Another year has come and gone. And what a year it was! Personally a lot of amazing things happened to me: I got to go on the study abroad trip of my dreams (sadly one doesn’t exist to explore haunted locations) and make unforgettable memories with amazing friends while learning about WWII. I published my second novel Snake, which currently has an average of 4.2 out of 5 on Amazon. I started my last year of school, which I shall finish in four months and ten days from now. And so much more has happened, so much that I can’t mention them all here or you might get bored. I’m definitely not going to mention any of that stuff WordPress sends in an email about Sydney Opera Houses and whatever. It’s boring, and I usually save that stuff for the anniversary of my blog being created in August anyway.
What do I hope for 2015? Well, I’m hoping to get at least one book published at some point this year. No definite plans at the moment, but I’ll let you know if something does seem imminent. I’d like to finish up my thesis Rose and get some really good remarks and feedback on it (a lot of reports indicate that the former will definitely happen soon, while the latter depends on who reads Rose and what they think). I’d also like to finish editing Video Rage and get to work on improving Laura Horn, which might happen sometime after graduation. As I’ve got close to 400 short story ideas and only a few of them actually written, I’d like to get some more short stories written, maybe get back to work on another collection or publish those short stories in a magazine. And of course I’d like to grow my readership, get more people reading my blog and my books.
And of course I’d like to get a well-paying job by the time I graduate. That would be very nice.
Anyway, thank you to the many Followers of Fear who show up here to read my many posts and interact with me. You give me encouragement every day to keep pursuing my goals and to make my dreams come true. I hope we can have another fabulous year together, through graduation and beyond.
Also thanks to everyone who bought or downloaded a copy of one of my books during the holiday sale this year. I hope you enjoy what you bought and if you feel like it, please let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love feedback, and I’d be happy to hear yours, even in a comment or a review.
It’s been a while since I posted on my books that are in the process of getting written/edited/published/whatever, so I thought I’d write up a quick post to just let you all know about how those projects are going and when we can expect them to be in print. Spoiler: not any time soon.
Video Rage
The long-awaited sequel to Reborn City (especially by my sister and my stepmother). Last I was working on it, I’d made considerable progress on the book and had made it about halfway or so through the manuscript. Of course, senior year started, and I had to switch gears to work on Rose (more on that below). So I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get back to that, but it’ll probably be when I don’t have classes, a thesis, and a job search to deal with all at once. So hopefully at some point next year. Yes, I know, it’s sad and frustrating. But when you’re working with my busy schedule, what can you do?
Actually, there is plenty you can do: offer me a job that matches my qualifications if you got one. Either that, or come by and do my homework for me. I’ve got an 8-10 page Shakespeare paper due December 9th. Any volunteers? No? Good, that’s cheating and I could get expelled for that.
Laura Horn
I’ve been thinking a lot about this novel lately. For those of you who haven’t seen me post about it before (it’s been a while), Laura Horn is a thriller about a teenage sexual assault victim who comes across information that threatens the United States and finds herself the only one who can stop it. At the same time, she must confront her demons and the man who assaulted her. The thing is, after I finished the first draft, I realized that certain parts of the story required too much suspension of disbelief. There was so much going on, some of it involved a stretch of the imagination to actually imagine happening, and at times I felt like there were glaring errors in the plot that I was missing. And then I found some of them!
All in all, the whole thing is unwieldy. But, I love the characters, especially my protagonist. I love the journey she goes on, and how it makes her go from a scared little girl to…well, she’s stronger. In a better place. And I liked the idea of the story very much.
So I think when the opportunity presents itself, I may try rewriting the story (because apparently a second draft for me is rewriting the whole damn thing, at least lately anyway). I’ve already got an idea for a new storyline that makes a lot more sense, it’ll be a bit shorter than the original version, and I think I’ll still get the story I want without facing those problems of believable storytelling. I just need the time to write it (what else is new?). So don’t expect LH to come out any time soon. I know, I know. It looks like nothing will be coming out soon, and that’s a fair opinion. But you never know. Something may change.
Rose
Last I updated you guys on my novel-that-doubles-as-my-thesis, I had to rewrite the outline again because the direction would’ve made the whole story a little crazy. So I sent the new outline to my advisor, and I was supposed to meet with him Friday. Sadly, the meeting got cancelled, so I’ll be emailing him this coming week to see if he would just send me his thoughts in an email. It might make it a bit easier since carving out a time for three busy people to meet up for even half an hour or more and just talk. If I hear anything, you guys will be among the first to know.
Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors
Hope to get a new article out some time soon. That’s all I’m saying on this.
Well, that’s all for now. I’ve got a bit of editing to do tonight, so I’m going to get on that. Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear. These days, I need all the luck I can get my hands on.
I’ve been advertising my novel Reborn City a lot lately (and doubtless I’ll be doing some of that here too), but I thought this was interesting enough that it deserved a blog post.
Near the end of RC, I introduced hoverbikes, motorcycles that, instead of wheels, hover in the air much like the hoverboards seen in Back to the Future Parts II and III. The way they hover is through magnetic plates that act against the magnetic forces in the earth, allowing them to hover. The thing is, neither hoverboards or hoverbikes exist, so for now they’re still just science fiction.
Or are they?
Last month, tech company Arx Pax unveiled its own hoverboard, which does apparently hover a few inches off the ground. They are currently funding research and construction through a Kickstarter campaign which at this time has surpassed its original goal of two-hundred fifty-thousand dollars and made over four-hundred thirty-six thousand dollars. Backers have the option of getting their own Developers Kit or “White Box”, which allows them to create their own hover devices. Check out their campaign video.
Pretty amazing, isn’t it? Apparently the science behind it also revolves around magnetic forces, though not the same kind that the hoverbikes in Reborn City use. What the Hendo Hoverboard does is manipulate magnetic fields, which creates flux, or changing magnetic fields. In conductive surfaces like metals, it creates current, and according to a law known as Lenz’s Law, the current will create its own magnetic field which will act in opposition to the original flux. With enough flux, the magnetic fields will repel each other and, in the case of the Hendo Hoverboard, cause it to levitate (thanks to the Nerdist channel for explaining this to me. Click here for their video explaining the concept of the Hendo Hoverboard).
Now, the Hendo Hoverboard does have its limitations. It can only work on certain circumstances, it’s loud, and it has a short battery life. But part of the hopes of its creators, as expressed in the video above, is that people who buy a Developer Kit will be able to make breakthroughs and develop the technology further. With technology progressing in amazing new ways each and every day, and with people in high school developing amazing new programs or devices (like this kid who developed his own smart gun) we could be seeing new developments in this field within the next decade or so, enough that Wikipedia might stop calling hoverborads a”fictional device”.
And since Reborn City takes place in the year 2056, or about 41 years from when those first developer kits get shipped, there’s plenty of time to fine-tune the technology and find new applications for it, including in creating hoverbikes. Perhaps even utilizing the design that I made for the ones in Reborn City.
Below I’m including an excerpt from RC featuring the first appearance of the hoverbikes, which will also feature in the sequel Video Rage. If you’re interested in checking out RC, it’s on sale through Friday on Amazon and Smashwords, and there’s still a giveaway to participate in for a free copy. Hope you like what you read, Followers of Fear. And I’ll try to stop myself from talking anymore about RC till Friday, but I make no promises. HYDRAS!
When they were all safely inside, Harvey closed the door and pointed to a row of crates sitting under a single, unlit light bulb. The crates, five in all, were large and rectangular, and were marked with big red letters that read HEAVY BULK OBJECT.
“D’ya guys want help openin’ ‘em up?” asked Harvey.
“I got it.” said Rip. Extending his claws, he went to the crate closest to him and cut through the nails holding one of the sides to the rest of the crate. The wooden side fell with a loud clatter, revealing the hoverbike inside. It looked like a regular motorcycle, except it seemed more box-like and instead of wheels had two half-circle panels at each end. The entire thing had been painted black, even the handles and panels.
“Huh.” said Rip. “I thought it’d be mo’ showy.”
“Them rich kids prob’bly wanted to do the paint job,” said Fox. “Give it their own gang colors an’ shit.”
Iori scoffed. “Never say ‘gang’ an’ ‘rich kids’ in the same sentence.”
With Harvey’s help, Rip lifted the hoverbike up and out of the crate. The key, a small plastic rod with an electronic laser identification tag at the end, was wrapped around one of the handles with a small metal chain. Unwrapping the chain from the handle and setting the key in the ignition, Rip tried to start up the engine.
There was a loud rumbling sound from within and the hoverbike rose a foot and a half into the air, bobbing slightly where it stopped. From beneath the panels there was a faint blue glow, probably from the magnets, Zahara guessed. Everyone around Zahara gasped and stared at the hoverbike.
“Wow.” said Ilse. “’Kind of ‘em to put the gas in ‘fore we needed ‘em.”
“Y’all mind if I test it out fo’ ya guys?” asked Harvey.
“Be our guest.” said Rip, gesturing to the bike.
Harvey swung his foot over the hoverbike and sat in the seat. It dipped slightly but other than that did not react to the new weight that had been added to it.
Harvey sat there for a second, looking like he was trying to get his excitement under control. “Alright.” he said. “Now how the fuck d’ya drive this thing—?” Harvey twisted the throttle and the hoverbike sped forward. He lost his grip and fell off the bike, landing in Rip’s arms with a loud grunt. Both of them fell to the ground, neither really hurt but both looking shaken. A few yards away the hoverbike had come to a stop, hovering serenely as if nothing had happened.
“Shit.” said Harvey.
“That bastard’s gonna take some practice.” Rico observed, looking at the bike.
Zahara was still staring at it, not really listening to the others. She had seen what Harvey had done and thought that if he had just twisted the throttle slowly and hadn’t tried to move too quickly, he wouldn’t have fallen off the bike.
I have to try it out. she thought, feeling like she was being drawn to it. I just have to know if I’m right. Before she realized it, Zahara was striding towards the bike and swinging her leg over the seat.
“Zahara?” said Alto, and Zahara knew without looking that all the others were watching her. “What’re ya doin’?
“Babe, are ya crazy?” said Ilse. “Ya can’t just get on the bike an’ expect t’ get it right on the first try when we haven’t even tested it out—!”
But she ignored them. Bending over the handlebars, she twisted the throttle slowly. The bike sped forward, going at a pace that was slower than what had it had been going when Harvey had gotten on but still pretty fast. Feeling the air whipping around her, Zahara timed a turn and spun to the left as the wall neared. Navigating the maze of boxes and crates, she reappeared in front of the Hydras, braking with ease.
Only when she looked at the others and saw their mouths hanging open did she realize what she had done: she had ridden a hoverbike without any previous practice and made it look easy. She looked at all of them, then at the bike, then back to the rest of them again.
Finally Miguel closed his mouth and said, “Well, whaddya know? The chica’s a gangsta after all.”
“Yeah.” said Owl. “The riding-a-hoverbike-like-it’s-easy-as-pie type of gangsta.”
“Wow Zahara.” said Ilse, and Zahara felt herself glowing with pride and accomplishment.
One whole year. One whole crazy, kooky, lovely, exciting, frustrating, magical, mystical, marvelous year. Can you believe how much time has passed since then?
Actually, yes I can. I’ve had that sort of crazy life. But yeah, it’s amazing that an entire year has passed since Reborn City was first published. It’s my first novel and I’m especially proud of it. And the reception to it has just been great. I’ve had a lot of people who’ve told me how much they’ve enjoyed reading RC, how they thought it was really original and that they couldn’t wait to read the sequel.*
For those of yo who are unfamiliar with RC, let me tell you about it. Reborn City is the first in a science fiction trilogy I started writing in high school, and that I’ve been working and polishing on and off since then. It follows Zahara Bakur, a Muslim teenager who lives in the titular city, a Las Vegas-like entertainment town in the year 2056. After the death of her parents, Zahara is forced by circumstance to join the Hydras, an interracial street gang whose leaders have special abilities and powers. Zahara finds a new home with the Hydras, despite the constant violence in her neighborhood and the discrimination she faces because of her religion. However, when tragedy strikes, Zahara learns that there are people in the government interested in the Hydras for very specific reasons, and the choices she makes will influence not only her life, but the lives of those she cares about.
Currently, Reborn City holds a 4.7 rating based on seven reviews on Amazon, and people have been mostly very positive with what they’ve had to say. Take a look:
This is an extremely commendable effort by a new young writer, whom I believe we will see much more of in the years ahead. Rami Ungar’s vision of a frightening dystopian future is peppered with those elements that make us all human. There are quite a few surprises in the book, and I am anxious for the next volume in the series to be released.
–Marc M. Neiwirth
This is not a genre I typically delve into, but I took this book on vacation and couldn’t put it down. The plot had me turning pages at quite the clip. The characters were unique and interesting and the imagery had me creating my own visual of what Rami’s interpretation of the future looked like. For first time novelist, Rami Ungar, this was an outstanding showing of talent and commitment to his passion of writing. Looking forward to seeing what he comes up with next!
–Michele Kurland
As a reader who does not read books in this genre, I must admit that I could not put down the book. I attribute this to the talent of the author. I am looking forward to reading the next books published by Ungar. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy action with features of supernatural powers and sci-fi.
–Enjie
And in honor of a full year since Reborn City was published, I’m doing a couple of special things to celebrate. First, I’m doing a two-week sale. All e-books of Reborn City will be only $0.99 and the print paperback will be $6.50, down from their usual prices from $2.99 and $8.99, respectively.
In addition, I’m holding a contest. From November 1st-November 14th, you have the opportunity to win an autographed copy of Reborn City, sent to wherever you may live. This contest is available to all, except to those who are closely related to me or had some hand in the creation of Reborn City. All you have to do is leave a comment below with your name, where you’re from, and a superpower you would like to have. Easier questions than what was asked at the Bridge of Death, right?
If you would like to check out Reborn City, you can buy a print or digital copy from Amazon and Smashwords (the latter only has the e-book version). And if you like (or hate) what you read, please let me know what you think, whether in a comment or in a review. Positive or negative, I love feedback, so please let me know your thoughts on the book.
Good luck to all contest participants and fun reading, my Followers of Fear. And thanks for a wonderful year, everyone. I couldn’t have done it without you.
*Speaking of which, I’m sorry editing and publishing Video Rage is taking so long. I’ve been busy with my thesis and school, so there hasn’t been any time to work on it. But I’m hoping that with a slightly easier next semester in the spring, I might be able to actually put in some time finishing up the second draft of VR. Of course, I’ll deep into the job search at that point, so that could get in the way.
It’s been a while since I updated everyone on my novel-that-also-doubles-as-my senior-thesis Rose, but I have the opportunity to do so now. Especially since I can’t do my job search without updating my resume, and I’m waiting to hear back from a couple of people on whether I can use them as references.
Well, if you’ll remember my post on my first thesis meeting, you know I ended up switching to first person and rewriting some of the early chapters to make them darker. Well, this past Wednesday there was another meeting with my advisor and the other student I’m working with (I keep meaning to ask if I can use their real names, but I keep forgetting. Oh well, I think I’ll stick to M, my advisor, and P, the other student I’m working with). They had a lot of suggestions for me:
Probably a hold over from writing Reborn City and Video Rage, but I have a tendency to explain the stranger elements of the story. Works great for science fiction, but terrible for horror. So I’m trying not to explain the stranger aspects and let the story tell it through what happens.
There are a few comedy elements that I’m trying to cut out. We’ll see how that goes.
There are some things I will need to change for the first couple chapters, but that’ll wait for the second draft.
Most importantly, I’ve switched to narrating in present tense.
That last one is a big one for me. In a previous post, I mentioned that I probably shouldn’t narrate in present tense because I’m not very good or familiar with it and because I have the tendency to switch back into past tense. I explained that to M, but he insisted that I at least try it. His reasoning was that since I’ve been narrating the story in past tense with a first person narrator this whole time, it’s pretty much assumed that things will turn out for the best (probably true). Putting the story in first person would probably serve to add a little mystery and uncertainty to the story.
So I thought, might as well give it a shot. I’d switched from third to first person already, and that had brought about a definite improvement, though I have to work harder to make sure that Rose’s constant state of terror doesn’t start to sound boring. On the other hand, I was already comfortable with writing in the first person. One of my early attempts at writing a novel was in the first person, and for a story written in my early-to-mid teens I did a pretty good job. Writing in the present tense was something I’d hardly ever done before.
So I rewrote parts of Chapter Three to start with, the parts that needed some holes to be plugged so that the story could continue to flow.Then I wrote Chapter Four, and over the past twenty-four hours or so I wrote Chapter Five. Both of those chapters and the parts of Chapter Three I rewrote were written in present tense. And it is weird for me. I don’t know many other authors who write that way, so I don’t have an example to refer back to. I’m basically feeling it out as I go.
But I somehow managed to do it. And it’s been a rather dramatic shift, like the DNA of the story has been altered. I keep thinking back to that scene from the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film, when Peter Parker’s DNA gets rewritten by spider-DNA, causing his whole self to change. It’s that dramatic a shift, like the whole thing has changed in a very important way while still remaining the same basic story. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it before.
Well, I’ll keep writing it in first-person present tense, hopefully gaining a knack for writing stories like this along the way (it could be useful for a future story). I just hope that when we meet again on Halloween, I don’t have to do another major change to the story. Writing this thing’s been hard enough as it is with just a busy schedule. Writing in unfamiliar styles and with so many new rules or ideas to incorporate certainly makes the job a bit tougher.
Well, it’s late, so I’m going to bed. Hopefully I’ll start Chapter Six tomorrow after classes and homework. Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear.
Well, it took me a little while (darn my school load!) but I’m finally done editing Chapter 24 of Video Rage. And since the second installment of the Reborn City series is 37 chapters long, I’m about two-thirds through the second draft.
So excuse me while I do a little happy dance…
Still here? Cool.
I think the hardest thing about editing VR is that a lot of it is rewriting. When you’re doing a first draft, you think that a lot of what you included (including dialects in the narration) is just genius, the best thing for the English language since Shakespeare put quill to parchment or Hemingway put pen to paper or Stephen King put typewriter keys to…you know. And then you leave it alone for several months so you can look at it with fresh eyes, and then you think to yourself “What the f*ck was I thinking writing this crap?”
But I’m glad I’ve been able to take a second look at this. If I thought that the first draft was okay, I’m sure the second draft is going to impress maybe a few readers. That’s the hope anyway. In any case, I think after the second draft is done I’ll send VR to a certain science fiction writer I’m acquainted with who took a look at RC for me. I’m pretty sure his opinion on things will be very useful indeed.
Well, I’m hitting the hay. Big day tomorrow with lots to do, and I want to be well rested for it. Good night, my Followers of Fear.
Some of you are probably reading the title of this post and are wondering, Since when is there a purpose to any sort of violence? Very true, but I’m talking about violence in speculative fiction and when it is useful and when it is just excessive.
Granted, I might not be the best person to speak on this subject. If any of you have read or are reading Snake, you are well aware that the main character is very influenced by slasher films and the Russian mafia, so violence abounds. However, in my other books I try to hold back on the violence. Why? Partly because I’m just terrible with writing fight scenes. I actually try to avoid them when I can, which is okay because in horror it’s often more about the atmosphere and character interaction than about describing a punch or a gun fight.
But the other reason is that, when I’m writing and I think about including a very violent scene in my story, I think about whether it can advance a story’s plot.
Let me explain. In Video Rage, the sequel to Reborn City that I’m currently editing when I have the chance (my time is so filled up these days), there comes a scene about midway through the book where some of the characters get into an argument and one of them ends up punching the other in the face. The actual punch occupies about maybe two or three paragraphs, but the result s of it is felt throughout the rest of the novel. Both characters in this little altercation have to reassess their relationship. One has to decide if they want to continue to be friends with someone who punched them, especially since they really cared about this person and the hurt feelings and pride hurt more than the being punched. As for the one doing the punching, he is horrified about what he did in a moment of anger. He has to take a hard look at himself and really decide whether he might need to change his actions and perhaps do some growing up.
Another example is in Rose, my work-in-progress/thesis project. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Rose is dealing with a young woman trapped by magic with the stalker who resurrected her. And when she tries to get away from him, he often gets violent and dangerous. While providing some very terrifying scenes, these moments also force Rose into a dark place. She becomes frightened, and, like many abused women, starts walking on eggshells because she’s afraid of arousing his rage. Over the course of the story, Rose finds herself driven into a darker and darker place spiritually because of all she suffers. At least until certain events allow her to seek a change.
So in a way, while I detest violence and I try not to use it when I can, in certain ways like the ones above violence can advance the story and allow for character development. Of course there are many other tools that allow for character development and propelling the plot forward: romantic relationships, deceit and treachery, other non-violent events in the characters’ lives that allow them to move forward in the story. But I think of all those, violence requires a delicacy that is much harder to handle than other methods (and not to mention romance can be a bit overused). You have to use it in just the right way or your readers will be overwhelmed and turned off from reading anymore. One slap or punch or explosion too many and it can really change things, and not for the better. So for the author, it’s up to them to figure out what is the right level of violence and how best to wield it in their story. And hopefully through practice one can figure out just that.
So am I good at wielding the violence? You’d have to find that out yourself or ask one of my other readers. An author can often the worst judge at their work. But I think I do okay at it. At any rate, I haven’t had any complaints about the levels of violence in my stories or how they’re used. In fact, I’ve been told that they’re rather scary, which pleases me to no end.
How do you use violence in your stories? Do you have any advice regarding including or not including violence in your stories?
I’m happy to announce that I’ve just finished the first chapter of Rose, the novel I’m writing for my thesis. I started it yesterday after I’d finished my homework, and worked on it on and off throughout the day. I was really surprised by how quickly I got through it, but I think I can attribute that to this new diet I’ve put myself on. I think cutting out all the diet sodas and junk I’ve been eating has not only helped me lose a couple pounds, but maybe also sharpened my focus and creativity. Or perhaps something’s in alignment and this will pass when we move into Virgo next Tuesday.
Anyway, Chapter One was quite a bit of work. It’s always hardest for me starting a new project, especially with that first page. You want to start off with the right hook that’ll keep a reader’s interest and encourage them to keep going. It actually took me a few attempts to get going with this and find what felt right. But after I found an opening sentence that worked for me and after I managed to get a page typed, it sort of rolled on from there, and I had relatively little trouble writing out the rest. Which leads me to this morning, where I’m announcing for all the world to see and hear that I’ve finished the first chapter of the book.
My first impressions of this chapter is that it’s rather wordy (and phrase-y, too. I use plenty of fun phrases, like “the stars beneath her”). In fact, it’s 4,240 words over 15 pages. Not bad for a first chapter at all, and it wouldn’t surprise me if subsequent chapters were of a similar length. The first chapter is also pretty uneventful until the last couple of pages, but it allows me to introduce Rose to readers and interest people in her before I actually start eh main events of the story and put her through so much horror that you can’t help but want to hope that she’ll make it out okay.
In the meantime, I’ll hopefully start on Chapter Two later this week and see how that goes. I’m meeting with a professor from the Japanese department on Tuesday to get some phrase translation, so that should be helpful (if I didn’t mention it earlier, Rose’s stalker is Japanese). And unless something comes up in the next couple of weeks worthy of an update or mention of Rose, I probably won’t do another update post until I’m at least seven chapters into it, about a fourth of the way through the book.
On an unrelated note, this morning I had a new idea for a short story and added it to my list, making for a new total of 300 short story ideas (and only nine of them written. God help me get through them all!). And tonight I might be able to do some more editing on Video Rage, so hopefully nothing will come up to prevent that from happening.
That’s all for now. I’ve got a meditation class to get ready for, so I’ll sign off now. Have a good day, my Followers of Fear, and wish me luck.
Boy, I’m not sure my life could get any better. Things have just been going so well for me these days. It’s like my Tarot was right and fortune really was just around the corner.
Today, my science-fiction novel RebornCity received a new review on Amazon. This new five-star review makes for two 4-star reviews and five 5-star reviews, for a total of seven reviews and an average score of 4.7 out of 5. As you can expect, I’m super excited and super-grateful for all that’s been going on and can’t thank the people who make it happen enough.
This latest review comes from Marc Neiwirth, one of the people to whom my second novel Snake is dedicated to (speaking of which, he just downloaded a copy of Snake today. I hope he likes it when he gets the chance to read it). His review, which he entitled Fantastic First Novel (I love that he capitalized the first letter of each word), goes like this:
This is an extremely commendable effort by a new young writer, whom I believe we will see much more of in the years ahead. Rami Ungar’s vision of a frightening dystopian future is peppered with those elements that make us all human. There are quite a few surprises in the book, and I am anxious for the next volume in the series to be released.
Marc, your words mean a lot to me. I’m glad you enjoyed it and that you found parts of it surprising. Sadly, since I have to focus on schoolwork and my job at the financial aid office before I can do creative writing, editing Video Rage is on the back burner at the moment. Still, there’s a good chance I’ll find time to do editing later on in the semester. I’ve done it before, so I don’t see why it can’t happen now.
In the meantime, if you would like to check out some of the other reviews of Reborn City, or if you’re interested in getting a copy for yourself, you can check out Reborn City’s page or you can check it out on Amazon and Smashwords, where it is available in e-book and paperback (but only through Amazon for paperback). And if you end up liking what you’re reading, please let me know what you think, either in a comment or a review. Positive or negative, I love feedback and I want to hear yours.
That’s all for now. I’ll do a little more homework and then try to relax. Have a good night, my Followers of Fear. Pleasant nightmares!
It’s been not even one full week into the new semester and there have been some interesting developments in the classes I’m taking. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m taking a creative writing course this semester. The course requires us to turn in two short stories and a revision of one of them at different points throughout the semester, though not necessarily in that order (I wanted to turn in a revision and two original short stories, but I don’t have anything to revise at the moment, so forget that). And as I’ve also mentioned in previous posts, Ohio State’s English and Creative Writing departments tend to focus on classic and literary fiction. Genre fiction doesn’t often get as much discussion in Denney Hall.
I came into class with the idea that we were going to be writing several literary short stories during the semester, and even had a list of ideas for stories I could write. Imagine my surprise when my teacher announced that we could turn in genre fiction, so long as it was interesting. Yes, she said that. As long as it’s interesting and doesn’t hold to time-honored (0r time-worn) conventions, I could turn in something from genre fiction. The following conversation then ensued:
Me: So I could write a terrifying horror story, and as long as it is interesting and doesn’t hold to conventions, I can turn it in?
My Professor: Of course.
Me: Party time.
You can probably tell I’m excited. I love writing horror stories, and with the focus on finishing the first draft of Laura Horn and editing Video Rage taking up most of my time this summer, there hasn’t been all that much time to seriously focus on writing a decent scary story or two. However, there’s been plenty of time to accumulate ideas for short stories, so at the next available opportunity, I plugged in my flash drive and started looking over the Word document that contains all my ideas for short stories.
So much to work with, so little time.
What a list that was, with 294 entries at last count. Yeah, I know. And no time to seriously work on them. One of these days I’m going to have to set aside a period of time where I won’t work on any novels and I’ll just work on reducing the amount of ideas on that list, maybe put out a couple more collections of short stories.
But the other night when I went over the list, remembering ideas I hadn’t thought of in a while (good thing I keep a list!) and trying to remember what I was thinking of when I wrote down the idea I had for certain stories, I was looking for particular stories. They had to be the right length (under 10,000 words), they had to be one of the more interesting ideas I’ve had (I like to think they’re all interesting, but I tried seeing it from the POV of someone who’s not me) and I had to look for a story that wouldn’t be tied down to the conventions of horror.
And as many of the horror fans know, that last one can be tough. As the Scream movies, Cabin in the Woods, and Behind the Mask so wonderfully point out, horror stories often work within a certain narrative framework. This gives the writers who create these stories more freedom than you’d think as we struggle to please our fans who are looking for a certain product in their story, but there has been criticism (some of it well-founded) that horror stories can get a little too predictable, to the point where you get useful advice videos like this:
He does bring up some good points. Actually, a slightly paranoid fear of a horror movie death is why I’ve never smoke weed, drink sparingly, and I’m not violent outside of the books I write (I’m not commenting on the sex and abstinence part). I don’t want to die like that. That would suck! Especially if somehow my soul gets trapped in the place where I was murdered or is digested by whatever killed me or something. That would suck even more!
So in the end, I managed to pick out about eight or ten short stories that I thought fit the bill for what I was looking for, and I selected two out of them. Neither of these stories have any particular reason as to why I chose them. I just thought they were very unique and that they would be choices my teacher and classmates wouldn’t find boring or stereotypical. In fact, I’m hoping to keep them on the edge of their seats with suspense.
And as for what those short stories are, I’ll give you some hints. This is the hint for the short story I’ll probably start work on sometime next week:
And here’s the hint for the one I’ll probably start in late September, early October:
Anyone want to hazard a guess at subject matter and plot line? There are wrong answers, but no consequences if you guess wrong.
Well, that’s all for now. I have some homework to do if I want to get any form of creative writing done, so I’m off to do that. Wish me luck, and have a good weekend, my Followers of Fear. I’ll let you know the progress of each of these short stories as there is news to report and maybe even let you know what my classmates think. Hopefully they will be terribly scared.
Rami Ungar The Writer 