Posts Tagged ‘college life’

My Weird Idea Anxiety

Posted: February 16, 2015 in ideas, Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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I’m pretty sure I’ve written about this before, but I feel that it could use a reiteration. If you don’t know, I have a number of ideas for novels, short stories, and articles. During the semesters I usually have a hundred more ideas, which I put down on one of three lists, depending on what sort of idea it is. This can sometimes feel like a double-edged sword, because I have only so much time between school, homework, and my job, among other things, to write. So these ideas just pile up, up, up. And I worry that I won’t be able to write them any time soon. On the other hand, if I go too long without having an idea, I start worrying that I’m losing my creative edge and start looking for new ideas left, right and center.

Lately though I’ve been less anxious, which is odd because I usually have more ideas at this point in the semester than I’ve had lately (maybe it’s the cold?). I’m actually not complaining or feeling too anxious either. I think that might have something to do with how busy I’ve been and how my mind’s been on other things. School, the job search, work, etc. It keeps you busy, so I have less time to worry about how many or few ideas I’m having.

I might also be a bit more mellow than I have been. And I’m actually trying to have more ideas about modifying ideas or stories I already have. I’m thinking of ways to rewrite my novel Laura Horn (which I hope to get around to later this year), There’s that short story I’ve been working on for about eight or nine months. I’m still looking for ways to modify that one till I’m satisfied with it. And I had this one idea for a novel about witches last year, I want to modify the plot to make the story flow better. Just need to figure it out. Perhaps so much of my imaginative powers is being sent in that direction it explains why I haven’t had other ideas.

Well, whatever it means, I doubt I’m losing my creativity. I had an idea for a short story today, and it’s not too shabby. And even if I was, I have about 200 ideas for novels and other long works, and over 400 ideas for short stories. And don’t get me started on articles or blog posts! Plenty of creativity left.

Well, that’s all for now. I plan to do some editing tonight, so wish me luck on that front, my Followers of Fear.

A Foray Into Flash Fiction

Posted: February 10, 2015 in Flash Fiction, Living and Life, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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I meant to write this post last night, but it was late when the opportunity to write it came along. And then I’ve been busy with one thing or another since nine this morning, so I haven’t had a chance to actually blog something until just now. Don’t you hate it when that happens? It’s even worse when you’re still recovering form a hectic weekend with not much sleep and you’re feeling a little under the weather, as I am. In fact, I’m going to be spending the rest of the day indoors most likely so I can recover. Maybe I’ll even go to bed early. I got my homework done early and applied to some jobs, so God knows I could use the rest.

Well anyway, during the past couple of days I thought I’d change things up and write some flash fiction pieces. I did this for a couple of reasons, including the short story I was working on wasn’t going in the direction I wanted it to go and I needed a break, I wanted to get some more work accomplished before I started editing Rose and I know of a website that specializes in horror flash fiction. Plus I had a few ideas for horror flash fiction stories and I thought I’d try to get them written out, seeing as they’re so short (if you don’t know what flash fiction is, it’s usually a story under a thousand words. Hard to pull off and still be compelling, but I guess that’s part of the fun).

So I went on that website and read through some of their most recent publications to get an idea of what they looked for. Once I had a basic idea of what they wanted, I started writing, and as of last night I had three flash fiction pieces written out. Two of them take famous fairy tales and kind of subvert them into tragic or scary tales (Rami Ungar, ruining childhoods since 2015!), while the third features that character trope I love so much, the serial killer.

I’m not sure if they’re any good, but I’m going to give them a quick look-over before I try to submit them to that website and see if they’ll get published. Previous attempts at getting published on that site haven’t gone so well, but I’m older and I’ve improved as a writer, so I hope that I can get at least one of them published.

Well, I’m going to get to work on that, followed by taking a break before trying to get one more blog post out before the end of the night. Hope you’re having a good day, my Followers of Fear, and wish me luck. Or renewed health. I wouldn’t mind that either.

A Little Today, A Lot Tomorrow

Posted: February 8, 2015 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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I’ve been busy this past weekend, attending my cousin’s bar mitzvah in Detroit and when not doing bar mitzvah things, I was busy with homework or being in the car (hard to get Wi-Fi while in the car). Otherwise I would have posted something Friday or Saturday. Well, better late than never, right?

And on the subject of writing posts, I want to talk about something that’s a subject of controversy for writers: a daily word count. I’ve heard plenty of writers give their opinions on the topic, from being proponents of 500 to 1000 words a day, to others who say that the daily word count is some draconian form of masochism for writers. Me, being “ambitious”, as my English major advisor called me (or was it “overachiever”?), have tried to at least get 500 words typed out each day, whether it be short story, novel, or blog post. 500 words seems to be the amount of words most proponents seem to advocate, whatever the reason that be.

Well, the other day I was working on a short story that I’ve been working on and off for about eight months. That night I barely got three or four hundred words written and I was feeling pretty ashamed about that. This story’s been wrestling with me for ages, and I’ve been trying to get a version of it written that I feel would be up to the standards I (and possibly the magazines I could submit it too) like of my short stories.

The next night though I had a different idea of where to go with this story, and I wrote about fifteen hundred words. Obviously, I felt elated by that. But I also had a bit of an epiphany that evening. The night before I’d been unsatisfied with the direction the story was going and obviously it stalled. The next night I had a different direction for the story that I thought might work better and I got out over a thousand words.

I won’t be worrying about word counts while writing any time soon.

It made me realize that some days, if I’m enjoying how the story goes or if I’m really in the flow, I’ll write a huge amount. And other days, if I’m tired, if I’m not really liking the direction of the story, or if it’s just not my day, I might not get a hundred words out. It’s not any fault of mine, it’s just the way sometimes these things go. Writers have bad days too and on those days we just have to deal with it, and maybe try again tomorrow.

These past couple of days, outside of homework, I haven’t gotten anywhere near five-hundred words written. Am I upset? More about not having the chance to write than anything else. The word count isn’t important to me anymore. Or it isn’t as important as it used to be. I’ll definitely try to get more written out than I have previously over these next couple of nights. Since I’ll be editing Rose starting Tuesday, I might just get a lot out depending on how much I want to change from one draft to the other. We’ll see.

But I’m not that concerned. As I said, some days you’re going to get plenty done and some days you’ll only get a few words out. It’s important at the very least that you try. And believe me, I’ll be trying.

How do you feel about daily word counts? For or against? Why?

Are you planning on asking me how many words this post is?

If you are, you shouldn’t! Because if you ask, I won’t tell you! I’m evil that way.

And by the way, thanks once again to everyone who contributed to Buckeyethon this past year. Even though I could not attend the dance this year because of my cousin’s bar mitzvah, I heard about the great achievements of my fellow students and I this year. 1.2 million dollars towards cancer research! Thank you so very much for your spiritual and financial support in this. You helped make the difference with me.

Well, that’s all for now. It’s getting late, and I’m going to head to bed. I’ve had a lot of late night recently, so I need some sleep if I’m going to be able to deal with school and work and the writing tomorrow. Have a great night, my Followers of Fear.

Rewrite, Rewrite, Rewrite

Posted: February 1, 2015 in Reflections, Writing
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I’ve mentioned this a couple of times, but I’ve rewritten a number of stories, especially short stories, over the course of my writing career. It’s annoying to a certain degree, to have to start from scratch while writing the same story over and over again. It’s easier to just edit a single story, but when things need to be changed to such a degree that rewriting the story is either simpler or the same as editing the story.

I’ve rewritten What Happened Saturday Night more than once (especially the last third of it), still have to rewrite Evil Began in a Bar (as soon as I figure out how to go about it) and I’m in the process of doing a major revision of Miranda’s Tempest that was inspired by one of my History of Witchcraft classes. Plus I plan to rewrite Laura Horn as soon as I have a moment. And you remember when I had to writ a new outline of Rose because the story was getting way too crazy for my advisor Manny (finally asked if I could name him here on my blog) and he told me to rethink where it was going? That was basically an outline rewrite. And it was after I had to rewrite the first four chapters because they were too light and campy for a horror novel.

Oy vey! That’s a lot of rewrites!

Still, as much as I hate having to do it, I know that a rewrite is ultimately beneficial. It makes the story much, much better. The difference between the first draft of What Happened Saturday Night, “Frauwolf” and the second draft was immense. And the third and fourth drafts showed even greater improvement. The Murderer’s Legacy improved a great deal once it became Miranda’s Tempest, though it still had its flaws. And now I’m doing another version of Miranda’s Tempest, though I’ve renamed it Strong’s Trial due to the new content and theme. It resembles Harry Potter a bit, though I think it’ll end up much removed from that. The rewrites of Rose have vastly improved it and I’m sure when I get to rewriting Laura Horn it’ll be much, much better.

And a lot of great works have been rewritten before publication. The Book Thief was apparently written 200 times before being published, and that’s a famous work. And I hear every script that gets turned into a movie in Hollywood goes through several rewrites before finally going into production. So perhaps my constant rewriting of my stories might make for a famous story someday. We’ll see someday.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m going to spend some time relaxing this evening before going to bed. I’ve done a lot of (re)writing today, so I’m going to take a break and try to relax. I’m setting up an account on my roommate’s PS4 and I’m going to play my first survival-horror game, Outlast. I’ve heard good things about it. Should be very exciting (and if I don’t like it, I’ll rewrite it!). Wish me luck!

Self-Pub Authors: Short Stories That Are Too Short

Posted: January 29, 2015 in Journalism, Reflections, short story, Writing
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My latest article from Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors is Short Stories That Are Too Short. This post was inspired by things I learned in my creative writing class last semester, and details one of the lessons I learned there. If you’ve ever worried that the short stories you write are too long or too short, this article might be helpful for you.

And if you’re a writer, traditionally published or independently published, this website might be what you’re looking for. We have hundreds of articles that are devoted to helping authors of all stripes write, edit, publish, and market their books effectively and without too much cost. Check it out if you get the chance.

Well, I’ve got work to do. Goodnight, my Followers of Fear. Pleasant nightmares.

Rose: First Draft Finished!

Posted: January 27, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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All done with the first draft.

All done with the first draft.

Well tonight’s a great night for me! I’ve finished the first draft of Rose, the novel that has doubled as my thesis. I’ve already blasted “Voodoo Child” by Rogue Traders throughout the apartment, did my own choreographed dance to the song, and then had a drink with my roommate. And now I’m working on this blog post, feeling high as a kite about this achievement.

I was hoping to get this chapter started earlier today, but events didn’t allow for it. Still, I’m happy to get it done tonight, nearly six months after starting work on Rose. It’s great to know that it’s finished. Now all I’ve got to do some editing and I’ll be ready for thesis arguments in April.

The total amount of pages for Rose (8.5″ x 11″, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman) is 174 pages, an average of about 8.3 pages per chapter, and 50,994 words total, about 2428 words per chapter on average. That’s the length of a mid-sized novella according to the definitions I use. Not a full-length novel, but I’m good with this length. I had a feeling that it’d be around the size of a novella anyway.

Well, I’m going to go to sleep. This is a great night for me, but I’m dead tired and I need to sleep if I’m going to be able to spread the good news tomorrow. I think I’ll take a break in the next week or two from working on Rose before getting started on the second draft. Might edit a short story or two. God knows I’ve got a couple to edit still, and one for a contest soon. Plus some blog posts that I’ve been meaning to write. Boy, I’m going to be busy.

But for now, bed. Goodnight my Followers of Fear (or if you’re reading this in the morning, Good morning). Pleasant nightmares. And wish me luck with this project as it goes into its next phase. It’s going to be interesting where this ends up.

Also, scroll up. There’s a new page I’ve just set up, Stand Alones & Other Works. Rose is a stand alone novel, so it’ll need its own page. And I think Daisy and Strange Portals should be listed somewhere, so I’ll make sure they’re listed on that page. Please check it out if you get the chance. Especially if you have no idea what Rose is about and would like a basic summary to get an idea behind it (summary subject to change over time).

Once again, good night my Followers of Fear. And thanks for your support. I’m always glad you’re there to have my back. See you in the morning!

Buckeython 2015: Thank You

Posted: January 25, 2015 in Living and Life, Social Activism
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As you know, I’ve been raising money for Buckeyethon, an annual fundraiser Ohio State does in order to benefit juvenile cancer research. People who raise the minimum amount of money get to go to a 12-hour dance marathon, and every year more and more people join up and more and more funds are raised.

This year I raised more money than I’ve ever raised before: $313, donated from 10 generous people. This is also more than the $250 minimum we had to raise this year. I’d like to name and thank the people who’ve helped me reach my goal:

  • Beth Tucker
  • Diane Stemper
  • Michele Ungar
  • Anna Wilkinson
  • Wendy Mohr and Wendy Ungar
  • Michael Ungar
  • Angela Misri
  • Vicki Miller
  • Chad Foust
  • Sarah Strasser

Thank you for your generosity. You not only help me, but you help many, many children and adults who are fighting a terrible disease every day and wanting to live their lives cancer-free. So hats off to you! I really appreciate what you’ve done for me and for them.

Regrettably, I won’t be able to attend this year’s dance. I know, I know. My last year and all, but my cousin’s bar mitzvah is that same weekend, and you only get one of those once in your life. So, too bad. But I’ve raised a lot of money over these past three years. And so have thousands of other students. Together we’ve made an indelible contribution to ongoing research into cancer and making sure many, many children and adults are able to live their lives cancer-free.

I’m not sure if you can still contribute at this point, but if you want to, you can check out my fundraising page here. And if you’d like to donate, any amount is good. It’s not for me, but for the people who benefit from your donations, and I’m sure they’d be really happy with any amount you decide to give.

Thank you, my donors and my Followers of Fear. I really appreciate it.

Have a nice day! I know I will.

Review: American Horror Story: Freak Show

Posted: January 22, 2015 in Living and Life, Review, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Sorry it’s coming a little late, but you know, my crazy life. And I wanted to watch it taped so I could fast forward through the commercial breaks.

Anyway, I liked this season of AHS much better than Coven last year. In terms of tone it was closer to the first season, though it had some more lighthearted moments than Season 1. Also, the show’s creator Ryan Murphy -incorporated a few musical scenes, so he’s either testing the waters for a crossover with his other show Glee or he’s just trying to keep things fresh. I definitely think it’s the latter. But like I was saying, this is some pretty good horror. Like previous seasons, you can’t tell where the story is going, and no one’s safe from death. Unlike previous seasons, nobody comes back to life or dies twice (shocker!) and the final episode of the season doesn’t just feel like filler with minimal scares to wrap up loose ends, but an actual episode that is kind of terrifying and very entertaining. There are a few loose ends, but I think we can assume what happened based on what happens in that episode.

Also, this is the first season to connect with another season (Asylum), and apparently all the seasons connect, so I’m wondering how they’re going to connect that in upcoming seasons. Minor detail, but it’s important to talk about.

Anyway, back to the review. What I really liked about Freak Show, besides the final episode actually being pretty good, is that the writers were able to tell a really beautiful story about people on the outskirts of society, and while also keeping things scary and interesting. Everyone has their own story, their own darkness, and their own potential to be evil. In fact at several times many characters cross the lines from good folks to villains and then back again. It’s very hard to pin down a central villain, especially during the first six episodes or so. I guess it shows that in an imperfect world, where most of the characters are scared or in trouble with the authorities, you’ll do what you have to in order to survive.

I also like how the story twists and turns, taking us in directions we couldn’t see, and still keeps things within reasonable bounds of imagination. And I loved the guest stars: Neil Patrick Harris and Jamie Brewer as Chester and Marjorie the Doll, Wes Bentley as Edward Mordrake (my favorite minor character) and quite a few others. But the main cast! Whoo, were they amazing. Sarah Paulson playing a pair of conjoined twins and did it so convincingly, I forgot it was acting and CGI! And Finn Wittrock as Dandy Mott deserves an award, playing the most horrific serial killing chameleon I’ve seen outside of Hannibal. And I loved Jessica Lange as Elsa Mars, who is just as evil and as tragic as any character in this show, but with quite the theatrical flare. Plus all the actors playing the freaks! Some actually have certain conditions, others are actors, but all are amazing in their roles.

Finn Wittrock, the man who played Dandy Mott. I hope he comes back for Season 5, he was definitely my favorite actor this season.

The one thing I did not care for is that Twisty the Clown, who appears in the first four or so episodes, is given an intellectual disability and his mental illness as the reason for which he kills. I swear, I’m tired of people with mental retardation being portrayed in these things as serial killers! I’ve known people with intellectual disabilities. At the worst, they can be difficult to handle in a bad mood, but they are normally sweet and kind. Why they’re portrayed over and over this way, I’m not sure. Honestly, the only times I’ve been okay with it is the Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchises, but only then. (Please see my article on tropes that need to be retired for more on this subject).

All in all, I’m giving American Horror Story: Freak Show a 4.5 out of 5. Scary, entertaining, beautiful, and a great 4th season for the anthology series with wonderful performances by all the actors in the show. I’m looking forward to the next season (which has been ordered). I hope it’ll be as dark as Asylum. I wonder what they’ll do for Season 5. I heard a rumor that it might be magicians, and there’s reasons to believe that might be it. Other contenders could be a prison season (though that might be too close to Season 2) and one taking place at a summer camp (a favorite of horror fans everywhere). And there’s always the chance of a high school filled with evil, I guess.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m heading to bed. Friday’s a shorter day for me, so I want to be wide awake for it. Goodnight, my Followers of Fear. I’ll try to write tomorrow or the day after if I can. See ya then!

Rose: The Chapter That Might Need a Special Tweak

Posted: January 17, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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So I’m working on Rose, my latest novel as well as my thesis, and I’m working on a chapter that I finished earlier today. However, this chapter was special, because it’s the first of two chapters that take place away from the titular character’s point-of-view. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Rose is told from the first-person point-of-view, and it’s told in the present tense, which originally I had difficulty with but eventually became easier with practice. However, as this chapter takes place away from Rose’s POV, I did it in the third-person POV, and I did it in the present tense.

Needless to say, it was incredibly awkward writing. I don’t know many stories that are written in the present tense, and those that I do are written usually in the first-person, like someone is narrating their life (who actually does that, I don’t know, but whatever). I don’t think I’ve ever read one that is present-tense and told in the third-person though. Maybe John Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse, but I can’t remember that one as well, so don’t take my word on that one. Anyway, writing this chapter in such a way is incredibly awkward for me. And I think it shows throughout the chapter, all six pages of it.

Well, my advisor M, my fellow writer/thesis worker P, and I are trying to arrange to meet sometime next week. I’ve already sent the chapter to them, and I’ve already suggested some changes I could make to this chapter in the second draft. I’m hoping they let me keep it in third-person but switch to past tense, as that would be much easier for me to write. But whatever they feel or whatever suggestions they give, I’ll definitely take them into account. They haven’t steered me wrong before, and I’ve learned a whole lot working from them.

In any case, I’m taking the night off from writing. I’m going to do some reading for homework, practice Torah reading for my cousin’s bar mitzvah next month, and if there’s time relax in front of the TV or with a good book. Stay warm and have a good night, my Followers of Fear. I know I am.

JK Rowling and What I Learned About Being Brief

Posted: January 14, 2015 in Reflections, Writing
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Boy, do I owe her so much. Even today, I’m getting so much from her books. I’ve got to read her new novel one of these days.

It’s been a good day for me. Classes have been fun (I almost wish they’d last longer), work’s been going well, and I’ve already finished one chapter of Rose (six more to go!). And I’ve recently gotten another lesson in writing.

I’ve been listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks lately and I’m currently on Book 4 (Harry’s currently dealing with most of the school and his best friend hating him for being the fourth champion. Hang in there, Harry!). This was the series that made me want to be a writer in the first place. And you can get something out of the HP books at any age, I find. But I also remembered something that I’d forgotten about JK Rowling’s famous series: she can build such amazing images in our heads and do them with such few words.

I forgot about that, how every word is picked to be useful and poetic and not a single one seems wasteful. That sort of economic use of words is hard to come by, and she wields words so well in her books. I used to try to imitate that style when I was first starting out (I also was trying to write my own version of the Harry Potter series with a female protagonist, but that’s another story). Sometimes I didn’t use enough words! Though in my defense, most writers under the age of thirteen are very visual and we don’t always consider that our readers might need a few more words to visualize the story in their heads when we can see it just fine in ours.

As I grew up though, as I got better and I started getting published occasionally, I started using more, bigger words. I think that’s common with plenty of writers at many different ages. We want to sound smart, intelligent, eloquent with words. I’ve done it just now! Eloquent. That’s a word a lot of people know, but wouldn’t it just be fine to use “good with words”? And I used “economic” in the last paragraph. How about frugal? Or choosy? Or maybe even thrifty?

And we do it just to make ourselves look educated and verbose (there it is again). Sometimes we worry that our readers will get lost along the way, but we’re too afraid to stop! We’re afraid we won’t live up to people’s images of writers. Is it our vanity or our fears of how people look at us? Is there a difference? I’m not sure.

But I’m listening to the HP books, and it’s so precise with the words. And it’s a good story. Scratch that. It’s a great story (my mother would kill me with Avada Kedavra if I didn’t make that distinction). Maybe because JK Rowling wrote the HP books with kids rather than adults in mind, but she’s never worried about the words she’s using, about sounding intelligent or loqacious (again!). She just puts down the words as is needed.

Have to stop using words like I’m pulling them out of a thesaurus just because they’re big and fancy. It might be detrimental–darn it!

In my Business and Professional Writing class, we’ve been looking at how businesses and corporations and even school districts use lots of big words in order to sound like they’re qualified for their jobs. What it really does is sound like a robot has produced a lot of inpersonal and indecipherable terms (again) and let’s be honest, nobody likes an inpersonal robot, whether in real life or on the page.

It’s a crazy coincidence that it’s all happening at the same time, but JK Rowling and my class are teaching me something: that perhaps all those words are unnecessary, that instead of making me sound intelligent and articulate (trying to stop) they’re making me sound less like a person and more like a machine. And even though I do a great impression of a Cyberman, I’d rather not be mistaken for a robot.

So I’m going to try being less long-winded, switch to simpler words and get my point across in half the time. Heck, it might help me finally get a short story written in less than forty-five hundred words, something I’ve been trying to do for ages. And maybe it’ll make for a better story overall. We’ll see what happens.

For the present though, I’m certainly exhausted my patience for the overuse of ample language in the pursuit of resplendent storytelling and will henceforth cease such unreasonable actions for the betterment of my vocation and for the beneficial enhancement of my readership.

I’m done.

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