Posts Tagged ‘novel’

Is It The Style, Or Is It Me?

Posted: July 14, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Writing
Tags: , , , ,
4

Lately I’ve noticed I’m a bit more irritable when I read works by other authors. I had some trouble getting through the slower parts of Stephen King’s Cujo, becoming annoyed with the style of King’s writing (imagine that from me!). And when I was reading the first couple chapters of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, I kept glancing at things she did that I did not like about her writing style. Granted, her book was like a bad combination of Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Da Vinci Code, making it so that I couldn’t get past page 70, but there were still many things about her writing style, particularly in the first chapter, that just bothered me.

Perhaps this might have something to do with my own writing process. Over the past year or so my own style of writing has emerged, and I find myself much more comfortable with that style of writing than I do with other styles. Or maybe now that my own style’s emerged so much, I tend to nitpick at the styles of other authors, thinking about what works and what doesn’t work. After all, I was reading Horns by Joe Hill recently, and while I liked the overall story, the non-linear structure and the lack of warning between traveling bacwards and forwards in time confused me quite a bit. I don’t like to do flashbacks without some sort of warning to the reader, so maybe it has something to do with that.

Not to say that I may just not like reading the styles of other writers. In fact, I’m reading two books right now: one is the zombie novel of a friend of mine, and the other is the memoirs of an Israeli soldier. I find both of their works intriguing and fun to read, though all the military jargon is a bit difficult for me. So maybe it’s not that I don’t like the styles of other writers, but more that I know what I want when I read a novel and when I don’t get it, I feel annoyed.

Whatever the reason is, I’m pretty sure it has something to do with my own writing in some way or another. After all, plenty of the authors I read are responsible for the author I’ve become, so perhaps I’m picking up on something that connects me to them.

What’s your take on this?

Video Rage: First Chapter Written

Posted: July 11, 2013 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

And it has begun! Last night, with my cable/Internet/phone service out but my electricity still working, I set out to work on Video Rage, the sequel to Reborn City (out November 1st). I had started on it several days ago, truth be told, but I had run into all sorts of distractions, so finishing just one chapter was not easy. But last night, with classical and opera music in my ears and no TV or Internet to get in my way, I set about finishing up the chapter. And sure enough I did, with 11 pages and a little over thirty-two hundred words total (page count is based on Times New Roman, 12-point font, and double-spaced lines, so that is not a reflection of what it will be when the novel actually comes out).

Video Rage starts about 11 days after the end of Reborn City, so besides setting the tone and the setting for the story, I used the first chapter to reveal what had happened to the ten main characters since they left the titular city in RC. Suffice to say, I did not make things easy for my characters. They are now wanted for crimes they did not commit and are trying to head east across the North American continent to find asylum somewhere. Of course, things don’t go as planned, especially when a powerful corporation with its own private army is searching for you.

And I’m bringing back a very fearsome and dangerous character from RC to further impede the progress of the Hydras (that’s the name of the gang my main characters belong to, in case you didn’t know). Mix in a little conflict between the main characters, and some rather bloody but heroic deaths, and I think I might have a decent sequel on my hands.

Now that I have one chapter of VR written, I’ll switch off to my other novel-in-progress, Laura Horn. The chapters for LH are much smaller than VR (which shows how differently I write thrillers versus how I write sci-fi novels). I’ll probably do another progress report on VR when I’ve written five more chapters, putting me one-sixth of the way through the novel.

Until that time, look out for a few more posts, including the announcement that I’ve finished the first chapter of LH. Should make for at least a good time-killer.

Individual Pages For My Books

Posted: July 7, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

I was reading a post on Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors the other day and one of the authors, Ruth Nordin, suggested that if I were to have a page for my books, I should have individual pages for my books, or at least individual books for each series and each stand alone novel. I decided that was a good idea, so I went ahead and created three new pages, one for short story collections, one for the Reborn City series, and one for Snake.

I think this was a very good idea, and I’m glad I did it. The page for short story collections leaves me a chance to put in more entries if I ever put out another collection of short stories (and there’s always a possibility of that, believe me), and so does the page for Reborn City and its sequels. And as for the page for Snake, I only wrote a fuller description for the entry, but I think it’s more enticing than what I had before, distinguishes the Snake as a protagonist and lets people know what the conflict is without giving too much away. I rather like it.

If you want to read the pages, please scroll up and look at the entries next to Home and About Me. They should be there.

An Idea From A Dream

Posted: July 6, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Writing
Tags: , , ,
0

It’s just amazing what you can find on Google, isn’t it?

Last night I went to bed sometime between half-past eleven and midnight, had some trouble falling asleep, had a nightmare or two, needed a drink of water, finally got to sleep, and then I had the wackiest dream. When I woke up, it was past ten and I was late for synagogue. But it was okay. You know why? That dream I had, the wacky one? It ended up being the basis for an awesome novel idea that I refined throughout the day.

The dream involved me and a bunch of wizards in a cabin. I was a young apprentice, and my own master was telling me to get a certain spell book for a spell that would recreate the ten plagues. In the dream, certain phrases kept going through my mind–Divinity of Israel, Vashta Nerada, etc–and in that weird dreamy way they were all connected and relevant and made sense.

When I woke up, I thought it was a weird dream to have and it was going to make me late for synagogue, but I later held onto the details of the dream and figured they were a gift from The Big Guy Upstairs, a little something to metaphorically chew on for the Sabbath. And I did manage to get to the synagogue for the second half of the Torah service. Heck, I managed to catch a few ideas for the novel from the rabbi’s sermon. If that’s not God doing me another favor, I have no idea what is!

And this is my 500th post. What an interesting thing to write about for it. Gotta give the Big Guy His props when they’re due.

Now I’m going to try and finish a book I started yesterday before I go to bed. Tomorrow I’m going to be doing so much writing I won’t know what to do with myself. Wish me luck!

Review: Dan Brown’s Inferno

Posted: July 4, 2013 in Review
Tags: , , , , ,
2

It’s good, but it’s not great. How sad.

Dante’s Inferno has always intrigued me on some level. It’s a very imaginative work, and one could make a case that the many layers of Hell portrayed in The Divine Comedy could be used for today’s society. That’s part of the reason why I was so excited to learn that Dan Brown had released a new Robert Langdon book based around Inferno, the first book of The Divine Comedy. The other reason was that I had loved Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code, and The Lost Symbol had cheered up a really uneasy sick day. I wanted to see what Robert Langdon was up to this time around!

Unfortunately, this volume makes it seem that Dan Brown is trying to hard to make a good story for Langdon to run around and save the world in. In what feels like a horrible and barely-believable cliché, Langdon wakes up in Florence, Italy with amnesia and can’t remember what happened to him. Almost immediately he’s into all sorts of trouble as he learns he’s been wrapped up in a confrontation between the World Health Organization and a shadowy operation meant to protect the interests of a dead geneticist who’s concocted something very terrible for the world and is paying for his plan to be carried out from beyond the grave.

At certain points throughout the novel, there are revelations and twists that are meant to be like what happened with the Mandarin in Iron Man 3 but instead leave you thinking it out for five minutes trying to understand what happened before going back through the nearly five-hundred page book and concluding that Brown didn’t even give any hints of these twists where most authors would have done so. And finally when you get to the conclusion things seem to be wrapped up a little too neatly with another twist that makes you say, “That’s nice, but it’s almost too nice. I could almost be okay with it.”

When you’re almost okay with a villainous geneticist’s plot, you know there’s a problem.

On the bright side, the first half of the novel has all the usual thrills of a Robert Langdon novel, and you do feel like you’re learning about a variety of subjects while you’re reading. There are plenty of exotic locales described in breathtaking detail that you wish you could go to yourself to see, and the character of Sienna Brooks as Langdon’s female companion this novel seems like a real person for most of the book, a poor girl trying to deal with her own genius and the pitfalls that have occurred because of it.

(Whatever happens to the women Langdon sees in the novels? We never find out what happened to the yoga instructor/physicist, though there’s hints of an untimely death or a break-up, we’re never sure of what happens to the descendant of Jesus who started to like Langdon, and the Masonic Grandmaster’s sister wasn’t even romantic, so I’m assuming there’s no break-up?)

All in all, I’m giving Dan Brown’s Inferno a 3.4 out of 5. Hopefully he can do better with the next book should there be (and judging by how popular the Robert Langdon books are, I think there will be a sequel. Whether or not there should be one and whether or not it’s any good).

A Conundrum With Resurrection

Posted: July 1, 2013 in short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

No, this post is not about me wondering if there’s going to be an end of the world and I’m going to be raised from the dead. I’ve thought enough about it already and concluded that until the Messiah comes, it’s just not worth thinking about.

Yesterday I got an email from a friend of mine who was looking at a short story of mine. The story, titled “Resurrection”, is about a man who is brought back to life from the dead through a cryogenic process, and something of supernatural origin messes it up. It’s nearly five-thousand words, which makes it a very long short story, or a very long short story in the eyes of most magazines. I was hoping I’d get some good feedback from my friend, which I did, but I did not expect this to appear in the response:

“It is very good. Actually, it could be expanded into either a novella, a full blown book or even a screenplay.”

That was the first time I ever used the center-alignment option on this blog. I don’t know why I’ve never done that before.

But that’s beside the point. What my friend said got me thinking, and since then I haven’t been able to stop thinking! I mean, I could see this story being expanded in some form or another, though I don’t think a novella or a full-blown novel is in the works right now, with all that’s going on. A screenplay might work, and heck, other horror writers have written screenplays before, Stephen King being chief among them.

Of course, there’s a couple of problems: I don’t know anything about writing screenplays! And to top that off, I’m still a relatively unknown writer with some short story publishing to my name, a collection coming out in sixteen days, and a novel in November. The way Hollywood is right now, what are the chances my screenplay will make it to the lunch table, let alone to the big screen? And considering how much Hollywood hacks slash, rewrite, and ultimately murder screenplays, would I really want them to do that to my own work?

I’m not so sure.

So for now I’m going to put “Resurrection” on a shelf until I know what to do with it. I may edit it and try to publish it in a magazine. Or maybe I’ll expand it into a different format of creative literature. Or maybe I’ll even turn it into a screenplay. Or maybe I’ll save it for another collection of short stories. Who knows?

Until then, I think I’ll wait and see. Time usually tells, and I’m sure time will tell me the right answer, once I’m ready for it.

Still, I wouldn’t mind your thoughts and opinions on the subject, if you’re willing to give them to me.

The Benefits I’ve Gotten Through Blogging

Posted: July 1, 2013 in Living and Life
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

I’ve been blogging here on WordPress for nearly two years (the second anniversary of Rami Ungar the Writer is actually a month and a day away, believe it or not). A lot has happened in that time. I started college, a job, and a new life. I began the publishing process for Reborn City, wrote The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, which will be coming out in 16 days, I published several short stories and one or two articles, became a writer for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors, met my roommate for the apartment I’m getting in August, read all the Hannibal Lecter books, got into The Daily Show, and a few other things.

And witness to most of this is my blog. I’ve been able to record my musings, review movies, TV shows, and books, update people on my writing, and add links to the places my short stories are published. I’ve made some great friends through the blogosphere, a couple of whom have helped me with my writing my being kind enough to offer feedback on my work (by the way, both of those friends are Canadian, so I’ll give them a shout-out by wishing them a happy Canada Day!). I’ve met people who have offered me wonderful advice, given me their own thoughts, and even sometimes argued with me on this or that topic. I even had nearly two-thousand Anne Rice fans reading my review of The Wolf Gift, and I’m happy to say the majority of them reacted positively to it.

You know, my life has been enriched a lot by blogging. Sure at times I was lucky just to get a single person to read the posts I was writing. But these days I’m proud to say I have a little bit of a following going on, and I’m glad that you all keep reading my posts. Sure I lose a few followers every now and then, but most of them keep coming back (God only knows why) and it touches me deeply that you want to read what I’m writing. Thank you so much.

new TCG cover

I’m about to start on a new but related adventure: publishing and selling copies of a published collection of short stories. I have trepidation, excitement, doubts, and confidence all going through my system. But whatever happens, I have a feeling that my blog, and the people who read it, are going to be behind it every step of the way.

Oh, and speaking of publishing, remember Daisy, the short story I published on Amazon and Smashwords, not only as a promotion for The Quiet Game but also to see if anyone would read it? Well, it looks like 150 people have downloaded and read it, and I even got one review that gave it an “average” grade. Have no idea if that’s an indication of how The Quiet Game will do (I’m personally hoping it’ll do much better), but it’s still got me excited. Perhaps in the future I’ll have 150 downloads on the first day!

Have you downloaded a copy yet?

Have you downloaded a copy yet?

Off to go jog now. Once again, thanks for reading my work. I really appreciate it.

Snake: The Final Draft

Posted: June 30, 2013 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Now that’s a scary image.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while, but for some reason it keeps slipping my mind. Might as well write it now while I wait for the Doctor Who episode I’m watching to load.

Well, it’s finally happening. Snake is getting its final draft before I get ready to format it, create a cover, and send it off for a copyright. And helping me with all this is Angela Misri, who goes by the screen name Karmic Angel and writes the blog a Portia Adams adventure (and I so wish she would publish her casebooks, independently or otherwise. They sound really good!). Anyway, Angela’s been looking at Snake and giving me her thoughts. I’m telling you, she’s very good. She’s pointed out several inconsistencies and problems I hadn’t even noticed.

Well, that’s why I like beta readers. They see the stuff I don’t. And Angela’s doing a great job. She’s currently got chapters 9-12, and at the rate she’s going, she’s going to have the whole book done by September, December at the latest.

Angela, thanks for helping so much. You’ll definitely get your own special mention in the Acknowledgments section of Snake, the one I have yet to write but will once the novel is finished.

And speaking of which, I know what the basis for the cover of Snake will be. I plan to use Lilith, a painting by John Collier. It features a humongous snake, and it has parallels to themes within the novel. Of course, I’ll have to use a type of cover available through CreateSpace that covers certain things. After all, I don’t want people looking at this book the wrong way.

I’ll have more as time progresses. Hope you’re as excited as I am, and thanks again, Angela.

My Third Self-Pub Authors Article

Posted: June 30, 2013 in Journalism, Living and Life, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

I managed to abbreviate that even more, somehow.

In this latest article on Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors, I write about what goes into making a successful sequel to your novel. Yes, I know I’ve been one to moan and complain about how there are too many sequels and remakes and reboots out there. And more than once, I’ve bitched spectacularly about how there aren’t enough good sequels out there (or is that horror films? Maybe it’s a bit of both). But I’m about to start writing Video Rage, the sequel to Reborn City, and I thought that I should make a list of what I think makes a good sequel.

If you are interested in reading the article, click here. There may be tips and examples here that you may find helpful in your own writing, particularly I you’re about to start on a sequel of your own and you’re nervous that the sequel won’t be as good as the original. And even if you’re not writing a sequel, you should check out the blog anyway. There are plenty of helpful articles here that can give you insight if you are self-publishing author, both for beginners and for longtime veterans.

I’ve certainly benefited from this blog, and in more ways than one.

My Exceptions To The “Friends In Books” Rule

Posted: June 29, 2013 in Novel, Reflections, Writing
Tags: , , , ,
0

A while back I wrote a post about how I why I tell friends and family that characters with similar names aren’t based on them (if you wish to read said post, click here). The basic idea was that I don’t put people I know into my books for a variety of reasons and I always let them know that the character isn’t based on them if I know anyone with a similar name.

Well, there are a few exceptions to that rule of not basing characters on people I know. But I’ve only done it twice and only for special reasons. Like, It was for charity. Before I started writing Reborn City, there was a charity drive at my high school. my school was a private school and wasn’t exactly rolling in money, so the yearbook club literally had to pull every cent they could find to afford to print copies of the yearbook and give them free of charge to students. One of the ways they gathered funds was an auction, and I auctioned off a role in RC, starting at $5.

Yeah, that low. Well, I was still dreaming and writing then. I hadn’t published a single short story, let alone shown that I was going anywhere with the writing I was doing. But that didn’t matter for some of the people in my high school, because a bidding war began between two friends of mine, one a junior at the time, the other a freshman. The freshman won with $12 (yes, that low) and true to my word, I included my friend in RC when I wrote the outline and later the story as the main antagonist’s assistant.

I actually enjoyed writing that character, and instead of killing him off, left open the possibility of his return in VR and Book 3. When I told him over Facebook that the book he was in was coming out in November and he got excited, I couldn’t help but think, Not a bad investment you made, my friend.

The other time I included someone in one of my books actually happened rather recently, and it was To prove a point. I was talking with my sister Adi, a mutual friend of ours I’ll call J, and that friend’s younger sister A. Adi and J wanted me to include them in Laura Horn, despite the fact that I normally didn’t do that sort of thing. Even better, they were both demanding main character status. And J’s younger sister was just standing there quietly, not demanding anything of me, just rolling her eyes in amusement. So I went and said, “A, you’re getting a role in Laura Horn.”

Adi and J were like, “Are you kidding me?” I just laughed and laughed, and for added measure, said A was going to be a mean girl with a different last name. A, being A, didn’t care one way or another, but I proved my point: Don’t ask to be in my books, because there’s no guarantee you’ll get a good role or any role for that matter. I’m not sure J and Adi got the message though, because they were asking for roles again this evening. Well, J was asking for a role.

If I ever do another auction, maybe then I’ll give J a chance. But until then, I’m not letting anyone bully me into giving them a role. After all, what would be the point? And what do I owe them that they should badger me constantly? And if I included them, wouldn’t that mean I had to include everybody who wanted a role?

Only a few exception, EVER. And that’s the way I’m going to keep it.

Do you ever include friends or family in your books? If so, who and why?

Older Entries
Newer Entries