Posts Tagged ‘#FirstLineFriday’

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: August 19, 2016 in ideas, Novel, Writing
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0

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday! And since I’m reducing the number of posts I put out each month starting in September (see reasons why here), this’ll be the second to last #FirstLineFriday I do for a while.

Let that one sink in for a moment.

Alright, so if you don’t know what #FirstLineFriday is, let me break it down for you. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a post on your blog entitled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential work, a work in progress, or a completed or published work.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback, and see if you can get them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging is encouraged but not necessary).

I had a lot of trouble figuring out which story to do this week. I ended up picking a story idea I’ve done before, but that I wanted to do a variation on and see if I could get a better response. Anyway, enjoy:

My earliest memory of them is from when I was still in the crib. I know, I’m not supposed to remember anything from that age, but I remember this, and I have no reason to believe that the memory is false or something I created on my own.

Thoughts? Critiques? Let’s discuss in the comments below?

And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday on your own blog? It’s fun, easy, and for writers it’s great practice on openings.

That’s all for now. I’ve got work and then a busy weekend, so I’m going to get right on it. Until next time, my Followers of Fear!

An Announcement on the Amount of Blogging I Do

Posted: August 14, 2016 in Living and Life, Writing
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6

Hey Followers of Fear. I actually have some bad news to dispense today. Yeah, I know, bad news. That’s not something I usually put out on this blog. I prefer to keep things upbeat and kind of funny here, because I’m a naturally upbeat and kind of funny guy. But occasionally I have to dispense with some bad news, and this is one of those times.

The fact of the matter is (this is not the bad news. That comes later), I’m writing slower than I used to. And I mean much slower: I started working on the third draft of Rose back in June. It’s August, and I’m still working through Chapter Five! Usually at this point of a draft I should be finishing up the edits, but I’m still in the early stages!

What’s to cause this slow-down of work? Well, the main reason is that I’m working a full-time job now, and that’s pretty time-consuming in itself. And unlike other jobs I’ve held in the past, there aren’t as many moments where there’s not a lot to do and I can sit back and write. Even Germany had more than a few of those moments. But in my current position, there’s always plenty to do, so I don’t exactly have that many moments to get out the laptop and work on a manuscript.

And when I get home, I don’t exactly have that much time either. I have to eat dinner, take a shower, make my lunch for tomorrow, and go to sleep at an earlier time so that I can get up early and be at work on time. That leaves only a few hours to write in the evening. Sometimes less, if I have errands to run after work.

With that in mind, I’m cutting a few things out of my life to make more time for writing. I’m cutting out the number of shows I watch so that when the fall television season starts, I’m not spending hours and hours streaming what I missed (I don’t have a TV or Cable yet). I’m also cutting back on the amount of time I spend on YouTube, because as fun as those videos can be, some of them can be pretty time-consuming (especially those videos of gamers playing horror games that I like so much). And–and here’s where the bad news really comes in–starting in September, I’m cutting myself back to two blog posts a month.

Now, I’m sure one or two of you are saying, “But Rami, we like seeing at least two blog posts a week from you!” Well, I like blogging around 2-3 times a week as well. But blogging also takes up time. Depending on the post, it can take quite a bit of time to write. Time I could spend getting through whatever story I happen to be writing or editing. I’m taking up time just writing this post! And because of that, I feel that I need to spend less time on this blog and more on the stories that I love writing and I love people reading.

So, unless something special comes up–a new review or interview, an important update on the projects I’m doing, or I’m pissed off at a recent tragedy in the world and need to vent my frustrations–you’ll be seeing much fewer posts here than before. This also means that I’ll stop doing #FirstLineFriday after August 26th. Not permanently, I may do one or two on occasion for an upcoming book or some other special occasion. But I won’t be doing one week after week. It’s just too time-consuming. I may try to come up with some other tag or meme where I do something similar to #FirstLineFriday (I know a lot of you enjoy those posts, and I do too), but at the moment I really can’t afford to keep doing this week in and week out if I want to get more writing and editing done.

On the bright side, I’ll have the opportunity to do more Reflections posts about the writing craft or about my own work. I used to do those quite a lot, and people really enjoyed them. However, I don’t do those much anymore, mostly because they’re the most time-consuming of blog posts. Now though, with hopefully a bit more time, I can write at least one a month and share my thoughts or have interesting discussions on writing and daily life.

I hope no one decides to stop following me because of this (I know some people stop following YouTubers if they don’t constantly put out new videos, so I assume the same can apply for blogs), or that they leave me because #FirstLineFriday was their favorite thing ever. It’s not because of you guys, it’s just hat I need to write, and if I don’t write, nothing gets done, and I get angry at myself. And that’s not something anyone wants.

Have you ever reduced the amount of blogging you do so you could focus on other things? What were the results of that?

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: August 12, 2016 in ideas, Writing
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2

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now, if you don’t know what #FirstLineFriday is, let me explain it to you. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a post on your blog titled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published work.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback and then try to get them to do #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging is encouraged but not necessary).

This week, I’m doing the beginning of a short story idea I had earlier this week, one that I think will be a ton of fun to write if I ever get around to it. It’s got a bit of Lovecraft in it, a bit of Five Night’s at Freddy’s, and a whole lot of Rami Ungar in it. Oh, plus a dash of Halloween, which I actually celebrate year round. Anyway, enjoy:

“No way,” said Jemma, her flashlight roving over the abandoned arcade and all the games left behind. “They just left all this shit here?”

Thoughts? Errors? Let’s discuss.

And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday on your own blog? It’s fun, easy, and great practice for writers. In fact, I think I’ll tag someone. Let’s see…I choose Lorraine Ambers. Congrats, Lorraine. You either have to do #FirstLineFriday this week or next. Good luck and have fun with it!

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I have a big announcement to make soon, so I’ll try to get that out by Tuesday. In the meantime, I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend and I’ll see you soon.

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: August 5, 2016 in ideas, Novel, Writing
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6

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now if you’re unfamiliar with what #FirstLineFriday is, let me break it down for you. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a post on your blog titled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story in progress, or a completed or published story.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback, and try to get them to do #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging is encouraged but not necessary).

As you’re well aware, I’ve been having a multitude of ideas of late, and this week’s entry is from one of those ideas, a novel that deals primarily with our idealized selves versus reality, and the side effects of being what is considered “perfect.” Enjoy:

Rochelle drove her aging Chevy down the dingy LA streets, the night clear and hot as hell as she pulled up to an intersection. I’ve gotta get out of this life, she thought as a man hobbled across the street despite the light being against him, before I get eaten by it.

Thoughts? Errors? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

And while we’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday yourself? It’s easy, and a ton of fun. And it’s great practice for openings. Try it. You never know if you might enjoy it.

In the meantime, how about entering a giveaway for a free book by yours truly? Enter the contest by clicking here, and see what you can win!

That’s all for now. I’ve got editing this weekend, and at some point I’ll go see Suicide Squad with my sister (I hope it’s good, because DC needs something halfway decent to most audiences). See you around, my Followers of Fear.

 

#FirstLIneFriday

Posted: July 29, 2016 in Writing
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2

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means! It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now if you don’t know what #FirstLineFriday is, let me explain the rules. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a blog post entitled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published work.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback and then get them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging is encouraged but not necessary)

This week’s entry is a little unusual. What do I mean by that? Well, you’ll have to read the entry to understand. Enjoy:

The reader was surprised to find that Rami Ungar was writing about them in this week’s #FirstLineFriday.

And there goes the fourth wall.

But what do you think? Did you like it? Was there anything that could be fixed? Do you know a contractor who will rebuild that fourth wall? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday on your own blog? It’s easy, fun, and for authors, it’s great practice for writing stories. In fact, I think I’ll tag someone, make them try it and see how fun it is. This week, I choose Aidan J. Reid. Congratulations Aidan, you’ve been tagged. Hope you have fun either this week or next!

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Remember, you have till Sunday to take part in a Q&A for the fifth anniversary of this blog being created (details here), so keep those questions coming! Have a good weekend, everybody.

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: July 22, 2016 in ideas, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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2

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

So if you don’t know what #FirstLineFriday is, let me explain. On Fridays, you:

  • Create a post on your blog entitled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  • Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  • Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published work.
  • Ask your readers for feedback, and urge them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging is encouraged but not necessary).

This week’s entry is from a story I had earlier this week. As usual, it’s creepy and weird, which is standard Rami Ungar. Anyway, enjoy:

The locals say that the hospital, which was built about forty miles from where the government tested a couple nuclear bombs, absorbed some radiation in its bricks during construction, and that’s why so many horrible things happened in the children’s ward. My daddy disagreed; he said that evil got root in there, and then the evil festered.

Ooo-ooo-ooo!

So what did you guys think? Pretty catchy? Scary? Any errors? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday on your own blog? It’s eas, it’s fun, and for authors it’s great practice working with different openings. I’m not going to tag anyone this week (unless you want to do this, so consider yourself tagged). Hey, occasionally I need occasionally I need a break from looking through my list of followers and seeing who I haven’t tortured yet.

And if you haven’t heard already, my five year blogging anniversary is coming up, so click here to learn about how you can participate in a Q&A with yours truly, and enter for a chance to get an autographed copy of one of my books. Trust me, you do not want to miss out on that.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m going to try to get a ton of editing and whatnot done this weekend. And if you want to ask me any questions for my five-year blogging anniversary on August 2nd, click here for details on that.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: July 15, 2016 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Writing
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0

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now if you don’t know what #FirstLineFriday is, let me explain the rules. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a post on your blog entitled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published work.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback, and encourage them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging is encouraged but not necessary).

As I said in my last post, I’ve been having a lot of great ideas for stories. And on Monday, I had this rather strange and unique idea for a novel, inspired by Japanese mythology and culture (one of my best sources of ideas, by the way), and has an interesting structure to it that would be unusual and fun to write. Obviously, I can’t go into more details without giving away the plot (and I hate to give that sort of thing away). But I can hopefully give you a very good opening for this story, while maybe adding a hint in that opening.

Anyway, enjoy:

Almost everybody has a bucket list, along with something on that list that they want to accomplish before they graduate or leave town or die: to learn how to code (the dream of my somewhat nerdy brother Eric, as well as my somewhat cool boyfriend Luca), to go to a heavy metal festival and see their favorite bands perform (my friend Rudy, who plans to do just that after graduation), or to confess their feelings to the rebellious, cool-as-hell River Fuhrmann (my friend Lavender Murphy, who has no idea that the rebellious, cool-as-hell River also has a thing for Lavender, but is too proud to admit it). I have my own bucket list, but mine is rather unusual, as at the top of my list was ghost stories.

Thoughts? Overly long? Any errors? What’s on your bucket list*? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday yourself? It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s great practice for authors of all stripes. Sadly, I’m taking a small break from tagging, so you’re safe from my torture for now. But if you want me to tag you, consider yourself tagged. Or better yet, let me know. I’ll catch you next week.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’m hoping to see a movie this weekend and maybe write a review of it. If not, you can expect a blog post this Sunday.

Until the next time, my Followers of Fear!

*Mine involves meeting and/or having my books read by Stephen King and/or Anne Rice, going ghost-hunting with the Ghost Adventures Crew, having a custom car made from a hearse, and writing for Doctor Who. Does that surprise any of you?

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: July 8, 2016 in Living and Life, Novel, Scary Stuff, Writing
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2

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

So if you’re unfamiliar with what #FirstLineFriday is, let me lay it down for you. On Fridays, you:

  1. Write up a post on your blog entitled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published story.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback, and encourage them to try #FirstLineFriday themselves (tagging is encouraged but not necessary).

This week, I’m doing things a little different. Because I have more ideas than time to write them into stories, I usually write the potential first couple of lines of  potential story. This week though, I finished editing the first chapter of Rose, and I think I’d like to post that. Speaking of which, I think after I get a bit further into the third draft, I’ll post more about the editing process. This draft is going to be radically different from previous ones, that’s for sure.

Anyway, enjoy:

I open my eyes, feeling as if I’ve been asleep for a long time. Light stings my eyes, and I close them again until the pain subsides.

This is the sort of story where the whole first paragraph is needed to be an effective hook (or maybe the first two), but whatever. Rules are rules (though really they can be changed if so desired. I just choose not to).

Anyway, what did you think? Anything you’d change? Does it sound like an interesting story? Let’s discuss.

And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday yourself? It’s easy, it’s fun, and for novelists it’s great practice on openings, no matter what your level o experience is. In fact, I’m going to tag some. I choose Kat Impossible from Life and Other Disasters, who recently intimated to me that she could use some #FirstLineFriday tags these days. Hope this helps, Kat.

That’s all for now. I have a lot of blog posts I want to write over the weekend so I can release them later. Let’s all have a nice, relaxing weekend, shall we? Have a nice day, my Followers of Fear!

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: July 1, 2016 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Writing
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4

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now, if you don’t know what #FirstLineFriday is, let me explain it to you. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a post on your blog entitled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published story.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback, and encourage them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging is encouraged but not necessary).

For this week’s entry, I’m doing another novel I’ve had the idea for since…I can’t remember when. A long time. And this Monday I finished reading a book on living in Victorian England, which is when this novel would take place (I’ve got several ideas taking place around that era, it’s just such a fun, fertile era for stories), and I felt like posting potential lines from that book. Especially since I know a lot more about that era now (speaking of which, if you ever have the luck to get a time machine and head back to Victoria’s reign, STAY AWAY FROM DOCTORS AND PHARMACISTS! The stuff they give out is usually full of opiates or poison. You’re better off not taking anything, or just packing some OTCs from this age before you go). Anyway, enjoy:

When I found out I was the daughter of a noble family and was rescued from the West End, I almost expected something out of a popular novel, with a love triangle between me, a rough but kind old boyfriend, and a roguish but gentle young duke; a rival who would try to bring me down for being beautiful and somewhat naive about upper society; and all that other tosh that people love in their books.

If only that had happened, because what actually happened continues to haunt me even to this day.

Thoughts? Errors? Let me know in the comments below.

I won’t be tagging anyone this week (I feel like giving you all a reprieve from my torture), but I still encourage you to try #FirstLineFriday on your own blogs. It’s easy, a lot of fun, and for us writers, it’s great practice for writing openings. In fact, I think I’ll tag someone–oh wait, almost went back on my word there. Sorry folks.

That’s all for now. I’l probably have another post out later today or tomorrow, so keep an eye out. In the meantime, have a great weekend, my Followers of Fear. I plan to, though I don’t have any plans at the moment.

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: June 24, 2016 in ideas, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
2

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now if you don’t know what #FirstLineFriday is, let me explain how it works. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a post on your blog entitled #FirstLineFriday
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a possible story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published story.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback, and then encourage them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging is encouraged but not necessary).

For this week, I’m doing the first lines for a short story I had the idea for earlier this week. I was talking to a woman at my new workplace about some rain that was expected to fall later that day (didn’t fall till late that night, though, so I brought my umbrella to work for nothing!). I mentioned that I was not a fan of being caught in the rain, and she told me that it was weird for a horror writer to be afraid of rain (I’m not, but I get the jab). She then told me I should write a horror story about the rain. Well, challenge accepted. I thought about it, and I finally came up with something that I thought would work. Don’t know when I’ll write it, but I got something good, so I’m sure when I do it’ll be great.

Anyway, enjoy:

Mellie had left the bank two blocks behind her when the wind stole her umbrella, sending it up into the trees on the other side of the street. At the same time, the rain fell down upon her in waves, soaking her down to her skin.

Thoughts? Errors? Too many cliches? Let’s discuss.

And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday on your own blog? It’s easy, a lot of fun, and it’s great for practicing openings. In fact, I’m going to tag one of my followers and make them try it. Let’s see…I choose S. Hunter Nesbit! Congratulations, you’ve been tagged. You have to do your own #FirstLineFriday either today or next week. Good luck and have fun with it!

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m editing as much as possible this weekend. If I have anything to post about, I’ll let you know. Until next time!

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