Succubi, Blog Header, and Likes

Posted: August 13, 2012 in Writing
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Now that’s a title I never thought I’d write in my lifetime. But there it is.

Anyway, I finished my succubus short story, Dodi Li, and as I believe I said in a previous post, the title is Hebrew for “My beloved”, which is important in this story, though I won’t say why. I didn’t focus so much on the inner conflict as the outer conflict after all, but I think the story is actually stronger for it. Anyway, hopefully I’ll be able to find a home for it after I edit the story, whenever that is.

Also, I changed the tag line of my blog and actually put spaces between the words of the blog title, something I’ve been meaning to do ever since I realized that my title was all one word and my tagline was rather bland. I changed the tagline from “Just another WordPress.com site” to “Scared yet? My job here is done.” In my family, we often say “my job here is done” when we scare or gross each other out (which happens more than you think). I thought it’d be good to incorporate that into the tagline, and it was a better choice than anything else I had in my head. Hope you like it.

Oh, and I found out today I have over 200 likes. Thanks to all those who read my blog over the months and pressed the like button; I couldn’t do it without you. All for now, I’ve got some relaxing to do now that I’ve finished writing nine pages of words about a succubus named Umuruk.

A Plot Formed: Moving Forward On That Succubus Story

Posted: August 12, 2012 in ideas, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Alright, remember on Thursday or Friday last week I said I was working on a story involving a succubus, I got about two pages in, and I had trouble figuring out where the story should go next? Well, I figured it out, thanks to an hour-long session of meditation and thought-clearing.  I now know how  best to go from here on out, so after I finish this blog post and take care of a few more things, I’ll get to work on the short story.

That reminds me, do any of you readers have any rituals or tricks you use when you’re stuck on a story and can’t figure out what exactly to do? Let me know; I’d love to hear them.

Self-Publishing In My Life…Again!

Posted: August 10, 2012 in Reflections
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Last night, Jon Stewart invited an author onto his show who had originally self-published her memoir on growing up a religious Mormon before it was picked up by a major publishing compnay and became a best-seller. This morning, I read a post from a fellow blogger who not only self-published, but for this post had interviewed another self-published author who is doing quite well with her writing. And earlier this week, while waiting for the doctor to show up at my appointment, I talked to the nurse about self-publishing and how it’s changing the writing industry in so many ways.

And of course, at some point in the past two weeks, I saw an ad for that self-publishing miracle, Fifty Shades of Grey.

My point is, self-publishing is more relevant today than ever, and the only reason I’m touching upon this subject again, when I wrote a post about it a few months ago, is because it keeps popping up in my life and invading my thoughts. More and more I think about publishing my novel through a self-publishing service, when a few years ago I would’ve seen it as a vanity press and a scam and turned my nose up at it! A few years ago only a few authors did self-publishing, while today many do and get famous from it (E.L. James and Christopher Paolini are great examples). And with the blogosphere full of writers, it’s all too easy about how novels are getting published through this method and how happy the authors are about it.

If you’re a self-published author, tell me! What’s your take on it? What have your experriences been? Because I seriously want Reborn City to become a novel and I’m seriously considering taking a look at Lulu or Createspace to do it!

Conflicts Within and Without

Posted: August 10, 2012 in Scary Stuff, Writing
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Last night, after a ton of research and a basic idea of how I wanted to begin the story, I began writing the short story involving a succubus. I decided to call it Dodi Li, which means “My Beloved” in Hebrew and tell the story from the perspective of the succubus herself, who I’ve named Umuruk (sounds like a Biblical name, but remember that Japanese comic book I mentioned with the succubus character that started this whole thing? It’s her name backwards).

I managed to get two pages in, but then I realized something: there was a problem with the conflicts of the story. And I intentionally say “conflicts” instead of “conflict”, because I plan to have Umuruk deal with two conflicts instead of just one, an inner conflict and an outer conflict. The inner conflict is Umuruk struggling with herself; she wants to do something, but is conflicted it morally and spiritually. It’s the old “I want to take such-and-such action, but if I do, how will that effect me and my beliefs, or the beliefs of those close to me” problem, and I plan on giving Umuruk a hard time with it.

The outer conflict however, was the one with the problem; I had planned on the outer conflict being human in origin, but now I realize there are several different ways I could take this story. I could have Umuruk struggle with another spirit, with a human foe, with her duties as a succubus. It could go any number of ways and I’m still not sure which one would work best for the sort of story I have in mind. So now I have to focus on that and see which one would make the best story in my opinion.

You ever have problems such as this? If so, let me know.

You Mean We Could Have Stopped This?!

Posted: August 9, 2012 in Politics and Leadership
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You know, this is the third post in the past month where I’ve had to say something to the government due to a horrific, gun-related tragedy. But are you surprised? I read an article today about how an analyst for Homeland Security wrote a report two years ago that said that domestic, non-Islamic terrorist elements were a real threat. However, the report was lambasted by conservatives, particularly Newt Gingrich, who said that the only real threat to national security, existential or otherwise, was Islamic in origin. Afterwards, DHS reduced the number of analysts tracking non-Islamic terrorist elements in the country to one, and made it clear not to pay too much attention to these non-threat threats.

Okay, first off, I don’t think you can be a Muslim, let alone Islamic, if you’re a terrorist. It just goes against Allah’s teachings, and I’ve studied enough of Islam to know that. Not only that, but did you see what happened in Wisconsin? Guys like Page, the neo-Nazi who killed several people at the Sikh temple, would’ve been watched carefully by Homeland Security if it weren’t for the fact that Homeland Security was told to focus only on Muslims who had radical leanings, Page might’ve been caught and stopped before this tragedy occurred.

Daryl Johnson, the man who originally wrote the report detailing these non-Islamic threats, says he wasn’t surprised that this attack happened, though he certainly is saddened by it. He even mentioned that if DHS had a unit to tracking these sort of people, Page might have been apprehended and no lives would have been lost.

Personally, I am very upset. Those in charge of the Department of Homeland Security showed discrimination in saying that only Muslim-Americans could be considered threats, and that everyone else could not possibly commit terrorism. Also, this man Page had a history of violence and arson, yet he still managed to get a gun somehow, and it would not surprise me if he got it legally. We have got to stop politicizing the gun control/right to bear arms debate and put in some stricter laws that prevent criminals and those with suspected criminal ties and tendencies to getting to guns, particularly guns you’d expect the military to have.

Congress, I’m calling you out now. You better do something about this now, or things are only going to get worse!

If you wish to read the article I was reading, please click on the link below:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/right-wing-terrorism-sikh-attack_n_1752726.html

Studying Succubi: A New Short Story

Posted: August 8, 2012 in ideas, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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I was reading a horror/romantic-comedy manga recently (yes, those combinations do happen in the world of Japanese comic books) and one of the characters, a succubus, had to face and accept a hard truth about her life, all the while preparing to fight a great evil (can’t a demon girl get a break?). The sub-story kind of touched me and I suddenly got the idea to write a story involving a succubus.

So for the whole day, I’ve kind of been doing research on succubi. I looked at the Wikipedia page, I read online testimony from people who said they’ve been visited by incubi and succubi, and I even watched a few videos on YouTube. Right now I’m watching a special on books that’d been excluded from the Christian bible because I heard part of the series focused on Lilith, who according to many traditions was the first succubus.

So far no plot has made its way into my twisted head, but if I don’t get one soon, I’ll come up with one based on whatever comes up from one of those random word generators. Hey, if it works for high school English teachers, why can’t I use it.

So if you have any info on succubi and other such spirits, feel free to let me know. Just don’t send me one if it’s a malevolent spirit! I’ve had too many experiences with bad spirits over the years, and I’m not looking for any more!

The Doll Story Is Done

Posted: August 7, 2012 in Progress Report, Writing
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Doll, clown, and evil all in one; can it get any creepier?

You heard it here folks, the first draft of my story of an evil doll is done. This was one of my more difficult stories to write, and I really struggled at certain points to keep putting down the words on the paper. However, last night I managed to finish it, and my sigh of relief and satisfaction was a loud one.

I’ll take another look at it in a couple of months; I know there’s a lot to improve upon, and I want to come at it anew when I do. Until then, I’ll see what sort of other stories I can come up and work on. I’m in one of those periods where I’m really productive with my short stories, so I plan to keep going for as long as possible.

When Is Enough Enough?

Posted: August 5, 2012 in Politics and Leadership, Reflections
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I turned on my computer, logged onto the Internet, and what did I see? “BREAKING NEWS: Shooting at Sikh Temple!” The first thing that goes through my mind is “Oh my God!” The second thing that goes through my mind is, “It’s like Aurora all over again.”

And you know what? It is like Aurora! Sure, the shooter is dead, so we may never know what motivated this attack, and it’s too early to know what sort of weapon the shoorter was using. But how many more shootings are going to occur before the elections before we get some stricter gun laws?!! I’ll be shocked if Congress doesn’t act on this! And if it doesn’t, then maybe they will after another shooting occurs! Because you know what Congress not taking action tells people who may be tempted to do their own shootings? It says nothing will prevent them from getting guns the legal way, so fire away!

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the Second Amendment. If someone wants to go hunting or protect themselves in their homes, that’s their choice and it’s protected by the constitution. But when anyone can walk into a gun shop and buy an assault weapon used by military forces, then you know something’s not right!

So Congress, do us all a favor, make some stricter gun laws before we suffer any more deaths!

Ripple Getting Published: Update

Posted: August 3, 2012 in Progress Report, short story
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Hey, how’s everybody doing? Remember I told you that a science-fiction story I wrote was getting published back in July, but the editor of the magazine wasn’t specific on when it would be published? Well, just got an email from the editor: he was waiting for a nice collection of short stories to come to him before he began the publishing process, but now that he’s reached his quota, my story Ripple should be hitting the net in November at some point.

Now, I know some of you are thinking, Isn’t that a little late in the year? Well if you ask me–and since you’re reading my blog, I’m assuming you already asked–if you ask me I’m just happy it’s getting published at all, so better late in the year than never. And until then, we know another short story I wrote, Aasif, is getting published next month, so that’s something to look forward to, right? Something to tide us over until we can read about aliens visiting Earth.

So until next time, have a great weekend, and try and stay cool!

Happy Birthday to Rami Ungar the Writer!!!!

Posted: August 2, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report
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Happy Birthday to the blog,

Happy Birthday to the bog,

Happy Birthday to the blog,

Happy Birthday to the blog.

Yes indeed, ladies and gentlebloggers, it was exactly one year ago that Rami Ungar the Writer hit the Internet. And what a year it’s been: including this post, I’ve written 108 posts, racked up 3,049 views (an average of 8.4 a day), at least 150 likes (I lost count after 100), 50 followers that I know of (there’s more than one way to follow a WordPress blog besides signing up through WordPress, and I have no idea how many people do that), and 122 comments. I survived my first year of college, found out two short stories I’d written are going to be published, and was even honored by Anne Rice at one point. But most of all, I’ve found some loyal readers and some great friends, whom I can always count on for an interesting and fun comment conversation.

I’d like to thank WordPress for being an awesome blogging website, and I’d like to thank everyone who’s been with me up till this point. I hope you stay with me while I continue blogging and working on achieving my dream of becoming a horror novelist.

Now before you go out and decide what gift to buy for me, please read the rest of this post:

1. I would appreciate it more if you donated money to an organization supporting LGBT rights, helping victims of assault and/or abuse, supporting Israel, or that gives funding to underfunded school. However if any of you want to help me pay for college, I would not mind at all.

2. I am giving you guys a gift or two instead today. Below are two videos off of YouTube. The first is from Disney’s 1951 film Alice in Wonderland, with a hearty rendition of “A Merry Un-Birthday”. I chose this because I wanted a video that doesn’t have the regular birthday song, and because I couldn’t find any birthday songs that sounded scary. Besides, even if I don’t care for this particular adaptation, I just love Alice in Wonderland!

The next video is from the people of HISHEdotcom, who are always to take the latest Hollywood blockbuster and tell you How It Should Have Ended. This is one of their latest videos, detailing all the problems of Prometheus and how they think it should have been done. You should really check out their other videos if you like this one, they’ve done stuff to just about every type of movie imaginable.

Hope you enjoy these videos. Have a lovely day. See ya!

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