She was one of them—a droid, yet her gaze stirred something deep within him and made his heart skip a beat. Torn between love-at-first-sight and a trick of the mind, he found himself questioning the world he lived in.
(Image generated in Midjourney, edited in Photoshop CC.)
The city sprawls below, it’s neon-lit streets winding like circuitry. Towering structures of glass and steel loom over the landscape. Their sharp edges softened by flickering holographic displays. The pulse of the city and its infinite possibilities hung in the air.
(Image generated in Midjourney and extended in Photoshop CC.)
In the pouring rain, they stand in the dim alley. She glares at him, eyes filled with tears. “Why did you do it?” she whispers, her voice raw with loss.
He hesitates, jaw clenched. “Survival,” he replies, then walks away into the ashen wasteland.
(Image generated in Leonardo and extended in Photoshop CC.)
“What flowers are these?” the young boy inquired.
“Marigolds. Would you like one for your mother?” The old man held out a marigold, and the boy’s eyes lit up.
“My momma will love it!” the boy exclaimed, taking the marigold.
(Image generated in Copilot and upscaled in Photoshop CC.)
In a world cloaked in perpetual gloom, where the sun’s rays struggle to pierce through the thick haze, towering cement apartments loom like monoliths, stacked precariously atop one another, forming a labyrinthine cityscape. This is a testament to humanity’s relentless pursuit of vertical living space.
(Image generated in Midjourney. Image has been corrected, enhanced, and edited in Photoshop. If you use this image in your writing, please tag me. For personal use only.)
The desolate street stretched ahead; it’s cracked pavement glistening with rain. Worn-down apartments loomed on either side with a lit window here and there. A woman and child, huddled under an umbrella, hurried through the mist. Their footsteps echoed in the eerie silence.
(Image generated in Midjourney and corrected/enhanced by me in Photoshop. If you use this image in your writing, please tag me. For personal use only.)
What have you all been up to?
I’ve been working on book two of the sci-fi space opera. I had wanted to get the romance revised/edited and out this year but that will be delayed until I figure out exactly where I want to go with it. I’m not naturally a romance writer so after going through the first revision, I just didn’t feel it would be ready within the year. I’m wanting to get the fantasy book out, so I’ve been editing it like crazy. However, suddenly, I had this urge to work on the cyberpunk characters. I have a character named Isamari. That’s not her real name. Rather, it’s her hologram name. She is a side character who works with the mc and whom the mc bumps into later. Normally, I don’t focus on side characters but Isamari is just itching to be written.
I know very little about Isamari, and I never intended to know her more than just a co-worker, but as I think more about her, I realize she plays an important part of the story. Her part is small, but she creates tension for the mc. So, because of that, she needs to be more developed than intended. I’m pretty excited because I kind of want to know who she is.
Do you ever get sidetracked by a minor character? Do you let them grow and become a bigger part of your story, or do you remind yourself that they’re not that important and keep them in the background? I’m curious.
I had no intentions to do Camp NaNo next week. NaNoWriMo last November was supposed to be the only challenging project I was supposed to do each year moving forward. As I pondered away on finishing my novella, Aeva (my current wip), it occurred to me that Camp NaNo can help me finish the story. My goal for the Camp is to revise, to go through the story from the beginning and make sure everything connects and makes sense, to take care of loose plots or unnecessary scenes, and to create a cleaner and tighter storyline. And, as crazy as this might sound, I’m super excited.
Marlowe update. I loved writing this story. It’s still strong in my mind and my heart. Sometimes I will listen to the soundtrack I’ve created for this story and just get immersed in that world. I wish I could begin to revise it, but no-can-do yet. I need a little more distance and a little more time to think on the plot. What I have done is rewrite pieces that have popped into my head begging to be edited. Here’s an excerpt from one of those pieces. This is when Marlowe secretly meets with her friend, Sam:
I enter the dome. The lights are off so it’s darker than the last time I was here. The ceiling lets a soft light in casting a glow into the room. I thought Sam would be here waiting for me, but I’m the first one here. I walk to the center of the room and stand directly under the ceiling. I look up at the curved intricate design of the ceiling which resembles a spider’s web, a web that is both delicate and strong. The design stirs a mixture of emotions in me. It’s beautiful yet imposes power and fear. I take off my helmet. It will record my conversation with Sam if I leave it on and that’s not what I want.
A clanging sound by the cyborg door grabs my attention and I turn toward it. The door slides open and there stands a cyborg—tall, tough-looking, all shiny metal, and strangely beautiful. It comes over to me. I’m about to put my helmet on so if it attacks me I’ll be ready, but the cyborg says, “Mareesa,” and I lower my helmet. The cyborg comes and stands in front of me leaving three feet of space between us as though by some rule it was trained not to get too close. The cyborg’s half-face visor slides away and reveals the same face I saw the other day that resembled Sam’s. “I am Sam, Cyborg-M30,” it says.
He’s being funny so I laugh. “Stop the joke, Sam. Is this your way of telling me you got a big promotion? Must be nice to work in the Cyborg Unit.”
“You are Mareesa Lowenstein,” the cyborg said.
“You have access to my real name too, huh?”
“That is the only name I have for you.”
“I’m fine with you calling me Marlowe.”
A few seconds of silence passes, and he says, “I do not register…Marlowe.”
“Don’t mess with me, Sam. Where are you hiding?” I look around the room for hidden cameras. I’m expecting a door to open with Sam coming through.
“I’m standing in front of you.”
I look at the cyborg. “No. No. No.” I shake my head side to side. I don’t want to believe it. He’s playing me. He’ll stop. He always does. That’s Sam.
“It’s me, your friend, Sam.”
There is a long silence while I look into his brown eyes. They are his eyes. I look at his full face. How did I not recognize him before? I must have been fooled by all the robotic parts. I step closer to him and reach my hand up to his cheek. He leans his head down so I could touch the human part of him. “Sam,” I whisper, “who did this to you?”
I finished my NaNoWriMo story. Not only did I reach the goal of 50K words, I also ended the story. What I’ve learned from this experience is that I’m capable of cranking out a full novel within less than a month. It’s not perfect and it’s basically a super rough and dirty draft but the story is done.
Goals going forward:
Here is a cut-and-paste from my Nano page with the updated “Marlowe” synopsis (still somewhat rough) and an excerpt. The excerpt is the scene just after Marlowe fights a cyborg that detonated.
The Writing Sparrow 
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