The Global Hunters

Yes, it's ugly. I made it up.

So, I've been working on books for so many years, and after my scribbles/book Te Amo has been turned into a physical copy, there aren't no story that I can expand to become a full-length novel. But there are characters and worlds I want to elaborate, and this is an attempt.

So guys, writing one story doesn't mean you can stick to them and finish them. Sometimes you know you won't be able to figure out what's going to happen, and that's happened to me for this story. But if this became a book, it would be wonderful because I am still falling in love with the world my mind has created. And I know where this will lead if it really becomes a book, but I still have doubts on actually completing this.

So yes, it's The Global Hunters--my dream book. If I really wanted to get published, this is the book. This is it. It's not something I am sure I will finish, but now I thought I can share it with you guys. So please, please check it out.

Here's the summary:

"When he found out a group of terrorists are searching for him in his boarding school, fifteen-year old Jamie O'Neil know that he's in danger. That's when he discovered that his family belongs to the society of The Global Hunters--the biggest society of specially-trained secret agents in the world.

Instead of learning about the big part that he belongs to by words, Jamie confusingly participate in The Apprentice Program--the newly invented initiation process for the Hunters to get certification as the society's secret agents' apprentices. With a half-brother that ruined his life, he unravels both new and old things about the society as the Pioneers of the program, and menace starts to attack from every direction."

Click here to read the story.

 

Excitement Overload

 Oh. My. Four.

Okay, this will be a hard time. I'm stuck in between Insurgent and folios. I mean--it's just so annoying. Being in Form 3 really is a hard thing.

But that will never stop my rebelling urge to just finish this book as soon as possible and review it. And I have LOTS to read after examination:

1) Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
2) City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (ugh--I don't know if I'll buy this book)
3) Matched by Ally Condie
4) Switched by Amanda Hocking
5) Torn by Amanda Hocking
6) To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
7) The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
8) The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch

THIS IS A BIG MAYBE . . . I GUESS:

9) Meg by Steve Alten (UH-DAAAAA, this is a GREAT, GREAT, BOOK!)
10) The Last Siege by Jonathan Stroud

INSURGENT--on page 238 so far. Oh my GOD, this book is awesome. Action lies on every page! It's like that movie where Tom Cruise kick asses and Jason Statham's shooting guns!

NEW HAIR AND STUFF

I DON'T KNOW . I HATE MY NEW HAIR . BUT SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE I LOVE IT .

I don't know. What do you think?


And in countdown moment of INSURGENT, I'll re-share my DIVERGENT review

Beatrice and Katniss

Yeay! Today I'm going to write a post to extract all these inappropriate excitement I have for the upcoming Divergent sequel, which is named Insurgent.

I've sort of participated in Veronica Roth's INSURGENT ARC and yeah, like all odds I always lose. But it's okay, it will be fun to crash the bookstore and kicking asses to get that thing. Yeah, literally, I am serious on the kicking-ass part. I think everyone will be crashing into the bookstore for the book. And I will love to do that.

I hope you know that DIVERGENT has been my most favorite read in 2011, and it reached #1 on my favorite read and #2 is The Host. Well, I guess I never reveal that. I also read THE HUNGER GAMES in 2011, but I wonder why I do not have that hype like I had when reading Tris.

So after the phenomenal success of the trilogy, dystopia books are increasing. Many authors love to create bad governments with cruel and inhuman rules in their country, and things are just too much now. Well, thanks to the three books of the Games that revived this genre. Dystopia had once been famous before our YA-hood and the books are such The Running Man by Stephen King or 1984 by George Orwell.

The Hunger Games has become the third literary phenomena after Harry Potter and Twilight. But what's cool is The Hunger Games is unique in its own way -- really, really bad government, a girl who rebels on live TV and a hectic slash crazy citizens of Panem. When I first read them, I didn't know if I was feeling good about it. I guess I was depressed because we were following Katniss on her journey through the pages of the book, but it was amazing when she was fighting strongly, lit a fire that sparks the rebellion to stand up fiercer and then the trilogy ends. After the end, we felt astonished and amazed. Like, "Oh my God, she's freaking a teen and she changed the world!"

It is not real. It's fictitious, but dystopia gave readers a realistic impact. We couldn't sleep in the progress of reading these books. We was thinking about our characters, hoping that their strength would multiplied, and there were lots of other things that made dystopia a really, really realistic fiction genre. And why Young Adult loves it, especially the ones who are still in high school? Yes, because high school seems like a dystopian world.

Then DIVERGENT is released. It is a dystopian thriller, and in comparing The Hunger Games to this book, I was trapped inside this book deeper because the characters are high school characters, and what's cool the bad ruler of this world is among of young adults.

The book is basically about a society divided into five factions classified for selflessness, peacefulness, honesty, intelligence and bravery. It's a compulsory rule for every sixteen-year old to choose their factions. And they will undergo aptitude test that will show them the most fitting faction for them, but the test will not change their choice. You may choose to stay with your family, but if you found you are bored with the faction you are born to, you may leave them eternally.

So if you find bravery's cool and you can't initiate to what they do (jumping on moving trains, shoot a gun on someone you love, jump off from a tall building, climb a moving ferris wheel), you'll fail the initiation and you'll be thrown from the society, and you are the factionless, and factionless people live in poverty.

Beatrice is sixteen. In her test, she's fitting to more than one faction, and that makes her a Divergent. Divergent is secretly dangerous, and she must keep her Divergence low.

Well, she still has to choose her faction, doesn't she? Living for sixteen years in her faction Abnegation that makes selfless as priorities, she feels as if her freedom is stolen completely and she left to the Dauntless, a faction for bravery. That's when she meets new people and she was exposed to dangerous plan of one of the bad factions in the society that tried to shatter the slightly insane world and make it more ridiculous. And yeah, she will try to stop the plan.

When I reread THE HUNGER GAMES for the movie, I started to feel that I love Beatrice more. In Catching Fire, I was devastated of Katniss who couldn't actually see or make a good choice. She seems to always follow what people had told her to do, and it was hard for Katniss to stay put and do things based on her heart. That's because she didn't have a good heart to choose, to decide, and all she did was what from the others' heart. The most devastating thing that I saw in her is her weakness in choosing between Peeta and Gale. If she's a brilliant girl, she'll see that there's no point of being in love and felt torn between the two like how Bella feels between Edward and Jacob. She'll know that Gale was more like her older brother, her companion, her strength, and she'll see that Peeta is her only trustworthy friend, a worthy lover and someone who always stay by her side no matter what happens. But she didn't see that.

Beatrice Prior, she goes to bravery by her heart. She meets Four, and she do love him, but that's not the main point in her story and there's a bigger picture that she wanted to show us other than his relationship with the guy. She never regret of whatever she'd done, like how she left her family and go to another faction, on how she fix her strength to through the rest of the initiation. She's a calm girl, she never torture herself even whatever happens to her. And what's best, she knows who to love, and she knows why, and she knows what to do.

So in conclusion, The Hunger Games is a phenomenal story, and the world is way far brilliant than Divergent, obviously. But to me, what's important in a book is the storyteller. Katniss's strength was massively amazing and it's mostly is a form of physical. Beatrice has a strength of heart, which honestly, I don't think Katniss actually have. Tris's strength of heart that makes her believe that she'll be strong wholly, ultimately. So Beatrice Prior is my choice if to compare with Katniss Everdeen.

So, Happy Abnegation!

School's Literary Week and AIN MAISARAH's book signing!

PHOTO CREDITS to Amirun Afiq, an amazing photographer-slash-buddy

I'm writing this post at nighttime . . .

So, I have a lot to tell you today. Last Tuesday, it's a legendary day as the FIRST local author came down to my school and done a book signing slash talk there.

Well, it sounded enthusiastic, eh? But actually that's not the point here now. I wanted to talk about what a terrible day that day went for me.

Apart from the day before when an idiotic barber cut my hair until it became almost like an alien version of Chad White, being late to school (EXTREMELY) and realize I missed a lot at school, things going down like a roller-coaster to me that day. Becoming emotional, fussy, extremely confused about things, that day had almost become the worst day in my life since 2012 starts.

It's almost a good news to me when a popular local novelist AIN MAISARAH is about to make a visit at my school.

Ain Maisarah is a young novelist, writing books from age ranges 10-16 (I guess) and her books are usually contemporary teen books. She wrote the Aku Mahu . . . (English: I Want To . . .) series which is extremely popular among young girls. The books inside the series are included Aku Mahu Popular (I Want To Be Popular), Aku Mahu Saiz S (I Want An S-size Clothes) and the rests of I Want . . .and she wrote books under a publisher where it receives books about teenage friendship. And that publisher is PTS Publications.

I watched a local reality-TV Nona some time ago and her interview was aired from her home. If I was not mistaken, her husband was interviewed and he told about how she'd start writing. Before she got married, her husband received a love letter from her and he noticed how talented she is in writing. After marriage, her husband manages her writing time, and what she should do in writing. Her writing became wildly successful in Malaysia and she's currently on tour around Malaysia to local schools in having some talks and book signing.

That's a little about her. So, on the 10th of April she came. Yeay! Amazing! I was super excited although I read none of her books, but at least a writer, A WRITER, came down and gave a talk about writing. As you know, I am always interested in writing, and writing to me is a part of MY LIFE. Half of my soul, writing is my life, my therapy, and when I write words, it can be a remedy to any internal pain I felt.

So before the book signing started, I sat and listen attentively to her talk about her writing life. And devastatingly, I was disappointed.

Well, she's amazing. But she was promoting writing in a way of businesses. She told us how profitable writing could be, convincing us that each one of us can write excellently, and earn profits for our future. In the talk, she stated some young authors who got signed by a publisher at a very early age, like Riha Jamil, who published Gadis Piano when she was fourteen if I'm not mistaken (Gadis Piano, English: Piano Girl). And she stated her profits, how much she earned and she promoted writing to us like it was the easiest way to earn money.

So, that's that, and I have my story. I came up during recess to see her manager and talked to him a little about publishing in Malaysia . . . which I researched slightly deep and knew that Malaysia have this one policy where they can only trust foreign authors or imported books for English fiction. I know that. And he repeated that. He offered me writing in Malay in teen contemporary genre by posting a query to one of PTS editor and wait for a respond AND THEN, I can start writing.

And this is my opinion . . .

After the book signing, kids who knew about me self-publishing my first 100,000 words mediocre YA Te Amo urge me to write and earn profits like how Mrs. Ain Maisarah suggested them. If I am following the track, I'll break some cultures I have in writing such as:

1) IF YOU WANT TO GET PUBLISHED, SEND A BRIEF SUMMARY TO PTS EDITOR, WAIT FOR A RESPOND OF EITHER REJECTION OR APPROVAL, AND THEN I SHOULD WRITE.

This is so awful. I do not do this in writing.

I write every day, and I write always and if I feel it was a broken writing, I'll stop. I'll keep writing the story if it felt inspiring and good for me. After I done halfway, I will do an editing, where I'll keep the writing in a pristine quality and then I rewrite the stupid lines that I did.

If I wanted to get signed by PTS, I must send a brief summary to one of the editor via e-mail. And if the story sounds interesting to him, he'll approve and THEN I'LL HAVE TO WRITE THEM. How if I, as the author, felt like that story didn't hit the point, the whole big picture on why I started to write the story? And I will not like it, that means I do not wish it will turn into a book. So that's that.

Different from publishing in U.S., I must complete my work, send a query to literary agent, and then if he/she wants to represent my work, that's quite a green light. I'll have a chance to edit my work. I'll have chance to improve my query. And it's in my hands if I wanted to proceed in making the story comes alive. Not the editor.

2) WRITE BECAUSE IT LET YOU EARN MONEY. WRITE BECAUSE OF CA$H. WRITE BECAUSE YOU'LL HAVE DOLLARS TO SPENT WHEN YOU WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE.

I write because I love doing it. It is a part of my life therapy, where it builds up confidence, builds up new friends for me in substituting some a$@$ole in school where it doesn't functioning at all. And I write because that's what I do, the biggest ability I have in my life that I have interests in developing and I love it.

In an interview in Oprah, I knew that when Rowling is publishing Harry Potter when her agent said that she'll never make money by writing children's book. Rowling ignored those words, and published Harry Potter. It was clear that J.K. Rowling didn't care for cash. And that's what we have in common. I don't care about the cash. Of course I need money, but in writing, that's not what I'm chasing. I believe that in having sustenance we have to pray and put effort on a goal, and if we chase sustenance we'll earn nothing as it flees away from us.

I do not see cashes and dollars beyond the words I wrote.



To conclude, I am picking the AgentQuery way in getting publish. I was told many times to write Malay books because I will not go anywhere writing in English. Because my country imported English fiction, from foreigner authors. Yep, that's true.

So this post is to my friends who always asked me and convince me to stop writing in English and in YA genre such what's popular right now, because I will not go anywhere. Yep folks, Malaysia imported English books from foreign authors. So I have no choice, but to become a foreigner author.

I have to write, edit, read, polish my writing, write a query, polish a query, polish my writing, and submit my query, pray to get signed. I am a local author, who had no choice but to find an outsider publisher to get publish. And what's devastating is, IF I'm signed, my books will be in a high price here in my local bookstore because my book is still an "imported books by a foreign author" while I am a Malaysian author, and my books should belong here.

And I will show my country I'm capable of doing it. It's a matter of time.

An Announcement

Do NOT bash on anyone. I make it unavailable.

I had my own reasons. Thank you for supporting me.

It's just Te Amo is too mediocre to be a novel. I guess let's just leave it as a sweet memory, shall we? Anyway, I'll keep on writing rocking books!

I'm writing JAMIE'S story!

In case you never heard of it before, I'm writing a story. Which I have always wanted it to come alive.

I had troubles on writing and developing the plot of this one book I'm working on, and that becomes the major reason why I have always worried about getting published. I have a list of writing projects on the way that works as a backup. After PMR, I would shop these manuscripts to literary agents with hope that I'll accomplish getting published when I'm sixteen. But in the lists of the project, I don't know which one has the highest potential. So I finally am picking Jamie's story.

Jamie's story came to my mind about a year ago, when I was watching a movie on TV. There are two brothers having a bloodbath together because of personal family problems. I was wondering what are they fighting about, and that's how Jamie's story developed in my head.

But when I was developing Jamie I do not expect the story would create a world where I never knew. It's the Avalon world that got me complicated right now.  They're complicated to be simplified -- basically there's a scientist hundred years ago who succeeded in mutating his own gene to become inhumanly strong. The altered gene is highly hereditary, and as other researchers try the mutation on themselves, the future generation become wildly strong. The Seventh Generation who have this altered genetics found a will from Vanness Avalon (the scientist) before his death. Written in the will is his hope for the future generation to form a society that function as a destroyer to all kinds of evil all over the world. And that's how the Avalon Society is formed.

In Avalon world, the main thing and the strongest part in the organization are The Hunters -- or The Avalon Hunters. Every Avalon Descendants (the one who inherits the blood with altered genes) must become the Hunter, and in order to become that, they'll have to initiate in the Apprentice Program when they reached sixteen.

Jamie O'Neil is a boy who lived away from his father after a dark past has happened in his life between him and his half-brother. When he reaches sixteen, he has to return from LA to Chicago to initiate in the Program. With the hatred towards Simon is still fresh inside, he is certainly in shock when he found out he has to initiate the Program together with that half-brother.

The Program will have 90 initiates grouped into 30 trios and it will be held at Vanness Island -- an island that is hidden under an Invisible Force that is filled with nothing but danger. After Jamie and Simon meets the third member in Trio 27, Lauren Stone, it is revealed to them that there will be mortal deaths and bloodbath in the Program. Jamie, who realize the brotherly bond between him and Simon is developing, hope to forgive his big brother in a life where there's no such deaths to take the two away.


So click here to read it.

Tell me what you think .

COMEBACK, THE HUNGER GAMES and MORE .

Well, my recent post before this post was actually posted on January 15.

And hello guys! 

Meme's credit: Jax on Troll

Oh my God, it feels so good that my fingers are actually approving to me to post again in my blog. Well, I have so many things to do recently, so many things since school started that I've abandon this blog. The biggest factor that happens is because if you don't observe carefully . . . 

Sorry if it ain't large enough!

So, that header explains everything. No, you must be thinking I'm too devoted in writing. No, that means I'm not currently good at scribbling. And this blog, hell yeah, is a place for me to scribble things up, and I'm not good at that. Seriously, I've been reading wonderful posts that make me laugh so hard. If laughter is a liquid, I had gallons and gallons of tanks of it.

That's why I'm sort of dead. And there had been examination, which I feel so stupid when I have 4As out of eight subjects. When comparing to the freaking geniuses in my class I am at number 34 out of the 40. If I'm Adele I would do a heartbreak record, and she named her record 21 and I would name mine 34. So . . . yeah.

I hate being fifteen. Seriously, I should be happy, but I am not. I look happy to my friends, I disguise my midnight misery with a sunshiny smile. I have wonderful friends, but I never have a best friend. I thought this year could change things (my mind, the way of me confronting things) but things looked the same to my eyes.

But I keep on writing. I write a lot from an adventure to dystopia, which the latest thing I'm serious about is The Avalon Hunters -- a planned trilogy that I've started to write. Which is amazing, because I am really wishing for a book to be that way but then I heard a quote saying "If you want a nonexistent story to be exist, you have to write it." I had forgotten who have might create the quote, but I am totally agreeing on it. I must write. It is compulsory for me to.

So things I might have not tell you is:

I just finished TMI first three books. Humm, I can't say I love this series. I mean, the world is completely brilliant -- the world is crafted and written beautifully. But the characters . . . oh my gosh, we have from a whiny and slightly Bella Swan-ish Clarissa Fray and someone who is Edward Cullen the sarcastic and the arrogant version. I mean, hey, bash me if you want, but that's just my opinion. Clary can create fantastic runes, and she gives love hopes to boys, and she have annoying flaws that obviously intended to have to her just to make her look cute . . . which she is not. And Jace . . . oh my God, everyone in the book EMBRACE his flawlessness without even seeing how arrogant and egoistical this guy is. Whoa, JACE IS HANDSOME, I know! JACE is THE MOST POWERFUL Shadowhunter! I KNOW! I love sarcastic characters, but not him. Jace was written exaggeratedly, and I hate him. I thought I'll love him so that's why I give him a chance, but no.

But the series keep me entertained. I mean, the others in the book are cool, and I need to know more about this Nephilim world. I love it other than the two main protagonists. 

I saw The Hunger Games . . . I mean, who doesn't?

I read the books and it's amazing that I'm so hyped about the movie. Some people call the movie bad, but no one in Malaysia respond to this first movie in the movie franchise like they responded to Twilight or Harry Potter. At least being here Hunger Games are Hunger Games -- Malaysians, who are actually a little keen to read English books didn't see the movie as Twilight or other movie franchise which is overly romanticized, and overly packed with action, which is immature.

So The Hunger Games movie to me is basically The Hunger Games. I can't say I love the movie because the book is too great, too great that nothing could even be compare to the books, including the movie adaptation. But I'm glad that the movie falls on the main theme -- survival of Katniss Everdeen, the introduction of her road in being the only successful rebel in Panem, and not the love triangle, the action or the weapons, or whatever it is. Gary Ross did an amazing job in translating the book into the big screen. His imagination of Panem is deeply intensifying that you couldn't laugh or cry when watching the movie.

Movies like this are honestly a problem to some young adults in Malaysia. Honestly, most of young adults here prefer movie which is actually a movie -- a mass media tool to entertain them instead of opening their eyes on how a reality TV program could mind-control us (which is there in the Games). Probably overly-action packed John Carter would made fame here, overly romanticized Twilight would made fame here, but Hunger Games? Well, first the book's publicity wasn't big here, because Malaysians rarely read English books. So to some of them who watch it without knowing a single theme about The Hunger Games, when they watch it in the big screen, they would be like "WHAAAT  . . . . ?"

Well, actually that's to some friends of mine who complained about the movie to me. They enjoyed Twilight but not this movie. They enjoyed Harry Potter but not this movie. Due to the intensity of Gary Ross's perspective on the book, he focused on the MAIN theme: reality-TV show effect on teenagers, survival, war and rebellion, instead of: romantic love triangle, some kickass wizardry scene that amazes you, shooting guns and bullets flying in the air. In other countries, mainly English-speaking countries, The Hunger Games is ALMOST A BIG LITERARY PHENOMENA AFTER HARRY POTTER and even the ones who didn't read had read the books. So they are exposed to the main theme of the movie, and Gary Ross . . . he made a PERFECT job in directing the movie!

But some of them complained. I love it that most of my friends said they loved it. The movie are honestly not as great as the books, but well, book is always better. Well Malaysian, we already saw how horrible Ombak Rindu is when it was turned into the movie (well, the one who didn't read might think it was okay.)


So, that's fundamentally for today!

I hope I'll post more. So please pray that I do!

c.o.n.f.e.s.s.i.o.n o.f a b.r.o.k.e.n h.e.a.r.t

I'm just sad . Really.

In Malaysia, high school have classes. Students are classified based on final year exam result. If you're good, you will be in better classes with brainier classmates, and higher competitive level of class. Last year I'm in the 2nd out of 14 (if not mistaken) classes. This year I'm in the first.

Honestly brainy kids are just freaky so most of the kids in the class are just behaving weirdly. Of course in their culture I'm the freaky one because I do weird things (read, write, editing my works) and stuff. Plus my best friends are staying at the second class this year, so I'm all alone here, in the first class.

I kind of hate and love where I am now. It hurts to stuck here and feeling clueless about what to do, what to write . . . And then I figure out why is it so much that makes me feel restless, worried and stuff. It's not the class. It's not the classmates.

It's just I want to be repped. I'm dying to be repped.

I want a literary agent to represent my work to publishers. It hurts to see successful writers and I want to be one. I want to be the one that goes to book signing, fans asking about my characters, I want to be like that. It's been so long although it's not that long but, I found my dead end. What's next?

YOU'RE STILL YOUNG, YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY.

No. Being a published author is my teenage achievement. I want to get signed by a publisher before I end high school. That's just it because, I had plans after high school. Of course I'm still going to write after high school but I want to get published before I end high school. It's just the biggest wish I had in life, like how Chester wishes for a big brother. I guess I need to wait more.

I'm so sick of writing queries. How to make it interesting? I hope you'll show me how . 

before autumn

Hello everyone .

Right now I think I'm officially done editing by debut bromance novel Te Amo which is out now on Amazon. You can just search my name in the search box and find the page. Before promoting the book excessively, I had plans on continuing on the sequel, Before Autumn. Which is really hard because, the second book is plan to be a kind of diary-like book, where I need to be extremely passionate and emotional. Things and characters aren't the same -- and the second book is actually quite melodramatic.

Probably out towards the end of 2012 or early 2013, I can't really be super active in writing because I need to get my head in the game PMR; a big examination for all 15 yrs old in Malaysia. It's probably like, junior high evaluation.

So due to that imma be busy for a while. I'll be missing so many things.

Things I'll miss in 2011 is including the sweet moments I have during the elaboration of my favorite characters inside the book. It's just heavenly lovely and beautiful . I'll miss and keep loving them.

I will miss the happy moments (although less) at school. I'll miss the day when I show my friends the first Te Amo ARC and they freak out until finally they believe I'm serious in writing novels. I love that moment, so much, and will miss them.

And I'll miss watching The Running Man although I knew I will NEVER stop watching them. It's just -- I'm really scared if I'll leave them.

SO, Happy New Year or, HEPPIENUYEAHHH !