Click Image for Larger View

“Roles: A Not Quite Unreal Novel” is still available in bookstores everywhere for Php150.oo.

“Crash: The Not Quite Unreal Sequel” will be available in bookstores everywhere starting next week for php200.00. (Just in case you’re wondering, as you can see, Crash is a much bigger, more massive, narrative! It’s actually two adventures in one book!)

Pre-orders have been sent yesterday. Since today’s the start of the weekend, expect them to be by your doorsteps on Monday morning!

Both are published by Visprint, Inc.

Now, I want to share with you another scene I deleted from the final draft. This one’s called “The Catfight”. I deleted this scene even though it fits perfectly with the rest of the narrative because it’s too campy, and too slapstick. I had to revise some other parts of the final manuscript in order to work in the crucial information that would otherwise have been revealed in this passage.

In “The Catfight”, we learn that Mitch is keeping a secret from her best friend. There’s an implicit understanding between Astrud and Mitch that they got each other’s back, and with that agreement is the understanding that one’s enemy is the other’s as well. Here, we discover that, well, Mitch may not have been so loyal as Astrud thought her to be.

Also in this scene, we are introduced to the M of the A and P’s “Queenbee”, Ana The Cheerleader. The thing with Ana is that she’s a transsexual teenager, pre-operation. I created the character of Ana because I want to show that the social context of the M of the A and P is a very liberal school, one that tolerates people of the transgender experience.

However, after discussing it with my personal critics, we realized that instead of giving a voice to a character that would have empowered the people she was representing, I turned her into a caricature. Devoid of any clear personal conflicts, she’s just another cheerleader–dicks and balls, regardless. What’s the point of having a transexual cheerleader if she’s not going to behave anything other than a cheerleader? So, I decided to delete the scene. I’ll worry about her in the next book.

Enough of that. Here it is. A deleted scene from my upcoming book, “Crash: The Not Quite Unreal Sequel” by Carlos Malvar, published by Visprint, and coming soon to bookstores everywhere later this month!!!

[click here to download | you need a .pdf reader to view file]

Life’s too short to slow down, and no one knows this better than the young, the rich, and the screwed-up. In “The Faster They Go…”, the kids of the M and the A and P face the biggest, most dramatic situation their pretty heads and shiny hair have to face ever: they are NOT invited to the biggest open party of the season! That sucks, really, especially if you already planned on what you’re wearing, right? Shit.

In “…The Harder They Crash”, things take a turn for the worse as they realize that surviving through the school year means dealing with the biggest threats they have to face: each other! With hearts racing, and hormones raging, there’s no stopping now.

Two exciting stories, one not quite unreal sequel. Brace yourself. You’re in for a ride.

What do you think? Please let me know.

Crash: The Not Quite Unreal Sequel
Deleted Scene – “The Kiss”
(c) Carlos Malvar

Michelle Lim and Astrud Quinton  almost bumped each other’s head as they peered closer to the screen. Mitch’s new netbook’s screen was only 9 inches diagonally, and her mother got it for her when she went to Seoul for a fashion show last week.

“Do you think he’ll take his shirt off?” Mitch whispered.

Astrud shrugged. “Let’s make him,” she said. She typed: “R U going 2 take it off or not?”

The boy on the screen grinned. His eyes were not looking directly towards the webcam, he was obviously reading the girls’ message.

“I can’t believe we’re chatting with Jack Avernon,” Mitch gushed.

“I know!” Astrud agreed. “No one will believe us tomorrow when we tell them THE Jack Avernon is on video conference with us.”

A sharp note buzzed through from the netbook.

“Look, he replied! He replied!” Mitch said.

They both shrieked.

“Keep your cool, keep your cool. He can see us through our webcam,” Astrud said, more to remind herself than her friend. “Let’s see what he wrote.”

I’ll take my shirt off, but… the message read.

“…but you girls have to make out for me,” Mitch read out loud.

Astrud raised an eyebrow challengingly. “White boys are so hot,” she said.

“Like black men,” Mitch agreed.

[Continue reading by downloading this .pdf file...]

Note: These are not the official cover for “Crash”, but they’re so amazing, I thought I’d share how much creativity Jepz has.

Thanks, Jepz!!!

What do you guys think?

Finished writing the Beta Draft of ‘Crash’ today. The Beta Draft’s basically 1st Draft + Additional Materials.  I’ll still be editing it in the next few days for grammar, coherence, and the response of my advance readers.

The first draft has a word count of 26, 672. To give you an idea of how much additional materials I’ve written into the new draft, the Beta Draft currently has a total of 41,445. “Roles”, the first novel in the series, has 24, 971 words at its final draft. So, yeah. That’s how much BIGGER the new project is.

CAN’T WAIT TO SHOW IT YOU, BITCHES!!!

Love,

Carlos Malvar.

I am now not only re-writing “CRASH”, but I’m also writing new materials for it. As it is, “Crash” is just about as long as “Roles” in terms of page numbers. I guess when it finally comes out, “Crash” will be a substantially longer narrative than “Roles” was. This should be good news for you guys. More for you to read, more for you to enjoy!

With how I originally ended “Crash”, as I’ve said, there was a sense of closure, but there was also a promise of suceeding stories. I’m changing my strategy. I’ve decided to challenge myself by writing more of “Crash”, and planning less of the next book. Basically, whereas I was previously thinking of “Crash” as Book 2 of the series, with my current outline, “Crash” will turn out to be Book 2.5. A great deal of what I’m planning to write for “Dirt” (Book 3) is going to make its way into “Crash”, and I’m still figuring out how to work in some of the backstories into the next book (and by this, I mean events that happened behind the scenes in Book 1, events before Book 1 happened, and events that happened in between Book 1 and Book 2).

Originally, “Crash” is going to be a rollercoaster ride. But the problem with rollercoasters is that they end too soon. Anything longer than a 3-min rollercoaster ride is dangerous to your brain, I guess.

Instead of a rollercoaster ride, I’m thinking “Crash” is like my flight to Korea a few years ago. It took me 40 or so minutes to get to Hongkong, and then another hour or so from HK to Incheon International. It wasn’t a particularly short flight, like domestic ones. It was long enough to enjoy a short nap, but not enough to watch an in-flight movie.

“Crash” is going to be like that. Whereas most people enjoyed reading “Roles” nonstop, I think people can afford to stop halfway through “Crash”, perhaps rest their eyes a bit or get a slice of cake to eat before continuing on to the last page. However, I’m avoiding langorously drawing out the narrative into a languid tale spanning several hundreds of pages, don’t worry. Page count is still a consideration, I don’t want to spring a 300-page novel to my publisher and to my readers, of course.

Thanks for sticking by me, kids.

Much love,

Carlos Malvar

Upon analysis, I think my problem with the first ending I came up with is that it was too lame. It’s a very safe, very F.Sionil Jose type of ending, with the character sitting down to “epiphanize” on the recent turn of events, so that by the time he stands up from where he is sitting down, his character has now “developed”. I don’t know what force of bad taste compelled me to opt for that sort of ending after laboring for quite some time on “Crash”. I took a lot of pain developing the characters, orchestrating them to form the plot, and then, I ended it with an “epiphany” that made the Not Quite Unreal-verse a better world.

So, I challenged myself.

What if… what if the character has an epiphany but it’s not the sort of “realization” that readers are expecting from a work of fiction? What if the events that happened in preceding chapters changed the character not for the better, BUT FOR THE WORSE?

And there it was. The ending that I was looking for.

It is a better ending. Not because being evil is more interesting, but because it’s very human– it’s flawed, it’s raw, it’s convincing. In a perfect, idealized world, our experiences will make us better persons. But if that’s true, then there won’t be any suffering in the world now, will there?

So, there. The new ending is not a happy one, but it’s not tragic either. It’s hard to categorize it in those two terms alone. The ending is… explosive. Not happy, not sad, but certainly not SAFE. It’s a very challenging ending because I don’t want to end on a cliffhanger, I want “Crash” to be a solid novel, like “Roles”. So, yeah, I promise you, there’s no cliffhanger in “Crash”.

Having said that, I guess the ending promises MORE for the next installment. And I like it as a writer because it poses a challenge for me to solve. As I’ve told you before, I already have a plot idea for “Dirt”, where I’m going to take the story next, but then, with this new ending, I’m going to do some re-thinking. It’s fun, really. And I suppose, if the writer’s not having fun, the readers can’t either. So, there.

Although I’ve “wrapped productions” for “Crash”, I still have a lot of work to do. I’m taking some time off so that when I pick up the manuscript again after a few days or so, I’ll be seeing it with fresh eyes. I’m also showing the manuscript to two people–one is my sister, the other is a friend whose expertise in critical theories I personally hold to high esteem. Once I get their comments and feedback, it’s back to work for me, as I go into “post-production”– editing, re-writing, re-editing. Then I giftwrap it nice and tight for my publisher.

“Post-production” is the easiest part of coming up with a manuscript. It’s also the most boring. Here, you have to force yourself to read and re-read what you’ve written. After some time, you get so bored with your own work, it loses its charm. But as I’ve said, this is the easiest, and it will be easier still if you can get someone to proofread it for you (but you have to pay them, all right? don’t rely on the kindness of orgmates, or your students). Mass published authors like myself, we get the luxury of having our manuscripts go under the scrutiny of our editors, so actually, we don’t have to, but I think it’s really, really bad taste to submit a manuscript to an editor without first doing the best you can to make it sound impeccable. Don’t worry, your grammar will always have flaws, but you need to KNOW when your grammar is wrong for stylistic purposes, when it’s wrong because you didn’t now better, and when it’s wrong because you’re lazy. When it’s wrong for stylistic purposes, and you do it masterfully, then hooray for you. Your grasp of the language can be called ‘natural’ and effortless. If it’s wrong because you didn’t know better, then that’s still forgivable. No one knows everything all the time, except, maybe, Lolit Solis. But if it’s wrong because you’re lazy, then that’s really really really crass, unforgiveable, and you should be condemned to a lifetime of working for Boy Abunda.

Usually, I yield to my editor’s judgment. It’s really their call when it comes to proofreading me. Sometimes, I get so caught up in replicating dialogues for authenticity that I forget that what’s authentic is not always coherent, and not so to most people. Sometimes, I come up with a line or so that makes absolutely perfect sense to me, and then I get a comment from my editor telling me to look for a better way of putting it, and of course, there’s always a better way of putting it.

However, there are times when I hold my ground and insist on a particular way of phrasing or describing something, and that’s my call as the creator of the material. For example, if i’m being deliberately vague about the physical descriptions of something or someone, then that’s because I have a reason for doing so, probably because I’m keeping the audience in suspense, or I’m timing the revelation to occur at a more effective time. When holding your ground against your editor, it’s best to explain your intentions, your reasons, your justifications. You can’t just go “just trust me, I have something planned” because that sounds shady, and immature.

When dealing with editors, I usually keep in mind that these wonderful people are professionals I can rely on, but shouldn’t depend on. They’re great, they’re amazing, but that doesn’t mean I should abuse their kindness and write blindly with as much grace as a wrecking ball. You are responsible for your craft and your creations, you give birth to them, you raise them. As the author, your works are your babies. Editors are their first school teachers. They’ll look out for the best interest of your kids, they’ll guide you on how to bring out your kids’ potentials, but you can’t ask them to change diapers for you. You have to deal with your babies’ shitty diapers. You have to wipe your babies ass clean, and when it’s a boy, take the occasional pee in the eye. Similarly, teachers can suggest some tips on how you can dress your kids to make them look snappier, preppier, but they can’t go as far as telling you how tall your kids should be, or which skin color, which religion, and gender preference, your own children should have. That’s a matter that should be between you and the product of who you are–the manuscript.

The “production” process is the worst. It’s the hardest part. I wish I can tell you it’s the most fun, but it’s not. It’s the hardest part of writing. It’s demanding, it’s taxing, it’s lonely. It can get exciting, especially when you’re discovering things you’ve never thought are part of your story, but really, it’s the dirtiest part of the whole writing thing. You’ll get doubts, you’ll procrastinate, at some point you’ll wonder if it’s even worth finishing.

“Pre-production” is the fun part, and this is also where most “writers” stop. This is the part where you discuss in your head “The Story”, that idea you must flesh out in words, scenes, characters, plots. You get all these bright, brilliant thoughts in your head about the most awesome, the most fantastic of premises and twists. It can get so exciting that doing the actual work will kill you in boredom.

So, as a writer, these are the things you should consider. Also, your contact lens drying from staring at the laptop screen too long. So, all right, bye. Thanks for enabling me.

Yours,

Carlos Malvar.

So, I realized, I was feeling restless because I’m not happy with the way I ended “Crash”. I finished writing it around 6 o’clock this morning, and slept around half past seven. I guess subconsciously, I’ve been agonizing over the way I ended it.

For the past weeks, I’ve been intensively working on “Crash” with hermit-like dedication and solitude. I’ve shunned all human contact, ignored every invitation to socialize, alienated what little number of friends I have. My mojo was working, I was feeling the vibe.

I know “Crash” is going to be the best thing I’ve written so far. I like how it feels cleverly plotted, but is actually just the characters living, breathing in their own self-centered universe. There were some scenes I enjoyed rendering, some fun dialogues to play around with. It was fun revealing several aspects of the characters that readers have never before seen. I think readers will see the characters from “Roles” with a certain familiarity and at the same time strangeness. This is like going out on a 3rd date with the characters; you’ll find some comfortably familiar aspect, they’ll be behaving in somewhat predictable ways, but then they’ll start getting comfortable around you and reveal some dark shit you’re not ready to deal with, and then, what with it being the 3rd date and all, you end the night, close the book, and you sit alone in your room debating with yourself if what you just found out about them turned you off or made you love them more.

The ending I wrote this morning totally sucks. It doesn’t tell anything. Plus, I copped out by going “poetic”. I must admit this shame: I hid behind lyrical depictions to disguise mediocre prose. I wanted a good ending, so ended things on a positive note

But now, I’m troubled. I’m not happy with it.

So, what I’m going to do now is discard a night’s work. Totally discard it. I’m not talking about deleting it and keeping it for sentimental reasons. NO. I’m gonna hit that blasted delete button and be done with it.

There’s a chapter somewhere in the beginning that I’m going to need to expand in order to make the new ending convincing. That’s gonna mean more work, more sleepless nights. That’s not really something I’m looking forward to. People think writers enjoy writing. In fact, some writers claim they enjoy writing. NO. People who say they enjoy writing aren’t taking their craft seriously. Writing is hard work. It’s great when you have written something you like reading, but the process of writing, the physical act of it, the mental torture of anguishing over word choices and the constrictions of grammar, that’s not exactly a recreational activity. Writing is hard work, writing is fucking hard work. It’s not easy, and you should think it’s easy.

But it’s what I have to do, and I guess that’s what I signed up for when I started calling myself a writer.

All right then. To writing,

and beyond,

Carlos Malvar

Hopefully, today’s the last day I’m writing “Crash”. I failed to finish the novel last night, having been distracted by a compulsion to cyberstalk random couples in http://www.weddingannouncer.com. My sister Astrud and I are now laying the groundwork for a future business model where we offer our services to enable couples’ crazy schemes by posing as photographers.

Would you say “posing as photographers”  is an oxymoronic phrase, or I’m just being poetically silly?

Anyway, yes, I have failed at finishing the 2nd Not Quite Unreal Book as I planned to last night. I’m planning to do so today, but, as I luck would have it, half of my face is incapacitated, and I seem to be running out of synonyms for “inertia”.

No wonder not many one-eyed pirates wrote novels about high school life. It’s hard job.

Winking at ya,

Carlos Malvar