonic entity (probably the latter).”

I can’t remember the name of our guest speaker, but she was a state representative and she came up after all our speeches were done. She starts talking, saying that she’ll only be a few minutes. Then she turns around to face us graduates on the stage and says, “And Rami, no comments!” After the laughs die down, I say, “They always ruin my fun.”

Later she mentioned the diversity of the class, saying, “We have a hockey player, the reincarnation of Ludwig van Beethoven…” It was another highlight to an already awesome day.

4. I’ve worn nail polish before. And every time, it’s been freaking hilarious! For the record though, I’ve only done it twice.

5. I do a great Michael Jackson impersonation. Ah, I miss that man; he went before his time, like too many stars these days. Anyway, I can moon-walk, dance, sing, and talk just like the King of Pop himself. I even went as MJ for Purim, which is the Jewish version of Halloween. I was so convincing I won my high school’s costume competition.

6. I’m distantly related to Natalie Portman. But only through marriage, by which I mean my dad’s wife’s distant cousins are the ones who are actually related to her. But it’s still a relation, right?

7. My sweet tooth is my weakness. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to stop myself from eating sweets! It’s a big problem, and I work hard so I don’t gain weight from all the sugary stuff. It’s easier in the winter though, because I’m not consuming so much ice cream and I’m working out more. I wonder why that is?

Alright, time for the nominees. If you wish to check out their blogs, it’s at the end of their nomination. Each nominee is a writer in their own right who has inspired me to some degree or another and whom I’ve had long conversations with before via comments. Congratulations:

Jason Alan: A poet and writer living in France, Jason always has some poetry or a funny little short short to share. An outspoken critic of those who use religion as an excuse for bigotry and ignorance, and a whistleblower on those who use their money and status to manipulate the people, Jason always has something to say to those who feel like commenting on his blog, be it to tell him how great he is or to tell him that he’s going to hell for being an atheist/socialist/whatever-ist. http://jasonalanwriter.wordpress.com/

Pat Bertram: A novelist from out West, Pat has years of experience in writing and in life, and she always has thoughts to share on either. She’s been Freshly Pressed three times, and she is a woman to be admired. Pat, thanks for all our conversations. I hope we have more in the blog posts to come. http://ptbertram.wordpress.com/

Cristian Mihai: A novelist from Romania, Cristian is an inspiration to me. He’s self-published several times before, and has written several books already. He is always willing to share his thoughts on writing, and to give you tips if you should so need them. Good luck to you in the future Cristian. http://cristianmihai.net/

All for now. Congratulations to the nominees, and I hope we can blog together for several years to come.

Snake: Onto The Outline Edits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why I Write Horror: My Childhood Trauma

Posted: September 27, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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A kid surrounded by strange monsters; I wonder what he’s going to do when he grows up? Probably write fantasy.

I think most horror writers, mystery writers, or thriller writers have something in their childhood that send them into the worlds of darkness and fear. Something in our young lives causes us to gravitate towards murder and psychopaths and demons and very graphic sex scenes (yes, I said that). Some of us have more trouble than others remembering and figuring out what childhood traumas we have, if any.

For a while, I thought I didn’t have a childhood trauma, that I just naturally liked murder and monsters. Of course, that says some scary stuff about yours truly, so what do I do? I try to rack my memory for something in my childhood that might’ve made me like hell and high water.

This evening, it finally came to me. Toledo Ohio, my old hometown, where I lived until I was nine, but when it happened I couldn’t have been more than seven, most likely five or six. My parents were both rabbis at the same synagogue, so I had free range pretty much  over the whole building. And behind the bimah, which is the raised area in the back of the sanctuary in a synagogue, was a small little passageway that opened up on either side of the bimah. The passageway led to where the boiler/furnace/whatever were hidden, and I thought I’d go exploring.

I went into the sanctuary, where two men on the synagogue staff were collecting prayer books from the seats. I didn’t really notice them–they were staff, I was a privileged rabbi’s kid, you get the idea–but they noticed me. And they decided to play a prank on me.

I walked into the passage, and I heard the humming of machines keeping the synagogue at the right chapter. I stand there listening for a second when the two staff members show up on either side of me, with freaky smiles on their faces. The taller (and I think older) says to me, “You hear that sound?” Me, being a little kid and freaked as hell by their smiles, nod in the affirmative. The other one says to me, “That’s the sound of death.” After he says that, the sound of the machines humming seem to change and to become the sounds of buzzsaws cutting things in two, at least to my little ears.

So what did I do? I ran! I ran past the shorter one, out the passageway, and did not stop till I was halfway between the sanctuary and my dad’s office, which to a six-year-old is quite the distance. I didn’t tell my parents. I bottled it up and got on with the day.

A few weeks later, I went into the sanctuary again, this time when those two staff members weren’t around. But it didn’t occur to me that they might not be in that part of the synagogue today or even in the building; to me they were in the passageway, waiting to kill me. Or at least, I thought they might be. I wanted to go in there, to show I wasn’t going to die and that I wasn’t scared.

I went in. Nobody else was there. I left, alive and healthy and full of hyperactive pep. I’d conquered my fear, proven that I was stronger than my fears. Later I forgot the incident, but I remembered I’d conquered my fear, that I’d been stronger than it, that I had ruled over it.

From that time onwards, I slowly but surely became entranced with the macabre and freaky, the stuff that fills nightmares, even when I felt scared by it too. Why? Because I felt that even if something scared me, I could control that scary thing, just like I had conquered and controlled my fears in the passageway. I started really getting into writing, and then after a while, I started really getting into writing scary stories, as well as reading them. Recently I’ve had some luck with publishing them.

And tonight I remembered what scared me back then. I called my dad to see if he remembered the staff members in question. He said that judging by their descriptions, they were most likely two men by the names of Bill and George, though he finds it hard to believe they’d pull on a prank like that on a kid, let alone the rabbi’s son. That, and he likes to joke I was dropped on my head as a child, and that’s why I’m so strange.

So now I remember my traumatic episode that propelled me towards controlling the things that scare others. It’s all because of two men with really sick senses of humor. But I’m not resentful; in fact, I’d like to thank Misters Bill and George, wherever you are today. Did you know that I’d become a writer of scary stories? Probably not, but I hope you eel sorry for what you did. If you don’t, it’s going to be really hard for you to accept that you’ve been outed on the Internet (my little revenge).

Well, now that that’s out of the way, I’ve got classes tomorrow, so it’s time for bed. Good night, and if I can’t write a post tomorrow, have a nice weekend.

I Lost A Follower Today

Posted: September 27, 2012 in Living and Life
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Someone stopped following my blog. I’m not sure who, all I know is that I had 82 followers through WordPress one day and today it’s 81. I don’t know if perhaps they got rid of their blog and decided it wasn’t necessary anymore, or if, God forbid, they died and left instructions to disable their account after their death. I think the most likely scenario is that I wrote one article they liked, but after that article they didn’t see enough of that article afterwards, and they decided it wasn’t worth the four or five posts I write each week to continue reading Rami Ungar the Writer.

So how does that make me feel? A little saddened; I feel a boost of confidence every time I get a new follower, but losing one just makes me feel like I wasn’t able to give the follower everything they were looking for. I guess what I’m feeling is sort of like a mini-beak up; it’s tough, and it’s preying on me every time I visit my Stats page, but I’ll learn to move on and hope new followers will come and find my blog and think it’s damn interesting, and that those who already follow me will continue to follow me as I try to achieve my dreams of becoming a professional novelist with plenty of readers out there.

That’s the hope, anyway.

Have you ever lost a follower? How did you deal with it?

The Latest Idea: Dybbuks

Posted: September 26, 2012 in ideas, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Leah’le, a character from the 1937 film “The Dybbuk”, who was possessed by the titular spirit. Based on the play of the same name by S. Ansky

Well, it seems I have a lot of creepy stuff on the mind lately: evil dolls; succubi; and now dybbuks. Anyone want to put down bets on what will be the subject for the next short story?

Anywho, I saw The Possession a while back (wrote a positive review of it) and just now I finished watching The Unborn (one of those movies that I enjoy but the critics just seem to hate). Both have to do with dybbuks, which if you are unfamiliar with, are spirits that were once the souls of humans but, according to Jewish mysticism, were barred from Heaven or turned away from God and became monsters that possess human beings, looking for a second chance at life.

Both these films got me thinking about dybbuks, and now I want to write my own story about a dybbuk (or maybe more than one; who knows?). Of course, it won’t be like The Possession or The Unborn, which follow the typical possession-exorcism story. Instead, I’ll probably try to make the dybbuk seem like a hero instead of a villain, and maybe I’ll mix in some British folklore while I’m at it (I’m not saying what or how, but I will say it involves dogs).

i’m not sure what sort of story I want to tell yet, but I’ll see what I can come up with. I just hope that I don’t accidentally summon something by thinking about it too hard like I did when I was researching succubi!

Getting Back Into Snake

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

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

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

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

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

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

What Would You Remember If You Went to Rekall?

Posted: September 24, 2012 in Reflections
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Rekall: So good, you’ll never want to come back. Unless your name is Douglas Quaid, of course.

So last night, I decided to watch the original Total Recall, and let me tell you, I liked it, my only problem with it being that the terraforming scene at the end of the movie was a little too ridiculous for me. However, I’m not here to review Total Recall (whose remake, from what I heard, can’t really compare to the original). I’m here to discuss Rekall, the company at the beginning of the film that gives you false memories of wonderful vacations for a price. I was watching the scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character is getting the spin from the doctor about the wondrous packages he could recieve, the memories that were only a few hundred credits away. It made me think, What sort of memories would I pick up if I went to Rekall?

Okay, most of you who know me probably think they know what I would get if I went to Rekall. And now you’re thinking, Of course we do. And now you’re wondering if I’m psychic or something, to which I reply I’m not. I’m also going to tell you that my dream vacation would not be becoming the leader of a demon army and taking over the world. Nor would it be becoming a slasher serial killer and having my own scary movie. Did any of you guess either of those? If you did, then what sort of deranged person do you think I am?

Anyway, this is what I’d want to do if I went to Rekall to get some memories implanted in me: I’d be just a normal human who one day discovers I have magic powers. I would gain a cool magical weapon and a spirit familiar, and I would soon discover that my magical powers mean I am prophesied to stop an evil army from taking over Earth and a magical realm in a parralel universe to Earth. Reluctantly I would take on the mantle of hero and I would go off to fight the demon army, which is comprised of wicked humans who believe they’re controlling the demons, but in reality it is not that simple.

Along the way, I would meet a really cool girl with fighting skills and magic powers and we’ll become friends and fighting partners. I’l also make some more allies, a few rivals, and some more enemies. I’ll train under various masters of magic and combat, learning all I can, and I’ll even discover some amazing things about my friends and about myself along the way, including that my fighting partner is also a princess from a lost kingdom who disappeared years ago and is unaware of her own parentage.

There will be cool fights, a couple of plot twists, one or two love triangles, and maybe a betrayal, but of course, in the end the bad guys get their asses kicked, I get the girl, and we all live happily ever after as Earth and the magical realm come into contact for the first time and learn to live with each other.

Okay, now I showed you mine. You show me yours. What would you do if you went to Rekall to get memories implanted? Would you go on an adventure? What kind? Or would you rather spend it doing something ordinary, maybe spending a couple of weeks in an exotic country? Touring your favorite vacation spot? Maybe you’ll go back in time to an era you’ve always wanted to visit? Let me know, I’d love to hear it.

The First Draft Is Done, Thank God!!!

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

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

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

Review: Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Saturday Night Live

Posted: September 23, 2012 in Review
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Yes, I’m doing another SNL review. But before you groan, let me just say, I got some very positive responses on the season premiere, and the SNL cast and writers are doing very well on fulfilling expectations. So I’ve got four words for you: can you blame me?

Alright, on to the review part of the post. Joseph Gordon-Levitt; oh my God, I think that guy became a sex symbol for both women and gay men this evening, when he not only did an impression of Magic Mike during the opening monologue, but cross-dressed during the latter half of the show. I think someone out there might’ve fallen in love with that guy. But that wasn’t all; he was funny, he could do various accents and impressions, and he reminds me of guys I knew at Jewish summer cap, so that’s a plus in my book. Add all the serious roles he’s done lately, and I think Mr. Gordon-Levitt could have a very long career in Hollywood as a star who can do many different roles. Just don’t go weird Scientology on us or jump on couches while on a talk show and we’ll be good.

As for the skits…damn! The writers seem to be thriving under the pressure. That cold open was great! And having Mumford & Sons, the musical guest, play a song during one of the skits was just great, especially when the writers somehow manage to work in an actually decent Jerry Sandusky joke. And Kate McKinnon on Weekend Update as Ann Romney had me laughing so hard. I hope she plays that role some more before the election is over. A special mention goes to the Republican-sponsored birth control fake ad and the rapper’s fashion talk show where it showed two rappers slowly becoming effeminate. Also, I’d like to say the “Powers & Powers” skit was great, though I was sad it had to be cut short due to time constraints.

Final score on the review scale: 4.7 out of 5. Join me for another review of SNL in two weeks, when Daniel Craig tries his hand at comedy (and if they really do have Jennifer Lawrence of Hunger Games fame afterwards, like the rumors are saying, I’ll review that too. Oh don’t roll your eyes, I like this show, and it’s doing really well so far this season!).

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