Posts Tagged ‘editing’

Update on “The Quiet Game”: Another Short Story Is Ready

Posted: February 4, 2013 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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The next short story in my upcoming collection of short stories, “I’m Going To Be The Next James Bond”, is finally ready for publication. This was the fourth short story I wrote over vacation, and it’s one that gave me a bit of trouble writing. Nevertheless I got it done and boy, do I like how it turned out. It’s weird, it’s creepy, it’s a little spooky. Hopefully readers will like it too.

I didn’t have to change much for the final draft. My beta reader for this short story, my mother Rabbi Wendy Ungar (yes it’s my mother, but she gives pretty solid advice, not just praise), told me to add in some creepy elements in order to better the story near the end, and that’s what I did. Now there’s a gross undertone with one of the characters, something that might make you a little afraid of that character too. Thanks Ima for the advice and for using Stephen King stories for it too.

I need three more stories in order to publish “The Quiet Game”. Hopefully my beta readers for those stories will also get back to me soon. In the meantime, I’ll keep you updated on the progress of everything as it coalesces. For the Facebook page for “The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones”, click here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheQuietGameFiveTalesToChillYourBones

Am I Becoming More Literary?

Posted: February 3, 2013 in Reflections, Writing
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I’ve taken two writing workshops so far at school, with the goal of becoming a better writer. Have I become a better writer? I like to think so; none of the stuff I’ve produced since my first meeting in the workshop last semester has gotten a “yay” or “nay” as far as being published, but I think that same stuff is a little bit better.

However I may also be a little more literary in my writing voice. This is because the workshops I take emphasize literary fiction, mostly because of the character development aspect of it, but also because some critics believe that genre fiction is predictable (I’ll admit that’s sometimes true, but quality genre fiction can do the same old shtick several times and each time make it seem original and utterly compelling, so there’s no reason to put it down). Because of this emphasis on literary fiction, I’ve had to write my stories with more of a literary verve than before, and I’ve definitely had to critique and merit the stories based on how good they are, both as literary fiction and as fiction in general.

Because of all that, my style might sound a little more literary than before. I mean, today at the library, taking a break from homework and school pressure, I started writing a story about a character contemplating suicide. Before, that would’ve had a more thriller bent. But now, I’m wondering how to draw out his character, how to make it seem natural and realistic, how to get people invested in the character. And I find myself drawing on everything I’ve written and read for these workshop classes I’ve been taking, and I find myself thinking, “I’m becoming something I swore I wouldn’t become.”

What I swroe I wouldn’t become was an author of literary fiction, which I feel for the most part is boring and slow and too realistic for my dark tastes. And even though I’ve resisted, some of the elements of literary writing have rubbed off on me. Am I sad or angry? I’m not sure. Maybe a little worried. I mean, I like genre fiction. If I write in a more literary style, will people stop liking my work as genre fiction? Or is the fact that I’m a bit better at writing realistic stories with character development only going to aid me in the future?

I have no clue. And truthfully, I won’t get a clue for a while, at least not until I’ve published a little more work and seen how people react to it.

What’s your opinion? Do you think having some literary aspects to your creative process and to your writing is a good thing, or a bad thing?

I Love Getting New Ideas To Modify My Bad Stories

Posted: January 30, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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I often have ideas for short stories that start out promising but after I write them I look at them and I go, “How did I come up with this crap?” So I store the story away on my flash drive until I can come up with a way to make it better. Sometimes this takes days or weeks. Most of the time it only takes a few months, though I have one that’s been waiting for an idea for four years.

Remember the story I wrote over winter vacation about a possesion gone wrong? I had an idea that’ll basically mean total rewrite, but it’s a better story than it used to be. Perhaps I’ll be able to submit it afgter all!

Of course, this’ll have to wait until after I finish rewriting “Enigma”, which means there’s going to be a longer wait for the new stories I want to write. Virtual sigh, a writer’s work is never done, is it?

Well, I better get to work. Have a good night.

Updates on “Enigma”

Posted: January 29, 2013 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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I’ve been tackling ways to make one of the short stories for The Quiet Game a better read, and so far I think I’m on the right track. For those of you who haven’t read previous articles on this subject, The Quiet Game is a collection of short stories I’m putting together, and “Enigma” is one of them. At the center of the story is an autistic boy named Jason, who sees a wolf spirit symbolizing death. I had originally started this story with a large Navajo mythology component, but I’m afraid I might have to drop that.

In fact, I may have to drop a lot. This story is getting a total rewrite, and so far a lot has changed. In fact, the title of this short story may have to be changed to reflect its new nature.

But I’m okay with that. I did it last semester when I turned “Doll’s Game” into “Animal Child”, doing a total rewrite to make a better story. I’m not sure where “Enigma” will go as a story, what’ll happen later in the plot, or what the name change will be, but I hope that by the end of it, I’ll have a much better story than I did when I wrote the first version. I’ll let you guys know how it came out.

Oh, and if you want more updates on The Quiet Game, please check out the Facebook page I set up. The address is below:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheQuietGameFiveTalesToChillYourBones

Have a nice day.

A Whole Lot of Writing Starting…NOW!

Posted: January 26, 2013 in ideas, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Boy, do I have a lot of work ahead of me. I have two short stories I want to edit, plus two more I want to write first drafts for! I’m not sure if I can get it all done this weekend, but it can’t hurt to try, can it?

The first short story is The Quiet Game, the titular story of my upcoming collection. I want to see if I can shorten it a bit and change a few things I did with it, while also making it that much more scary than it already is, at least for me. It’ll take a bit of work to do, but I aim to do it.

The other story I want to edit is Enigma, from the same collection. However, I’d say what I plan to do with it is closer to a total rewrite. I’ve been going over the plot of the story for the past week and I figured out that the story itself is just not scary enough for my tastes. So I plan to go over it and totally change the plot around in order to make the story scarier, not only for readers, but for the main character, who I realize is acting way too calm for an autistic child thrust into an unfamiliar situation (for those of you not familiar with autism, those affected with the disorder, both children and adults, don’t like changes in routine or new surprises, so it’s hard for them to adjust. Overstimulation or too much change can lead to meltdowns if you’re not careful). So I’ll add to his terror, and hopefully to the reader’s terror as well.

As for the new short stories, I have two in mind. One I mentioned in a post earlier this week, based on a very dark period in my life and taken very much out of the context I experienced it in (it’s fiction written by me, so what do you expect?). The other is based on a dream I had last night, involving a new breed of moth that does worse things than get too close to your porch light. It’s positively disgusting!

I’ll try to get as much done as possible, especially since I’m sometimes prone to the weirdest distractions. I once spent an entire hour looking over news about a TV show I liked when I should’ve been writing! But God willing, I’ll get it all done. After all, I’m a writer, and that’s what writers do. We write, no matter what the circumstances.

Wish me luck!

“Old Sid” Is Done

Posted: January 23, 2013 in Living and Life, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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The first draft is anyway, and it’s a good long draft, 3,732 words on twelve digital pages. Personally, I had a lot of fun writing this story, about a fictional urban legend at Ohio State University that becomes the center of a huge criminal investigation at Ohio State. The story is narrated in the first person al a The Virgin Suicides, which sounds something like this: “We thought about it a long time, ruminating over the possible meanings. Terry thought it was a psychological issue, while Jeanie Brooks and Jeanie Cunningham were in favor of a spiritual issue.” You see where I’m going with this?

I wrote this story as the second of two short stories I had to write for my creative writing class this semester. Truthfully though I’ve had this story on a sticky note on a tackboard since late August. I just wanted to save it for the right oppurtunity, and if you ask me this was the right oppurtunity. Not only does this story sound somewhat literary, which is the focus of my class, but the fact that we never really know who or what Old Sid is–or why he’s called “Old Sid”–makes the story weird and genre enough that I can write it.

I’ll probably edit it in a few weeks or so, before I’m supposed to turn it in. Hopefully my class will like it and be able to give me some good advice on what to do with it.

Oh, and spekaing of my class, tonight we did an exercise that gave me an idea for a short story. We were supposed to write down three childhood shoes we wore when we were young (or if we couldn’t remember that, something else from childhood) and write about something that happened while we wore those shoes. Since I couldn’t remember any shoes I wore as a child in vivid detail, I went with Halloween costumes…and remembered a low point in my life when I was really depressed. It gave me the idea for a short story, so when I can I’ll work on it and see what comes about.

Have to say, I love my school; it’s doing so much for my writing and the people here don’t even realize it!

Addict: The Post-Workshop Edition

Posted: January 17, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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Well, it’s been a very busy day for me. I had two very long classes that had a lot of reading as homework, I had to work a shift today, and of course I had to eat my breakfast and lunch. But you know what? I managed to find time to work on “Addct”, one of the short stories for The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. I took most of the suggestions that my creative writing class gave me, the ones I felt worked best for this story, and incorporated them into the plot.

I gave my main character a little more to him than the static image I had before, adding in a best friend for the character and showing him actually interacting with people other than his own strange hallucinations. And even better, I managed to give the story a new, rather ironic ending. It’s the type of ending horror fans love: the kind that lets you know that the troubles are far from over.

Can you tell I’m happy with the final version? Sure, it’s a bit more literary than I like, but the very fantastical elements of the story makes sure I don’t get bored.

So this is the first of the five short stories for The Quiet Game to be fully finished. Four more to go, and I’ll be able to put the whole collection out. I just have to wait for my friends who are critiquing the other four to get back to me. At this moment, I’m predicting sometime in March or April I’ll have this out.

Keep with me folks, I’ll be published soon!

After Tonight’s Workshop

Posted: January 16, 2013 in Living and Life, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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Well, I got out of the workshop in one piece. And I’ve been given a lot of feedback on how to improve the story. I have a feeling that since the class is more literary focused, the suggestions will ultimately move the story in a more literary direction.

Oh well, I’m getting what I asked for, and there’s enough fantastical elements to this story to make it genre enough for me.

The story is called “Addict”, and it’s about a guy trying to get over his sex addiction. I wrote it in second person (“you walk into a bar, you see the man flirting with your girl, you snap”) because this story was inspired by the experiences of a friend of mine who battled sex addiction. Not everyone was thrilled with the second person thing, but I’m planning on keeping that. I may add a second character with a third-person perspective though.

I may also do some expanding of the plot to include some other elements, such as more weird hallucinations and a reason why the character tries to get off the sex and porn. This is going into my upcoming collection, The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, so my classmates won’t know how this story evolved until the collection comes out. I hope they like it, but even if they don’t they’ll get a mention in the acknowledgements section.

I want to get to editing, but first I’ll head home, shower, and then relax a little before I do. Have a good night and wish me luck.

Tonight’s Workshop

Posted: January 16, 2013 in Living and Life, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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Tonight my creative writing class will be workshopping my short story “Addict”, one of the short stories going into my upcoming collection The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. I’m looking forward to it,  because I want these stories to be of the highest quality possible before I publish them. I also like feedback from neutral parties such as my classmates, because they point out stuff we don’t even see. That’s one flaw we writers have: we’re so proud of 0ur work, we don’t always see the flaws in it that others might see and point out.

Well, whatever the outcome is, I’ll let you guys know how it goes. There’s nothing on TV tonight that I’m interested in, so after class I plan to go on an editing binge. If any of the other short stories I’ve sent for critiquing get sent back to me, it’ll be all the better.

So watch out for my post tonight. Until then, have a nice day.

“The Quiet Game”: Coming Soon!!!

Posted: January 10, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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I was reading an article on promoting your published work last night before bed, and one of the things it mentioned is that you should promote your work as much as possible, even before the actual book comes out. A year would be best for this. However I’ve got anywhere from 3-6 months to get my collection of short stories out, so I’ve got some work to do. And I’d like to start here on my blog, where everyone’s been so supportive and kind to me. So here goes:

Coming soon to a digital book store near you, The Quiet Game. A tentative subtitle would be: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. I’ve got five short stories that I’m definitely putting into this collection of short stories, and a few I might add in as bonus material. You’ll be able to download each short story individually, if you’re so inclined, but if you download the entire collection, you’ll be able to read notes I’ve put at the end of each short story, thoughts of what was going through my head while writing this short story, and special illustrations I’ll have commissioned for each story.

Not only that, but the collection won’t be much more expensive than an iTunes song, so it should be pretty affordable to you. I hope I can count on your continued support, and I hope to have more on this as time goes by and the final product comes into being. Wish me luck and thanks for being there for me all this time.

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