Posts Tagged ‘authors’

The 7 Beauties of Fantasy

Posted: November 22, 2013 in Reflections, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

This is the second in my series of blog posts exploring the general guidelines or common themes that appear in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror (click here to read The 7 Beauties of Science-Fiction). This whole series started in my science-fiction/fantasy literature class this past Wednesday, when we examined the 7 Beauties of Science-Fiction, we also came up with an original list for the 7 Beauties of Fantasy, and I on my own came up with 5 Beauties of Horror. I thought a series of blog posts sharing and examining these various beauties would be helpful and fun to write, especially when you consider how often the three genres intertwine and overlap.

Now without further ado, here are the 7 Beauties of Fantasy, seven themes or motifs that are found in most fantasy stories, as the examples I pick will show.

1. Character–someone through whose eyes we see this mysterious world. Every fantasy story has at least one focal character, someone through whom the world we’ve been introduced is explained and explored. These sort of characters usually end up becoming heroes of some sort and we end up identifying with them very deeply in the course of the story. Examples include Bilbo Baggins and his nephew Frodo in the Lord of the Rings canon, Eragon in the Inheritance Cycle, and Nick Burkhardt in Grimm.

2. Setting and culture–the magical, mysterious world our character explores. If it’s a fantasy novel, there’s almost a 99% garauntee that the world is nothing like the world we live in, and there’s a 100% certainty that something will need to be explained to us. Be it Middle-Earth, Narnia, or Harry Potter’s Wizarding world, there’s a whole realm to explore, with its own cultures, nations, societies, geographies, floras and faunas, and so much more. It’s up to the author, through the narrator’s eyes, that we find out as much as we need to about it.

3. Novums and Neologisms–technology/tools and words/phrases exclusive to the world we are in. Just like in science-fiction, the world of the story in fantasy has words or devices that are exclusive to that world and that we don’t understand entirely. Be it the Invisibility Cloak and Apparation, or the gedwey ignasia and Eldunari, they make no sense in the context of the real world but they make plenty of sense in the context of a fantasy realm.

4. Adventure(s)–you will go on one. Can you think of a single fantasy novel that doesn’t involve some sort of quest or journey or something along those lines? Neither can I. It seems every fantasy story is predicated on the main character going off to save a princess from a dragon or to toss the One Ring into the boiling flames of Mount Doom or find the genie she’s engaged to but who has been kidnapped by an evil sorcerer. Along the way the character fights enormous perils, learns valuable lessons, and grows as a character until he or she becomes the hero or heroine we all long to be on some level.

5. There are things that can’t be explained rationally. How does magic work? Why can a dragon fly when its body is too big for its wings to reasonably lift it off the ground? How come unicorns have magic in their horns? In a science-fiction novel, television show or movie, everything is based on science, and in theory everything can be explained scientificially. Not so with a fantasy story, which are not based on science but on mysterious forces and strange new worlds to explore and are limited only by the author’s own imagination. So don’t ask how come a sword from a water maiden is more powerful than your average sword or how magic can respond to a blood sacrifice, because you’re not likely to find the answer unless the author wants you to.

6. Familiarity–the characters don’t wake up one morning going “what the heck?” The world of the character is the one they gew up in. They know it like the back of their hand, and it would take much to surprise them in this world. In other words, unless they’re a little baby the world isn’t one they are unfamiliar with. It’s the one they know like the real world is the world we know. Not only that, but the world is somewhat familiar to us. You could channel-flip to HBO and might think you’re watching a special on the War of the Roses or on the Norman invasion, and not realize you’re watching Game of Thrones.

7. Internal history–there’s a history to this fantasyland. This is similar to the “historical extrapolation” beauty in science-fiction, but very different. Sci-fi is what could be possible with our world, so the history is the same for the most part. In fantasy though, the world has a very different history than ours. Different nations, different wars, different cultures, different creatures. This world we are visiting through the story likely has its own history that has its own unique players and events. And probably the one person who knows the full extent of that history is the author of the story his/herself (or sometimes not even then: half the time I’m not sure the writers of Once Upon a Time know where there story is going, let alone the entire history of each and every character).

No matter what, fantasy is always a strange and new exploration of new territory. It’s fun to look into and it’s fun to inhabit. And in some cases, it can even become a phenomena lasting years after the new world has entered ours. Knowing how to examine and analyze such places don’t detract from the story, but they make them all the more fun, all the more beautiful.

At least, I think so. Hope you liked the post and be on the lookout for the 5 Beauties of Horror, coming soon.

I’m Writing Again!!!

Posted: November 21, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
6

Good evening, Followers of Fear. How are you this evening? I don’t know about you, but I’m doing great! I just finished Chapter 20 of Video Rage, after working on it on-and-off for the past six or so days. This officially puts an end to my hiatus that kept me from doing any major writing, and puts me back on track to possibly finishing this novel by the end of this year or the end of January (one or the other, most likely).

It’s been over a month since I had to stop writing because of how busy I was with school and work. I just had way too much on my plate to devote any time to actually writing, but now that my schedule’s eased up a little, thanks to the semester ending soon and Thanksgiving coming even sooner, I can actually afford to sit down for hours at a time and just churn out stories. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Actually, the truth is not being able to write might’ve actually contributed to my stress levels getting worse rather than better. But being able to write these past couple of days has been just wonderful. I feel freer than I have since I began my hiatus, and now that I’ve gotten another chapter under my belt, I’m on a little bit of a writing high. In fact, the writing high made me write a longer chapter than I normally would’ve. Not that I mind though. I think the chapter the way it is right now is pretty awesome. It was a huge fight sequence, which I’m not normally good at writing. But I managed to extend it from what might’ve been a six-page chapter to a ten-page chapter, and it looks better than what I had originally planned, so it’s kind of a win-win situation.

I’ve also decided that working on two novels at once is not the best idea for me. One moment I’m yearning to work on one project but I have to work on the other, next moment I’m working on project number two but I want to work on the first project. It’s a little bit annoying. So for now I think I’ll stick to finished Video Rage, which has only seventeen chapters left in the first draft, and then I’ll get back to working on my other work-in-progress, Laura Horn. After that’s all done…well, who knows? Maybe some short stories, a new novel, some editing work. All depends on what’s on my schedule and what I feel like doing at the moment.

But to sum it all up, I’m really happy at the moment, and I look forward to finishing the first draft of Video Rage.

And while I have your attention, I also want to extend a hearty congratulations to fellow author, colleague, and good friend Angela Misri, whose Portia Adams novel Jewel of the Thames has just been accepted for publication by Fierce Ink Press. Mazel tov Angela, I’m so excited for you and I cannot wait to read all of Portia’s amazing adventures this coming spring. Keep me posted on the news, okay? Also, if your books get made into movies, who do you want to play Portia? Because from what I know of the character, I think Natalie Portman or Eve Myles would be a great early call.

All for now, everybody. Good night!

The 7 Beauties of Science Fiction

Posted: November 20, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
4

In his book The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction, Istvan Csicery-Ronay Jr. explains some of the most common themes of science fiction. He did this in order to examine how these themes could apply and impact our lives as we navigate a world that relies increasingly on technology and information. However, they also make great guidelines for examining science fiction and for writing your own stories that take place somewhere far off in time and space.

We went over these seven beauties early in the semester in my SF/Fantasy literature course, but today we went over them again. It was an optional class today that focused more on fantasy than science-fiction, and we came up with our own seven beauties of fantasy because the two genres overlap and are entwined in so many way. After class, I came up with my own list the horror, but could only come up with five beauties. Oh well.

Anyway, I thought I’d do a trilogy of posts that focused on the different beauties for each genre, because they are related genres and because they overlap in so many ways, so it’s interesting to examine some of the mores and common themes of these three genres. First, I’d like to start with the seven beauties of science fiction, because that’s what I learned first and it’s from these that my class created the seven beauties of fantasy, and I created the five beauties of horror.

With each beauty, I give a definition and an example, some from books and movies I’ve read/watched, some from my own work, and some that I’ve just heard about. If you have any examples, please let me know. I may just add them into the list.

1. Neologisms–new words or phrases that are exclusive to the world of the story. Every term that refers to something that only exists in that world, that’s a neologism. Consider the term twanking from the short story Mr. Boy, or warp in Star Trek. Those terms are a part of the story, and outside the story don’t have any relevance (unless, for the latter term, you’re a theoretical physicist trying to figure out how to warp something from one end of the room to the other).

2. Novums–technology or inventions that exist only in the story of the world. Take the ansible from Ender’s Game, or the lightsaber, or the TARDIS. These are technologies years ahead of us, only existing in stories and as imitations we see sometimes at comic book conventions. One can consider the flying saucer a novum, because as far as we know, real flying saucers don’t exist.

3. Historical extrapolation–referring to events that happened in the past in order to explain the world as it is now. You know how in Episode IV of Star Wars Obi-Wan explains how the Empire rose and the Jedi Order was destroyed thanks to Darth Vader? That’s historical extrapolation. It’s referring to events not always seen in the actual story to explain how the world we are in came to be. Other examples include how the first invasion of the Buggers in Ender’s Game creates Ender’s world and the aliens coming to Japan during the Meiji era in GinTama.

4. Oxymoron–implausibility or absurdities that only work in the story. An example of this would be crossing a human with a housefly to get a man-fly or radiation causing the dead to rise, like in the original Night of the Living Dead. Another way to look at this would be the idea that the human species develops in other regions of the universe at the same time, and when all the species come together, they find out they are all similar. It’s not likely, is it? Yet we see it in science-fiction and we don’t question it.

5. Scientific Impertinence–when laws that are deemed “unbreakable” by science are broken. Travelling at light-speed without expanding your mass to incredible sizes or traveling through time and space all in the course of a second without any aftershocks or side-effects might count as this. Scientifically, they can’t happen, but they do in these stories.

6. Sublime chronotopes– the space/time of the story. A science-fiction story is our world with added elements of scientific nature. Therefore, Star Trek and everything in its franchise are technically taking place in this world, but in the future and on other planets or in the void of space. Therefore, defining the sublime chronotopes of a story is defining its time and space relative to yours.

7. Parable–what’s the story about? Most sci-fi stories, we will find, is a parable that explores a certain issue. District 9 is about apartheid and racism. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? explores what it means to be human. 2001: A Space Odyssey is about mankind’s dependence on technology. And A.I. Artificial Intelligence explores what could happen if robots and humans learned to bond with each other.

Whether you agree or disagree with these 7 Beauties of Science Fiction, they are useful in exploring the genre. And sometimes you can even use them as a tool in the endless debates that seem to come from popular franchises and stories.

Thanks for reading. I hope to have the 7 Beauties of Fantasy and the 5 Beauties of Horror up soon.

What do you think of the 7 Beauties listed here? Do you agree or disagree? Why? Do you have any examples?

A “Phantom” of an Idea

Posted: November 19, 2013 in ideas, Novel, Scary Stuff, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

As you will see, there’s a really bad pun in the title of this post.

You ever have that song stuck in your head, and you can’t get it out of your head but you really don’t want it to become unstuck? And for those writers out there, do you ever wish that you could find some way to connect that song to your writing? Both happened to me today. And here’s the kicker: the songs in my head were from the musical The Phantom of the Opera, based on the novel by Gaston Leroux (you see why I said there was a bad pun in the title?). What’s worse was that I wanted to write a story written around The Phantom of the Opera.

Sometimes ideas come to me quickly when the inspiration strikes. Today it didn’t. I had to actually spend all day thinking about this story before I came up with something. The story for it was there, I just couldn’t get quite the grasp on it. And it wasn’t until I read some poetry by a friend and stepped out of the shower this evening that this idea for a POTO-based story came to me. I literally started jumping up and down in the bathroom with excitement. I was so happy to have this idea before I went to bed.

Now I’ve written the idea down and I’m writing it here because I wanted to share it with you. It just seemed like the sort of story in my life that I wanted to share here on my blog. The idea involves magic, some familiar characters from the novel and the musical, and a supernatural war playing out in Ohio, New York, Washington DC and Paris, all in the course of at least three books (I love how my mind works. It just comes up with the strangest elements to add to my stories). There’s darkness, there’s intrigue, there’s even a little forbidden love involved. If I ever get the chance to write it, it’ll be awesome.

Of course, I’ve got a pretty full schedule, so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to write it. Hopefully some time soon, right?

Well, I’m going to sign off now (first time I’ve ever said “signed off” in over two years of blogging. How’s that for random?). It’s late, and who knows? I’ve gotten some great ideas from sleeping and dreaming. If anything comes up, I might just let you know. So goodnight, Followers of Fear. See you in the morning.

Snake: Halfway Through The Final Edits

Posted: November 14, 2013 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

Well, Angela Misri and I have reached another milestone as she continues to help me with the final draft of Snake. This evening, I finished edited Chapters 45-48, and sent her Chapters 49-52. And since Snake is a hundred chapters long*, this puts us officially halfway through the final edits of the novel.

*If the fact that there are a hundred chapters in the novel scare you, there’s no need to be worried. Each chapter is less than 10 pages of 8.5″ x 11″ paper, the standard MS Word sized-paper. Not sure how that’ll translate over to paperback, but the point is, each chapter is very short.

I’m very glad for all that Angela’s been able to do for me, and I look forward to every single one of her suggestions. I hope we can do more collaborations together in the future. And I’m also happy to say that at the rate we’re going, that at the outside we’ll be done by the end of January 2014, barring anything unexpected happening.

If you wish to read an excerpt from Snake, you can see one from the final draft here. Also, check out Angela’s blog, A Portia Adams Adventure. Believe me, it’s well worth checking out.

All for now. Goodnight everybody!

Rami Ungar, Author of “Reborn City”

Posted: November 8, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Writing
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Have you ever heard of Pat Bertram? If you haven’t, then let me tell you about her: she’s a mystery/suspense novelist with several titles under her belt, she’s an avid writer and blogger, and among many different writers on Facebook, she’s a bit of a Gertrude Stein figure, with many people congregating in her digital parlor, so to speak.

I’m very lucky to consider her a friend, and I’m happy to say that she and I recently sat down together for an interview on Reborn City on one of her blogs, “Pat Bertram Introduces…”

Please read the rest of the interview if you like, and by all means check out both her blogs and her published work. You won’t be disappointed.

Pat Bertram's avatarPat Bertram Introduces . . .

THUMBNAIL_IMAGEHi, Rami. What is “Reborn City” about?

Simply put, my book is about a young girl forced to join a street gang in a city similar to Las Vegas about forty-five years in the future. And forty-five years in the future, the world’s pretty different. For one thing, the United States doesn’t exist. Instead, the world’s become divided up into city-states and small nations. Another interesting thing is that my main character’s religion, Islam, has been demonized in certain places, so she’s got a tough time of things. I thought those elements would make the beginning of a great novel. I hope the readers agree!

What inspired you to write this particular story?

I was walking home from the library one day listening to a CD I’d just checked out. There were rap and rock tunes on it, and I thought it would be a great soundtrack to a gangster…

View original post 856 more words

Reborn City: 1st Review

Posted: November 7, 2013 in Novel, Review, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
9

Reborn City

I didn’t think it would happen so soon, but it did. Within a week of Reborn City coming out, the first review has appeared on Amazon. This comes Matthew Williams, Canadian science-fiction author and dear friend (I did a review for his zombie thriller Whiskey Delta). Matt also is the author of the blog Stories by Williams and is an authority on all subjects related to science and science fiction. And I’m proud to say, he’s also the guy I asked to edit RC before I got it ready to publish.

And it’s because of all of those that I was really excited to see his review on Amazon today, in which he gave RC four stars. Here’s what he had to say:

“Gangland violence, superhero-like enhancements, a futuristic setting, and social commentary that stems from a semi-post-apocalyptic theme. And then there’s a story where people come together as a family to deal with mutual loss and tragedy. What’s not to like?”

I’m glad you thought so highly of it, Matt! What do you say to taking to a look at Video Rage when I’m ready to show it to someone else?

Well, I’m glad Matt likes it. I’ve had a couple of sales so far, and from what I’m hearing, people are liking RC so far. I had a friend message me over Facebook the other day to let me know that she thought the first couple pages of RC were scary due to the violence. I was like, “I wasn’t intending to scare anyone with the violence, but I’m glad you’re reading it and I hope you enjoy the rest of the novel.” Or something to that effect.

If you wish to read Reborn City, you can find it on Amazon, CreateSpace, and Smashwords. And if you do decide to read it, please let me know what you think. I love feedback, whether positive or negative.

Also, you should check out my friend Matt’s blog. Whether it’s drones threatening to become intelligent, the latest in medical science, changes in climate, or the latest superhero movie news, he’s your guy. And if you like what you see, check out his published work, including Whiskey Delta. It’s worth the read.

Self-Pub Authors Helping Other Authors: My 8th Post

Posted: November 6, 2013 in Journalism, Writing
Tags: , , , , ,
0

I wasn’t planning on writing an article anytime soon, but something happened recently and I had to write about it.

For those of you who don’t know, I also write for the blog Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors, and today I published my most recent article. This one examines some new distribution channels through the self-publish service CreateSpace, and what those new channels might mean for authors and their readers. If you wish to, you can read the article here.

Also, if you’re a self-published author looking for advice on anything from writing, publishing, and marketing your work, I highly recommend you check out and possibly subscribe to Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. There are several useful articles there for writers of all stripes and genres, and the authors there, myself included, are always happy to answer any questions you may have.

That’s all for now. Should you decide to read the article, I hope you enjoy it, and if you have any feedback please leave a comment.

My Scary Scene Might Just Be Okay

Posted: November 3, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about the scariest scene I’d ever written in my career. It was a pretty intense sexual assault scene, so bad that I had to go out shopping in the middle of a downpour just to find my center and write about it in a blog post (it was that bad). Two of the concerns I had with the scene was if it would deliver the emotional effect I was looking for, and was it well written?

Well, I can’t really testify as to the former question. Only readers of the story could tell me, and that novel is still in its first draft. But for the latter, I might have an answer.

The book I’m reading for class right now.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m taking a literature class that covers science-fiction literature (and a couple movies). One of the books we’re reading is called The Windup Girl by Paolo Baciagalupi, and early on it has a pretty terrifying rape scene. I found myself reading it on my couch, putting a hand over my mouth as it ended. I was thinking about it the whole rest of the day and well into the evening, trying to wrap my head around it.

And then I realized something. I felt these same emotions writing my own rape scene. Not at the same intensity, but close to it. And it was written in a similar way to my own scene as well. In fact, I thought to myself, “There are many similarities between the scene in Baciagalupi’s novel and my own draft for Laura Horn.” Now I’m not saying I’m on par with a novelist who’s won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (and besides, his scene had some sci-fi twists, making it very different from mine), but the similarities really sprung out at me, especially the emotional similarities. It made me realize that wondering whether it’s well-written–whether I included the right words, whether I was describing anything right–was the wrong thing to worry about.

Instead, I should be worrying about delivering the emotional impact that you’d expect from a rape scene. The terror, the humiliation, the pain, the anger, the crushing despair. I should be more focused on those aspects of the writing when I write those sort of scenes. If I do that, the well-written part will somehow weave itself into the scene.

So now that I’ve figured that out, I think I’ll approach those scenes very differently in the future, should I decide to do one again. In the meantime though, I think I’ll go to bed, as it’s getting quite late. Goodnight, my dear Followers of Fear (that’s what I’ve started calling people who read this blog regularly, along with those on my Facebook page and Twitter feed. Do you like the nickname?).

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering when I’m going to end this self-imposed hiatus on my writing (if anyone’s wondering that at all. I’m sure most of my readers have more important things to think about, but you never know), I promise you it’ll be as soon as my workload clears up a bit. That might not be till after final exams, when all I have is work at my job and whatever’s on TV or whatever I’m reading at the moment, but on the plus side, exams are in four or five weeks, so it’ll be soon. And then I plan on writing up a mean storm of fiction! It’ll make up for all I’ve missed during NaNoWriMo!

Reborn City: Available Now

Posted: November 1, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
2

Reborn City

Four years ago, I sat down in front of my computer and began outlining a novel about a girl named Zahara Bakur and her experiences with the Hydras. Over two years, taking many breaks for homework and an after school job and reading and a five week trip to Israel in summer 2010, I finished the novel that I named Reborn City. Then, over the next two years, I refined, edited, and polished up the novel, and finally I had my good friend Matt Williams at Stories by Williams take a look at RC before going ahead with the publishing process.

Now, after nearly four years, Reborn City is available for everyone to read. Sure, the print version is a bit more expensive than promised because Amazon said the price had to be so-and-so dollars, which I think is a little dickish, but whatever, it’s still out.

I can’t believe after so long it’s finally out, but I’m very happy and I am so glad I can finally share this novel with the world. If you are interested in reading Reborn City, you can check it out on Amazon and Smashwords. And if you want to read a preview before you commit to buying or downloading a copy, you can read an excerpt here.

Once again, thank you so very much for all your support and I hope you have an enjoyable read. If you feel like it, after you finish reading it please write a review on Amazon or Smashwords. Good or bad, I really don’t care. I’m always happy for feedback. Oh, and if you can’t find the print version on the Amazon page, most likely that’s because it’s still being processed by Amazon. Come back later today and it should be there.

Have a nice weekend everybody! Here’s the book trailer for RC, if you haven’t seen it yet.

Older Entries
Newer Entries