Posts Tagged ‘short story’

Read “Ripple” Now

Posted: November 5, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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Remember, remember,
The 5th of November
When my alien story came out
I see no reason, this page you should be leaving,
And not find out what my story’s about.

Did you like that? That fourth line gave me trouble, but I got it to rhyme pretty well.

So yes, Ripple is now published on Nth Degree magazine, an online publication devoted to science-fiction and fantasy pieces, and they just published my story, Ripple. I came up with Ripple after watching the movie District 9, when I was thinking about how in all the movies about aliens visiting Earth, the aliens are either friendly and humans are the bad guys or the aliens are downright evil and humans need to defend themselves. District 9 kind of broke away from that pattern, but I wondered if there was a story that broke away from it even more. This eventually led to me writing Ripple about a year ago, and now a year after I started its first draft, it’s been published.

I’m so happy right now. I would like to thank the folks at Nth Degree for publishing Ripple. You have no idea what it means to me that you published it.

Below are the addresses for the website and the short story, respectively. I hope you check out both, not only to read my story, but maybe to see if you’d want to submit something to Nth Degree. Also, I would not mind feedback on Ripple. Tell me what you like, what you hate. Heck, even tell me that my aliens are unimaginative or remind you a little bit of the Navi or anthropologists. I don’t care. Just tell me what you think.

Hope you like what you read. Enjoy.

http://nthzine.com/

http://www.nthzine.com/fiction_online.php?archiveDisplay=20121105

Submitting “Doll’s Game”

Posted: November 2, 2012 in Living and Life, short story, Writing
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Today I had to turn into my class the short story I wrote, “Doll’s Game”, and can I just say it’s the worst piece of fiction I’ve written since I entered college? I’m not kidding, it’s just baaaad. I even made a point of telling my classmates that. Why do I think it’s bad? Because it’s literary, which I’m terrible at. I seriously prefer a scary story with demons or serial killers, but I can’t submit that sort of story in this class. Otherwise I’d turn in my succubus story for consideration.

But hey, who knows? I may think it’s a horrible story, but my classmates may disagree with me. They may actually like it, and give me helpful suggestions that will improve the story enough that I might want to submit it somewhere for publication. Who knows?

Well, in a week we’ll know what I should do with it, and whether or not I can make a diamond out of a lump of coal. I’ll let you know then.

And speaking of short stories, I’ve got one coming out Monday. Look out for it, it’s a science fiction story called Ripple. I’m looking forward to it.

It’s NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth!!!

Posted: November 1, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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And yet for some reason, it’s celebrated in other countries too. Shouldn’t it be INternational NOvel WRIting MOnth (InNoWriMo)? On second thought, maybe not. That abbreviation sounds worse than NaNoWriMo, actually.

Right, onto the reason we’re reading this post. It’s National Novel Writing Month, when writers buckle down and really put their hearts into their novels. Some decide that this is the time to start what they hope will be the Next Great (insert country here) Novel. Others try to write a novel in only 30 days, doing all the research, writing, and editing in that amount of time. And some, like me, will put their all into their works in progress and edit their on-the-way-to-being-published projects…after they’ve done all their homework.

As you can already tell from this post, I’m already in the novel-writing mode. I had fun in a haunted house last night during Halloween (one of my favorite times of the year), so I’m ready to write scary stuff. I’ve also got a short story coming out on Monday, so that’s sure to be a boost. Yes, there’s a short story of mine coming out on Monday. It’s called Ripple, it’s a science-fiction story about a war with aliens, and I hope you read it and give me some feedback.

I’ll be primarily focusing on my serial killer thriller Snake, trying to write as many chapters as possible (and possibly adding one, if I think it’s appropriate). I’ll also work on my science-fiction novel Reborn City when my friend who’s helping me edit the story gets back to me with chapters (thank you Matt! You’ll show up in the Acknowledgements section in the book when it comes out). I don’t think I’ll owrk on any short stories–except the ones for class and the ones I finished prior to November. Basically, I’ll be doing a lot of work…when I’m not at work or doing school work.

So wish me luck. To all other writers taking part in NaNoWriMo, good luck on your various creative works. Let’s get writing.

This I Compose by Rami Ungar

Posted: October 29, 2012 in Living and Life
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In my documentary class, we had to make a video on how we write, compose, or create literary projects. After we received our grades, we were allowed to upload the videos onto YouTube if we so desired. And so, I uploaded a video onto YouTube for the first time ever. And it was easier than I thought it would be.

The video below is called “This I Compose by Rami Ungar”, and it follows me as I write “Doll’s Game”, the short story I’ve been working on for my creative writing class. My teacher certainly liked it, because she commented on how I was able to keep it from just being a happy nding and how I was able to make a coherent narrative. For all my efforts, sweat, blood, tears, and anything else you can throw in, I got an A, which I’m pretty happy about.

The video isn’t anything fancy compared to what others have made, and it doesn’t have any background music, mostly because it’s hard to find music with the appropriate copyrights that you want to put into your videos. It also has my voice in it, which isn’t exactly musical to listen too. But I like it, and with any luck, you might too.

So here’s “This I Compose by Rami Ungar”. I hope you enjoy it, and I think this is the point I tell you to subscribe to my channel, though I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get more than one video a year up, if at all. I guess it depends on if I can get a video camera, a recording device, a Mac, and time to edit. Anyway, watch the film.

The Succubus Story is Finished…Again!

Posted: October 26, 2012 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Alright, so I finished the new version of Dodi Li, the succubus story I wrote over the summer whose first draft I hated so much I put it away as a learning experience on what happens when your story’s too plot-heavy. But thanks to an idea I got in my creative writing class, I worked out a new story that was much better, and now has a new name: Revenge for a Succubus’s Beloved. Sounds like an awesome title, right?

I think the only thing to stay from the first version of the story was Umuruk, the succubus character. Her character stays the same though, a demoness who fell in love with a human and watches over and protects him. However, that protection can lead to trouble…

I’ll put this story away for a while, especially since NaNoWriMo is in six days and I have to get back into Snake. However I’m certainly going to try to get this one published, and it shouldn’t be too hard, seeing as the latest edition of Writers Digest’s Nevel & Short Story Writer’s Market has a lot more horror publications listed in its pages than it did last year. Fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Once again, have a nice weekend, and don’t go too crazy with the Halloween parties.

I Made Somebody Cry

Posted: October 23, 2012 in Living and Life, short story, Writing
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Under all that makeup is a tortured soul. Or an alcoholic. Or he read something I wrote and was really moved. It’s art, it’s up for interpretation.

Now before you start condemning me for making somebody cry, let me just explain what happened: I was at the computer lab yesterday, where I’m well-known among the staff there. I’d told one of the people there about a week ago about my short story “Aasif” (if you haven’t already read it, then look below, the link to the website where it’s posted and the link to the story itself are there) and he said he’d read it. Not only did he read it, but he sent it around the lab and to the office that overseas the lab as well, which I was very grateful for when I found out.

Yesterday I was talking to my friend and he said one of the staff members from the overseeing office had emailed him saying she’d loved the story so much, and that by the end of it she’d been in tears. Now, as a writer I’m happy that I was able to get this sort of reaction from someone who read my work, but as a person I’m a little worried that I don’t feel bad I made someone cry. I know it’s silly, but it’s true.

Still, the fact that I was able to get such a reaction shows that I’m at least on the right track to becoming a writer. Hopefully I can keep it up, especially with “Ripple” coming out in a little less than two weeks.

Here are the links. Enjoy:

Mobius Magazine: http://mobiusmagazine.com/

“Aasif by Rami Ungar”: http://mobiusmagazine.com/fiction/aasif.html

Background Noise Spurs My Writing

Posted: October 22, 2012 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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I’ve been stuck on a piece of Dodi Li for the past couple of days, a spot that leads into the climax and ultimately resolves the conflict of the story. Earlier I flashed on a scene from a show I’d been watching, where a captain in a police precinct had a talk show on his TV because it made great background noise to help him with his work. I thought, “The debate is on tonight. Why not hear the candidates’ positions on foreign policy while seeing if I can get a few hundred words into a short story?”

Well, I set up shop in the TV lounge of my dorm about twenty minutes before the debates, I turned on the TV to MSNBC, and you know what? I’m learning a lot about the candidates and their beliefs, and I’ve gotten at least 500 words written down on Dodi Li. Talk about effective!

It’s great when you realize a distraction can help you get the results you want for your work, like that one segment from The Big Bang Theory (still can’t embed it, so I’ll leave the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1WpE5ntqbQ). Plenty of people feel that distractions detract from your work, but in actuality, they can really help.

Now if you don’t mind, I have to see if I can wrap up Dodi Li while hearing President Obama’s policy on China. Have a good night.

Oh, and before I forget, I changed the doctor and the detective from Dodi Li into male characters. I think that works better: the two adult males, supposedly smarter and more rational, end up getting shown up by a child and a succubus, aka a spiritual, feeling woman. I think it sends a better message than two or three women in leadership positions getting shown up by a demoness, right?

Some Thoughts on “Dodi Li”

Posted: October 18, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Reflections, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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For those of you who have no idea what that title means, Dodi Li is a short story that I started this summer and that I’m rewriting before National Novel Writing Month starts in two weeks. It means “my darling” or “my beloved” in Hebrew and should not be confused with a popular Jewish song that is sung sometimes on Friday nights by Jews everywhere.

Dodi Li features a succubus, a demoness who visits men at night as a beautiful woman and steals their sperm in order to create demonic children or steal pieces of their soul through fornication, depending on what myths you believe. However my succubus, who I’ve named Umuruk (sounds like a name a succubus would have, right?) is not the antagonist of the story. Instead, she struggles to protect the other protagonist, a male she’s fallen in love with. Succubi have fallen in love with humans before, according to the folklore and stories I found by people who say they’ve had experiences with succubi (it’s on the Internet, so I can’t be sure if the writers are crazy or not, but I try to keep an open mind), and I decided to tap into that for this story.

The first draft was very plot-oriented, and sucked immensely. I decided to leave it alone until I could think of a way to make it better, and if I couldn’t, then it’d make a great learning experience. But yesterday in creative writing class, my teacher gave me an idea on how I could improve the story. So I went back and started to completely rewrite it, going until half-past ten last night, and then resuming for a little while this morning before class.

As I was heading to class, I realized something about my story: the main character, whose nine years old, and the antagonist, a 40-something with some mental issues, are the only male characters. All the rest are female: the doctor, the head nurse, the head of neurology, a possible detective character, and of course the succubus Umuruk, are all women, and all are women in positions of power that they use to help people.

I started to wonder if that might mean something, if my psyche was trying to tell me something through my writing. If it’s that I respect women in positions of power and that I think there should be more of them, that doesn’t surprise me at all; I grew up in a house full of women, my mom’s a rabbi, my boss is a woman, her boss is a woman, and I took a Women’s Studies course my first year at Ohio State, which I did very well in. So no surprise that powerful women show up in my story.

However, if it has something to do with the fact that Umuruk is able to help the main character more than these women, then I wonder what that might be saying. Perhaps even if women are educated and in positions of power, if they don’t occasionally open their minds to the impossible, then a mentally unbalanced man will hurt an innocent nine-year-old? That’s also a possibility.

In any case, once I finish the story I might understand more, and if I manage to get it published, you might be able to read it and give me some suggestions on what my Muse is trying to tell me.

Anyway, I’ve got some homework to do before I go to work, so I better get that taken care of right now. Have a nice day.

Oh, before I forget, something funny I have to tell you: I was talking to my history teacher after class today, and we had a really great discussion on the way out the building. You see, at the beginning of the semester, my teacher, whose focus is African History, told us that if any of us intentionally failed his class, he’d used magic he learned from tribal priests to enter our dreams and scare the heck out of us. Ever since then I’ve been trying on and off to get him to agree to teach me how to enter people’s dreams (can you blame me?).

At some point during our conversation, my teacher revealed he’d been joking, but I thought he’d been serious because he said it in such a serious way. This led to a discussion on witchcraft in different cultures, which led to a discussion on using magic and summoning stuff. That led to a discussion on spirits and possessions, and in the end, I ended up recommending my teacher to go see The Possession, which I reviewed back in September. Turns out, he agreed to see it. How about that?

Anyway, I think it’s funny, I have no idea what you think.

Edits and Construction

Posted: October 17, 2012 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Well yestereday I edited two short stories. One was Doll’s Game, the short story I’m writing for class, though I might decide to edit it again if I can get this idea I got today for the story to work somehow. I also edited Hunt in the Slaughterhouse, a short story I wrote back in April based on a dream I had. I’ve been trying to get around to editing it for a while, but I’ve had some trouble doing that. But yesterday I had the chance and I have to say, it loooks much better. I’ll have to figure out whether or not I want to send it to a magazine right now or if I want to wait and show it to someone else beforehand.

I also had an idea for Dodi Li, the succubus story I wrote over the summer. Although the plot for that story was really bad and I ended up deciding this story was best left as a learning experience, I decided to rewrite it after my teacher in my creative writing class gave me an idea. You see, she had been discussing the story we were critiquing today, and how the author was able to make it difficult to tell what was reality and what was delusion in his story. Listening to that, I just had a burst of inspiration for Dodi Li, which I plan to get to work on as soon as possible. Got to say, those workshop critiques can do wonders for you.

On, and before I forget, remember how I rewrote the outline for my serial killer novel Snake and that I mentioned I’d set a scene in a construction site? Well today I finally reached the man who could help me get onto the site. We’re going to try and find a time that works for both of us so that I can tour a site and ask some questions. This is a big oppurtunity for me because I want my readers not to have to suspend their disbelief too much and what’s better than actual experience?

Well, hope to have more good news for you later. In the meantime, I’ve editing to do.

The Edits Are Done! Yahoo!

Posted: October 15, 2012 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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To get why I posted this picture, read below.

Ladies and gentlemen, get out of your chairs, and start dancing in front of your computer or while holding whatever portable electronic device you are reading this post on! I’ve finished the edits on Reborn City! I thought the editing would take a couple of months, but instead it took a couple of weeks. I wonder if my idols in the world of writing literature have it this easy with their novels when they do the final edits.

So, RC‘s at 24 chapters, with each chapter averaging about four edits total. The longest chapter is the first one, with thirty-four pages, and well over 10,000 w0rds. The epilogue is definitely the shortest, with less than a page and barely two-hundred words, if even that. All told, the entire novel, in 8 1/2″ x 11″ pages, with a 12-point font and double-spaced, is 313 pages (whistle-whistle!). The word count, which requires no calculating of page sizes or anything, is 90,850. To which I say, holy crap.

Well, now I plan to go take a nap, because it’s close to midnight right now. Tomorrow I’ll send this baby off to a friend (his email address is conveniently in the emails I got when he commented on previous posts; expect an email saying “rami ungar reborn city” in the subject line), then go to class. At some point I’ll work on editing and writing some short stories, and when November rolls around get to work on Snake for National Novel Writing Month, or as we writers like to call it, NaNoWriMo.

And what happens after I get Reborn City back from my friend? Well, I’ll do the edits he suggests, and then I’ll get to work on doing everything else that needs to be done so that you all can read Reborn City.

You know, I’ve seen this process of self-publishing Reborn City sort of like a train, and every time I get to a new milestone in the process, I’ve reached a new station. When do I get to the final stop? I’m not sure; I’m certainly ahead of schedule, but who knows how long that’ll last?

Anyway, I hope for some more good news soon. That way I can share it with you as soon as possible.

To all, a good night (or if you just turned on your computer and you’re reading this with your morning coffee, good morning. Some weather today, huh?). Sweet dreams, and happy blogging to you.

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