Posts Tagged ‘publishing’

“The Quiet Game”: The Cover

Posted: February 20, 2013 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , ,
2

I took some time out of my day today to create the cover for my upcoming collection of short stories, The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. I used a photo I’d taken over the weekend and used PhotoShop to add the title and the writing in the sky that’s in the titular short story. The result is what you see below:

TQG cover

The photo is of Orton Hall, one of the oldest buildings on campus, with a snowy night background. With the lettering in the back, I feel it makes for a very scary cover that gives me the effect I’m looking for.

The best part though, is that I did it all by myself, with only a little bit of help from the people who run the computer lab at the Science and Engineering Lab at school, and I did it in barely half an hour, if even that much! I feel so proud of myself for being able to use a program that before I had so much trouble using. Now I can add this to the Facebook page and put it on the “Books by Rami Ungar” page to show the world.

Thanks for supporting me so far. I hope to have the book out by mid-April, when the semester ends. I hope you’re looking forward to reading it, almost as much as I am looking forward to publishing it.

Enigma: Retitled & Almost Ready

Posted: February 13, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , ,
2

I got feedback for one of my short stories, “Enigma”, the one about the autistic boy. My bera-reader, a woman who’s worked with people with disabilities for years, told me she really enjoyed the story, especially since certain parts scared her and she couldn’t figure out what would happen next or whether the wolf spirit in the story was a hallucination or an actual spirit. I don’t give any hints on that subject, though I usually tend towards supernatural.

My beta-reader also didn’t care for the name change I gave “Engima”, but I feel that the new title works more for the rewrite I gave this story. That being said, the new title is “In The Lady Ogre’s Den”, based on something the main character notices while in the hospital. I think the title’s a good one, and I hope to keep it.

I’ll probably edit this story one more time, but after that I’ll move it to the folder on my flash drive where I keep the finished short stories for The Quiet Game. I’m very excited; after this story, I’ll have only two more stories to hear back from beta-readers about, and then I’ll be ready to put The Quiet Game out. Let’s hope I hear back soon.

Oh, as for that promotional short story I mentioned the other day, I still have to find time to send it to the Copyright Office, but I will as soon as I’m done with my homework. Just bear with me, okay? I’ll have it out soon.

Getting A Promotional Work Ready

Posted: February 10, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
Tags: , , ,
0

As many of you know, I’m preparing to release a collection of short stories known as The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones (you can find the link for the Facebook page below). As I’m getting ready though, I want to also release some other stuff, drum up a little excitement. Which is why I’m hopefully going to be releasing a promotional short story later this week, so that until The Quiet Game comes out, you’ll have something to at least get an idea of what my writing is like (especially if you’ve never read any of my work before).

I won’t say much about the short story in particular, except that I will tell you I wrote it in high school and have given it several edits over the years. However, as my high school English teacher Mr. Guinan said, “There comes a time when a story is done. Not perfect, but done. When you can’t do anything else to it, when you can’t polish it or improve it anymore. It’s just done.” And this story is definitely done.

So tomorrow I’ll see about creating a cover that matches the story, turn the whole darn thing into a PDF file, and when I have the copyright, I’ll upload it onto Amazon and onto Smashwords (the latter makes it available on Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and a bunch of other sites). Now, the copyright is still going to cost money, so I’m on the fence on whether or not to charge for downloads (and if so, how much). So if you have an opinion either way, please let me know. As always, I value your opinions.

I hope to have more on this short story soon. I also plan to create a page called “Other Work by Rami Ungar”, but I’ll get to that when the time comes.

And once again, thanks for reading and thanks for supporting me. I really appreciate it.

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

Checking Into Copyright Law

Posted: February 6, 2013 in Living and Life, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , ,
8

Okay, so today I stopped by the school library to see about copyright laws (if you’re going to self-publish something, might as well be protected by law from people using your work illegally and without permission). According to the woman whom I talked to, it’s actually much easier than I thought to copyright your literary work. A little costlier than I thought, but only by twenty dollars. Compared to tuition money, it’s not too bad. And hey, if this is a success, it’ll be worth the investment.

By the way, I’ve been thinking of releasing a short story not in the collection as a little promotion for The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. What do you guys think? Would you buy one of my short stories if it was priced at ninety-nine cents? Oh, and if you’re uncertain, I’m choosing between a kidnapping thriller and a scary story involving neo-Nazis. What say you?

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

Posted: February 4, 2013 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , ,
0

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

Updates on “Enigma”

Posted: January 29, 2013 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

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
Tags: , , , , ,
0

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!

Addict: The Post-Workshop Edition

Posted: January 17, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , ,
0

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
Tags: , , , , , ,
2

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.

Has All The New Advertising Been Worth It?

Posted: January 15, 2013 in Living and Life, Writing
Tags: , ,
0

I’d say so far, yes.

So far, I’ve gotten 240 Facebook friends, 22 likes on the Facebook page for The Quiet Game (http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheQuietGameFiveTalesToChillYourBones), and 13 followers on Twitter. Plus 149 followers through WordPress, plus numerous others who register through whatever they use to tage blogs or whatever the term is. I don’t know how many will actually download a copy of The Quiet Game, or any of my other works that might get published. But I think I have a good chance. I have so much support from so mnay people, I can’t help but be confident.

So thanks to you all. You are the source of my confidence, of my optimism. And I know, with your continued support, I’ll get somewhere in the writing industry, especially the self-publishing industry.

Older Entries
Newer Entries