Posts Tagged ‘Snake’

Snake: Halfway Done!!!

Posted: November 21, 2012 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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With the first draft, that is!

This evening, while waiting for the laundry to finish, I was working on Snake. Much later than I should’ve been, actually. But what does that matter, because I got three chapters out of the way. And one of them was Chapter 52. Multiply by two, and you get the number of chapters in Snake, at least in this first draft.

So yeah, I’m halfway through, and I’m happy as hell! This chapter was actually kind of difficutl to write, to tell you the truth. This chapter was the first time in several chapters that a character had appeared, and I wanted to do an update on what she’d been doing during that time. However when I was editing Reborn City, I’d been told that doesn’t always work very well, and I had a feeling that it wouldn’t work here, so I had to go back and rewrite what I’d written (thanks again, Matt; it’s good to have your counsel in so many ways). In the end, I used dialogue and a really creepy mafioso to explain what had happened to that character, which made for a much more interesting way of telling this story.

In a way, I wish I could show you this chapter, but not only does it reveal one or two plot details I wish to keep concealed, it’s a little too disturbing for some audiences. What can I say? I write creepy stuff, but I know not everyone wants to read it. They prefer other stuff found here on my blog.

So I’m halfway done, and I’ve still got fifty-two more chapters to do. But hey, if I can get from chapter thirty-five to chapter fifty-two in twenty days (with a ton of schoolwork and whatever getting in the way), I can probably tackle the rest in that amount of time. Who knows? I might be done by New Years, God willing!

Wish me luck. I’m going to bed.

Snake: Longest Chapter Yet

Posted: November 19, 2012 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Someone’s been a glutton!

Okay, so I just finished chapter forty-seven of Snake, and so far, it’s the longest chapter I’ve written of Snake, a whopping ten pages (double spaced and 12-point font Times New Roman) and 2,424 words, beating out the 2nd longest chapter by about seventy words. This chapte is important to the plot, because this is a point where the Snake really starts moving toward his ultimate goal (what that is, I can’t say, but more people are going to die for it). I guess that’s a pretty good excuse for it to be very long, though I can tell you that the chapter afterwards will be relatively short.

At this point, I’ve got about nineteen chapters in Part III of Snake left before I finish this part, and I’m also very close to the halfway point in the book. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to blog about finishing Part III and taking a little break, maybe just to write a short story or watch a movie or even play video games because I don’t usually play them! I don’t know, I haven’t decided yet, but I’ll let you know when I’m there.

NaNoWriMo Is For Those Who Can Devote Time To It

Posted: November 18, 2012 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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And unfortunately, I can’t devote my time to it. I’d like to though; I’d like to be able to spend hours each and every day just typing away on my computer, pushing out word after word to create an awesome story that people will want to read. The only time I would stop writing is if I was hungry and wanted to make something to eat; or if I had to run an errand; or if I wanted to work out; or if it was just too late in the day, so let’s forget work and just play.

Sadly, I cannot live that sort of lifestyle right now. Instead, I spend more than ten hours a week in classes, and close to that amount at a part-time job. In addition to that, I spend several hours over the week working on homework, reading books and writing papers and doing projects, and that’s especially so in the last 3-4 weeks of class before finals. Add into that meals, sleep (essential, even in college), errands, and just finding time to relax, there’s only so much time to write.

So I’m going to have to drop out of the National Novel Writing Month challenge. It’s just too much at the moment to try and get out fifty-thousand words in thirty days with the workload I have. I’ll still work on writing Snake and editing Reborn City, but I won’t do it with the focus of just getting 50K words written.  Instead, I’ll work on them with the hope that eventually I’ll get them done and share them with everyone.

Am I sad that I can’t finish the challenge? Yes I am; I was getting so much done at the beginning of the month, I thought that if I couldn’t get 50K words, I’d get very close to 30K. Not so at this point. But hey, look on the bright side: I managed to write twelve chapters of Snake and type out 12,329 words. Not bad for my first time, right? That’s more than your average short story.

Maybe next year, if I don’t have that much of a workload, I’ll try again at NaNoWriMo. In the meantime, I’m off to work on chapter forty-seven of Snake. Wish me luck.

NaNoWriMo Day 4: Progressing on the Snake

Posted: November 4, 2012 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Yes, it’s a gruesome image, but it works so well with what’s happening right now in the story.

I just finished a chapter on Snake, so I thought I’d discuss some of what’s going on in the world of Snake and in my life. First, I’d like to discuss how I’m doing so far in my first NaNoWriMo. So fat, about as well as I could hope. With classes, homework, and the need to relax and sleep (and not always at the same time), I’ve gotten about 4 chapters done, or one a day. Of course, these chapters are all less than six pages, so it’s not something to go wild about. However, I did add a chapter to Part I of the story, and I’ve gotten the first three chapters of Part III finished.

Actually, make that two chapters. I usually look over a chapter again after I finish it, and so far I haven’t looked over Chapter 38 yet. But I don’t think I’ll be changing that much; it’s pretty good as I wrote it.

So, I probably won’t finish Snake by November 30. I probably won’t write 50,000 words either. But hey, I’m getting a lot done, and I’ve gotten to a very important part in the story, one where the Snake’s brutal attacks on the mafia family he’s been stalking is starting to have its consequences.

And none of these consequences necessarily affect the Snake.

So I’ll let you know if I happen to finish Part III earlier than expected. In the meantime, I hope you all are having a good time with NaNoWriMo, and good luck to each and every one of you.

A Snake Conundrum

Posted: November 1, 2012 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Oh, I hope this Snake unties itself like my problem did.

This evening I was working on Snake, and I had my titular character pull out his phone and check his location using his phone’s GPS. As I was typing that out, I stopped and thought to myself, Wait a minute. Something doesn’t sit right here. And then two things hit me:

1. I don’t have a smartphone that can connect to the internet or has apps. I don’t even text on my phone. How do phones and internet connections work exactly?

2. The Snake uses a burner phone so he can’t be traced if he makes phone calls. Can burner phones ever be smartphones?

Well, the first question could be answered with a simple Google search, but I heard voices out in the hallway and I thought I’d ask my neighbors if they could make it easy for me to understand. Thankfully they did, explaining to me in full detail and in terms I understood how a phone connects to the Internet and how it isn’t dependent on wireless access, only on bars and how much allotted data space you have, so a GPS app would work in the situation I have planned.

Now that answered my first question. When I voiced the second question, my neighbor said that you can jack an iPhone and reconfigure it to become a burner. Tempting, but I don’t think the Snake would waste his time like that.

So I did some digging on Google. Apparently there’s an app for iPhones and Androids that allows you to temporarily turn your phone into a burner phone, which is handy if you’re a telemarketer or you want to pull a phone prank. The brilliant part is that if you’re suspected of something but you don’t have a burner phone, the police can only connect you to the crime if you have this app and you’ve used it around the time of the crime (DISCLAIMER: I’m not encouraging anyone commit a crime from reading this. If you get the idea from me, I’m not liable, it’s all on your head for breaking the law and potentially ruining the lives of who knows how many people).

So that little conundrum is fixed. Back to the writing. I want to see if I can get the full 50K words novelists try to write during NaNoWriMo. So far I have a little over a thousand. 40k more to go!

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.

My Favorite Kinds of Characters

Posted: October 20, 2012 in Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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I’ve been wanting to do a post on my favorite types of fictional characters on and off for a while now, but now feels like the right time, since I’ve got an inkling of what sort of characters I like to write and read about and since Reborn City‘s coming out and Snake‘s on its way. So, if you read my work sometime and decide that you want to show how I’m a bad author, here’s the post you can point to if you want to prove I have predictable characters.

So here we go. Here are the types of characters I like to work with:

1. Protagonists with flaws: I like my heroes to be flawed in such ways that it inhibits their abilities. For example, Rip from RC is super bad-ass, but (spoiler alert!) he’s a recovering drug addict and he’s got a huge chip on his shoulder. These sort of things weigh him down and keep him from achieving his true potential. Plus he can be incredibly insensitive, as two characters in chapter two let him know! Not only that, but there’s the Snake himself; he’s killing members of a powerful mafia family and shaking up the criminal underworld, and some might see him as good, whether or not they know why he’s killing in the first place. Either way, there’s one thing that cannot be denied: he’s mentally ill. Not that it inhibits him in life or anything, but I wonder what a shrink might say if they could learn about all the details of the Snake’s condition. It might give people a second thought or two on rooting for him.

2. Amazing girls with issues: What do I mean by that? I like my female leads to have problems even as they’re changing the world around them. For example, the protagonist from RC, Zahara Bakur, is a positive influence on the other characters who inspire them to have lives that aren’t defined by violence. Even so, Zahara saw her parents murdered and feels a little guilty that she’s the one who survived. Not to mention she feels she’s holding her friends back because she’s not real gangster material, and puts herself down when she attributes something that happens to her own weakness. Even with all that, she ends up bringing some positive change to those around her.

Another example is from a political thriller I plan to write someday. The main character is around Zahara’s age, though has her own dark past and her own problems to deal with (not saying what at this point, but it makes an interesting story). She’s timid and shy, and anything that reminds her of her dark past scares her horribly, especially when that past comes back to haunt her while she’s trying to save the United States. Watching her break free of the hold her past has on her and then going on to save the nation is something I’m looking forward to writing, because it’d be an awesome story to read.

3. Nasty human villains: I make a distinction between villains who are human and those who are something else, since I plan to write about both. This one will focus on human villains, which can be vary wide-ranging in their motivations or designs. For the most part though, the villains I write, when they’re human, either think they’re doing good or don’t really care whether or not their actions hurt people. An example of the former comes from RC: the main antagonist Jason Price (who’s design I based on Samuel L. Jackson, by the way), believes that his company’s actions will benefit the world someday, even if it means using unethical and deplorable means to get there, and anyone in his way is trying to stop progress and the safety of the world.

On the other hand, you have Christopher Camerlengo, head of the Camerlengo Family from Snake. The main and final antagonist the Snake goes up against, Camerlengo’s mob organization deals in human trafficking and the sex trade. Does he care that he’s degrading the lives of women and men everywhere? No; instead he sees what he does as a business, and the Snake is ruining that business. Perhaps he’d raise a hand if someone tried to traffic someone from his family–one of his kids, per se–but for the most part, all he cares about is making easy money, and people are easy money when you know what you’re doing (or so I’ve heard).

4. Supernatural villains: Like the human villains, these sorts of villains are wide-ranging both in designs and motivations. But they also have two general types: survival or to be the ultimate ruler of all. In the first category, we have a demon from a supernatural crime novel I’m going to call The Weaver when I get around to writing it. I’m not saying what kind of creature we’re dealing with here, but I will say that the creature in question is concerned about the survival of its species, and goes on a killing spree for that very purpose (do not confuse this with Stephen King’s IT though; it’s very different). In the other category, we have the main villain of a novel based on Alice in Wonderland that I plan to write one day (and in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I have a whole list of stories I’d like to write someday; I just can’t write them all right now). The villain in question, whose specifics I also shall not reveal, is a powerful force of intelligent evil whose whole purpose is to turn our world into a nightmarish hell because he feeds off of suffering, and enjoys it too! Can you see the advantages of stopping this one from achieving power?

5. Wise mentors with mysterious pasts: In the stories where characters have mentors who teach them and guide them during critical minds, these characters have plenty of experience they want to give to the protagonists. In the trilogy RC belongs to, the characters run across an old man with a connection to Rip, and helps them out as best he can. He also becomes close to Zahara, and helps her help her friends in the one way she knows best. In another series, this one a 6-book series set during WWII, the main character receives help from a woman he met while living in America. It is through her tutelage that the main character gains the skills he needs when he decides to take on the Nazis (and boy, that’ll be a story to tell). And remember that story The Weaver? The male protagonist is a cop; whenever he’s in trouble, he looks to his uncle, a veteran detective who was a proud gay man despite never being able to come out at work, whenever he has a problem.

The thing is, most of these mentor figures have pasts that aren’t explained, either for plot purposes or just to make them mysterious or because it doesn’t really matter what their pasts are like, but that just makes them so much cooler, right?

That’s all I can think of for now. If I have some more ideas on characters I like, I’ll let you know. But what about you? What kind of characters do you just loooove to write about? Don’t be shy, let me know; I like discussing the pros and cons of such characters, personally.

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.

The Snake Outline Reborn

Posted: October 4, 2012 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Creepy, right? It looks like it might come off the drawing.

Did anyone else see the joke in that title? Anyone? Bueller?

Alright, you guys are more concerned about what this latest post is about. I’ll tell you: I finished redoing the outline of Snake, with new scenes and even a few new characters. I may have increased the parts of the story to eight (including the prologue and epilogue), but the chapter count is down to a little over a hundred, and let me tell you, I like this new version!

For one thing, everything’s much more exciting now. For one thing, the climax of the story is much more exciting, bringing the Snake, his allies, the mafia family the Snake is hunting, and the police and FBI together in one big fight! And at the end, the Snake confronts the boss of the mafia family he’s been up against this whole time! It’s like The Dark Knight meets the end of Daredevil in some respects, at least in my opinion, but I still think it’ll be exciting to read and visualize in your head.

I also did some work on the characters, their actions and their motivations, and believe me, it was worth it. In the first outline, some of the things the characters did might’ve made you go, “huh? What the heck just happened? Why’d they do that? I wouldn’t do that if I were in that situation.” So I tried to make things more believable. I realize that I need to place less emphasis on plot and more on what drives the characters, so I’l have to work on that from now on.

So now that the new outline is done, what next? Well as much as it pains me, I will be taking a break from writing Snake to finally get to work on publishing Reborn City. It’s something I’m looking forward to, and when you guys read it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Just be patient on the sequel, because I’ll have to finish Snake first and I don’t like doing two projects at once that way.

All for now, stick around for updates on both Snake, Reborn City, and anything else I feel like posting about (including a review of Daniel Craig on SNL, which will probably be my last SNL review for a little while). Post on you later!

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