Rami Ungar The Writer

Names, Names, Names

Posted: June 25, 2012 in Reflections, Writing
Tags: writing

You ever come up with a character, give them a background, a personality, give them certain scenes where certain character traits that you just admire and adore in them really shine? And then you realize this character of yours shares the same first name as somebody you know? Becuase it’s happened to me twice that I can remember.

The first time was in my early years of high school, when the vampire craze was still in full swing (or was it just taking off?). Anyway, I was writing this great character, a vampire desperately trying to find a cure to become human again and kill the vampire who’d turned him, but I realized he shared the same first name as a friend and classmate of mine. When my friend found out, he kept saying whenever the subject was brought up that I’d named the character after him, and when he found out they both had brown hair (but different shades and styles), that conviction only got stronger. Well, I decided to hold off on the story until vampires were in an in-between-bursts-of-popularity period so I wouldn’t look like some hack trying to hitch a ride on a bandwagon, but for a while it was annoying.

The second time involves Snake, actually. I had this wonderful character in mind for the female lead. I’d already planned out her role and her character traits, and wanted to find a name that began with an A to match her (she just seemed like an “A” person to me). It must’ve been three weeks after I’d settled on a name that a girl in my dorm whom I’m friends with shares the same name. Luckily, she hasn’t found out yet, creating no misunderstandings, and I’m not sure if she has my blog’s address, but it’ll be interesting if she finds out and asks if I based the character on her. To which I’ll reply, “Are you eighteen and a redhead?”

Has this ever happened to any of you? Please let me know if it has.

Ripple: Getting Published!

Posted: June 24, 2012 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
Tags: progress report, publishing, writing

Oh my God! Big news, ladies and gentlemen! I don’t know how many of you remember, but a while back I wrote a short story involving alien visitors to Earth called “Ripple”. This evening I got on my computer and saw that the editor of Nth Degree, a science-fiction magazine, had emailed me. He wrote he was going to publish “Ripple” as a featured story in the magazine’s online edition and would be letting me know soon when the story would go up.

Well, as soon as I read that, I started dancing in my room! I put on disco music on my computer and started boogie-ing down! I’m so happy write now, it’s hard for me to stay calm. Thank you to Michael Pederson, editor of Nth Degree, for accepting “Ripple”. I cannot wait to see it online!

If you want to check out the website–maybe submit something to it–the link is down below. Oh my God, so excited right now. I still can’t stop dancing! I’ll give everyone a heads-up post when the short story comes out. Have an awesome day, just like I’m having!

http://nthzine.com/

The “Snake” Outline

Posted: June 22, 2012 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: novel, writing

Okay, I’ve mentioned this before, but this summer I’m working on a new novel called “Snake”, and it’s about a serial killer. Right now, I’m working on the outline of the novel, becuase I prefer using an outline before starting a novel. I have to say, I’m not even done with the outline, but it’s already proven itself to be a learning experience:

For starters, while I’ve thought about Snake and what I wanted to do with him for a while, writing out the actual outline and planning out the rough draft of the plot has been kind of like going down a river: I’ve just gone where it’s taken me. Scenes I had half-planned in my head are becoming fully-formed, while other scenes are being created rifht at the moment I write them down and a few scenes are being dropped completely! It’s hard deciding what to put in, what to keep, and what to discard, but in the end I feel it’s making the story better.

Also, if you read thrillers you know that the chapters are often very short, which is because the authors want to keep the suspense up as much as they can. Learning how to do that myself has been very intersting, and I think I’m getting the hang of it. I mean, I’ve just finished Part III (these novels always come in parts) and the story is already 60+ chapters! That’s at least three times “Reborn City”! I wouldn’t be surprised if the final chapter count is in the hundreds! Oh, and did I mention that if this novel were a movie, the end of Part III would probably be about two-thirds of the way through the film?

I hope to have the outline done within the next week. By that time I’ll know what I want to do with my story and how I’ll go about doing it. So wish me luck! I’ll give you another update when I’m done with the outline.

Review: Prometheus

Posted: June 22, 2012 in Review
Tags: entertainment, films, review

The film poster for Prometheus. It’s huge in this post for a reason.

OH MY GOD! I FINALLY SAW IT! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Ok, spazz-out done. Let’s get down to it without giving away any plot points or whatever. Wow. What a movie. I was put into suspense, I got scared a few times, and I couldn’t stop putting my hands on my face at every scary or gruesome part. Yeah, I liked it. It was so much fun learning about the origins of the Xenomorphs and seeing their evolution from simple to close to what Sigourney Weaver fought in 1970. The characters have been criticized by other critics as being “too two dimensional” but I felt they were real enough, especially considering that it’s a slasher film with sci-fi bio-warfare as the killer. And I was left with more questions than when I came in, so I guess that means there’s going to be a sequel! In fact, I’ll be disappointed if there isn’t.

My one qualm is that the beginning might move a little too fast and be a little more confusing if you can’t adjust too quickly, but it becomes easy to follow after that.

I give this movie a 4.3 out of 5, for showing me the evolution of the Xenomorphs and for scaring the crap out of me at some points.

Looking At Old Posts

Posted: June 21, 2012 in Reflections

You know, I always find it interesting when I see that someone has been reading an older post. And you know, this happens a lot, to tell you the truth: not a week goes by that it doesn’t seem like someone’s been reading one of my Saturday Night Live reviews, and it’s either the bad one I gave Lindsay Lohan or the good one I gave Jonah HIll.

And just yesterday, someone was reading one of the earliest posts I’d ever written, back when only my parents and a few friends knew I’d set up a blog. I can’t help but wonder how people stumble across these posts and what they think of them. And if they’re from a non-English speaking country, what do they think of the post, whether or not they speak and read English? To me, it’s an unsolvable mystery, but it’s one I enjoy contemplating very much.

Oh, a few updates for you readers, before I go:

1. I’ve heard from some magazines and an agent recently, and they all say they’ll have their answer to the work I submitted to them soon. So excited.

2. That short story I came up with while meditating? I finished it last night after Jon Stewart. I won’t get to editing it for a while, but I think it has potential. After all, I put psychic phenomena and the 2012 End-of-the-World theory into it. What’s not to like?

3. This afternoon, after I leave work and volunteer for a little while at the Obama campaign, I’m going to go see Prometheus! I’m almost bouncing in my seat, I’m so excited. I’ll write a review about it later tonight if I have the time.

All for now, blog to you later.

Review: Book Girl series

Posted: June 19, 2012 in Review
Tags: review

The Japanese cover for “Book Girl”, featuring Tohko Amano on the cover.

Remember a while back I wrote a post about a Japanese book series called Kieli? If not, I’ll leave a link at the bottom so you can check out the exact post, but I want to talk about another Japanese light novel series: Book Girl by Mizuki Nomura. It’s very different fromKieli, but it’s still one heck of a series. The books follow Konoha Inoue, a teenager who wrote a highly successful romance novel in junior high under a girl’s name. However, the success of the book came at a steep price, and Konoha does not want to ever write another novel, or anything again for that matter.

Then one day in high school, he meets Tohko Amano, an upperclassman (or upperclasswoman, though I don’t think that’s a word) who eats books. No, she really does eat books! And when Konoha discovers the secret, he become’s the second member of the literature club, forced to write short stories as snacks for Tohko. Even worse, Tohko keeps getting him wrapped up in strange mysteries that always seem to resemble different famous novels (sometimes Japanese, sometimes not). What’s a guy trying to move on from trauma and shame supposed to do?

Te novels are very interesting, as I’m kept guessing at every turn, especially when it’s a Japanese novel I’ve never heard of that’s being used for the plot. Even when it’s a novel I’ve heard of, seen an adaptation of, or read though, I can never guess how the mystery will be resolved or how the story will end. It’s perfect for mystery fans with a knowledge of literature, and the characters feel very real to you, especially Konoha, who every moment struggles with his past. Interspersed throughout each book, we can find pieces of the literature used in the novel or the dark musings of characters as they struggle internally, adding a bit of spice to an–as Tohko might say–an already delicious piece of storytelling.

I give this book series–and it’s story-writing and story-eating main characters–a 5 out of 5 for excellent writing and excellent characters.

Oh, and before I forget, here’s that link for the review of Kieli:

https://ramiungarthewriter.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/review-kieli/

The Lucky 7 Meme

Posted: June 17, 2012 in Novel, Writing
Tags: novel, writing

Alright, here’s the latest on the blogosphere: apparently quite a few blogs are doing this thing where if you’re writing a novel or short story, you take your 7th or 77th page (depending on what you’re writing) go to the seventh line, and pull out 7 lines or paragraphs. A few of the blogs I follow did that, so I figured, what the heck? Why not?

So right now, I’m posting lines 7-14 of page 77 of Reborn City, the novel I’m currently trying to market to agents. At this moment of the story, my main character Zahara is getting a tattoo, even though she doesn’t really want to get one. Why does she have to get a tattoo she doesn’t want? I can’t reveal that here, but if you’re an agent and you’re interested, let me know and we’ll talk.

So here’s my Lucky 7 meme:

“Um…yeah, sure. Go ahead.” said Zahara. As soon as Frimms had turned his glance away from her, Zahara closed her eyes. Allah, the Most Merciful and Understanding, please forgive me for this transgression. When I leave the Hydras and return to New York I swear in the name of the Prophet that I will get this tattoo removed, she thought in Arabic. Tattoos weren’t considered cool things to have on one’s body in Sunni Islam; the Shi’ites were allowed to get tattoos, but for Zahara it was much more preferable to get henna tattoos. Zahara figured that if she asked these guys if she could get a henna tattoo they’d probably just laugh or give her a queer look and ask her why she’d want that.

Well, there you go, ladies and gents. I hope that at least whetted your appetites and made you a little more interested in Reborn City. All for now, so bye.

Meditating A New Idea

Posted: June 17, 2012 in ideas, Living and Life, short story, Writing
Tags: meditation, writing

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it on Rami Ungar the Writer, but I’m into a form of Eastern meditation known as Sahaja Yoga. It was founded in the 70’s and the goal is to awaken the dormant spiritual energy inside you so that somebody can not just correct problems in their lives they may be having, but in order to achieve Self-Realization, a form of spiritual evolution. Sahaja Yoga is very popular and easy, and it has followers in over a hundred countries.

Why do I mention this? Because just today I had some trouble with an idea for a short story and I was able to overcome that trouble with the help of Sahaja Yoga. It happened like this:

Just this morning, I woke up with an idea for a short story in my head: what if someone had lived a life, but had forgotten that life through the interference of someone else, and started remembering their former lives after several years? I’m not sure if I’d dreamed that or if I’d come up with that idea while sort-of half-asleep, but when I was fully conscious it sounded like an excellent idea.

Just the one problem: how could I write an original, exciting story with that idea without sounding like I’d stolen someone else’s idea? I sturggled with the idea, unable to come up with an exciting take or angle to work with, until I went to meditation class today. As soon as we started meditating, my mind cleared and all of a sudden my mind was filled with ideas for the story. Eventually, by the end of the meditation, a half-formed story, with names, places, a plot, and even a few lines, was in my head. I could not wait to get home and work on it. but first I thought I’d write a post about it.

Anyone else interested in Sahaja Yoga now? If you want to, there are websites that can help you learn. It’s absolutely free-of-charge to learn, and the people who are apart of it are so nice. Oh and don’t worry, it’s not like a cult: it’s more like those clubs you went to as a teenager where people dressed up as their favorite Star Trek characters, only with potential health benefits.

I’m including a link for a website used among a lot of Sahaja Yogis, and a video where the founder, Shri Mataji, teaches you the first steps to learning to do the meditation. Try it out; you may find that it helps you in your work like it helps me.

http://www.freemeditation.com/

Review: In Time

Posted: June 10, 2012 in Review
Tags: entertainment, films, review

A poster for “In Time”, detailing in watch-like fashion the date of it’s release (don’t worry though, the movie’s on DVD if you want to see it)

You want to know how I spend the first few hours of my birthday? Starting the previous night, I watch the dystopian science-fiction film In Time on my computer, and then decide to write a post about it…after a couple hours sleep. Well, here’s that post, and can I just say I found this movie powerful? I mean, if the Occupy Wall Street movement wanted a movie that serves as a metaphor for them and the movement, along with the power of the wealthy in this country versus the power of the poor, they’d just have to watch this film.

You know the phrase “Time is money”? In this film, that’s especially true: you earn time, you buy time, you sell time, you lose time, you steal time, and once you run out of time currency, you also run out of life! Lower-class citizens live day-to-day trying to pay debts and have enough to eat while earning their time, while upper-class citizens can live for centuries with the amounts of time they have. Justin Timberlake (who is such a versatile actor as well as a singer) and Amanda Seyfried (who looks a lot like Emma Stone to me) play a ghetto tough and a little rich girl who see the corruption in the system and do everything in their power to upset it, all while being pursued by the police-like Timekeepers. It’s a ton of fun, and it really gets you thinking about things in our current system.

Kudos to the cast for their wonderful performance, and to the crew who made a believable world of corruption and nobody truly living. I give this film a 4.5 out of 5.