I’ve been working along on my “Marlowe” novel for NaNoWriMo and had an inspiration to make a concept art piece for one of the chapters. In this chapter, Marlowe meets her roommate’s boyfriend who has a robotic arm. He is essentially a cyborg but in their world, a cyborg is not a human with a robotic part or two. Cyborgs are more than that.
I made this piece using CS6 and the following images:
Did you prepare for NaNoWriMo? Some do and some don’t and that’s okay. Just write! As mentioned earlier, I’ve prepared but not thoroughly — just enough to know what I hope to write and enough to keep myself inspired and motiviated. Last night, just after midnight, I stayed up until 1am to write a little. I got over 400 words in. Half the time was spent making sure I had my story straight.
In the evening, I was getting nervous about not having my plot straight, worried about who really were my characters, and worried about the setting. Earlier in the day, I saw a post on one of the Facebook groups I frequent. The poster had provided some helpful worksheets for plotting, character development, and scene/world building. I went ahead and downloaded them. She had offered them for free, so I figured, I might as well give them a try. If they don’t work for me, that’s no problem. At least I gave them a try. If they do work, then I’ve found something meaningful in guiding me toward writing better and faster.
I’m glad to say, they worked in my favor. But, to be honest, I think everyone can get something out of these worksheets. I’ve been writing all my life and have my degree in writing. The majority of my classes were all about the story structure (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution). Even when I studied nonfiction, the same structure applied. These worksheets are simple and easy to follow. I’m not trying to advertise for the designer. I’m just really thrilled that she is offering these for free and they are exceptionally well made. The designer is also a writer. Her blog and where you can download the worksheets is, The Wonderful World of Whimsy.
The way I went about the worksheets is I printed them and read them over. Then, in Excel (because I like having everything electroncially done) I took the information from the worksheets and wrote out my outline. The reason I also do it this way is because I have one main plot and many subplots. My main character and secondary characters all have a purpose. They all have a reason for what they do. There’s a domino effect of sort. I’m writing through one main character who is compassionate and who yearns for the family life and love. She is envious of those who have it but she likes to be around those who have it so that at least she can maybe live vicariously through them until, if ever, she finds that. In order to build that type of emotion, I need more than a few lines. I break the characters’ purposes into blocks so that when or if I lose sight of who these characters are and their purpose, I can toggle to it on my computer and keep moving.
With that said, I hope you are doing NaNoWriMo. And, whether you “win” or not, at least you’ve tried. To quote Tony Robbins,
No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow your progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.
I should be finishing up Aeva but the new story outline/prep has been taking up all my time.
Today, let’s see if I can put the Pomodoro Technique to use on Aeva and have it at least 80% done.
Last November, I didn’t do National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) because I was finishing up my master’s degree. I had wanted to but knew it couldn’t be possible. I’m excited to say, I am able to do it this year.
The first time I did NaNo (2016), I didn’t make a cover and didn’t include a synopsis. I rushed into it. I didn’t outline but did have a pretty good idea on what the story was about. I finished my 50K words, but it was tight. I felt like I just threw whatever I could into the story to hit my numbers per day. In the end, I felt I lost track of the plot and the main reason for the story. This time, I’m outlining to avoid all that. I’m sure there will be moments of the aforementioned, but my hope is to have less of it.
If you are not a member and want to give 50K words a try, go to: https://nanowrimo.org/.
If you are a member and want to be buddies, my member name is, waltzoftheflowers.
My story is a sci-fi dystopian speculative with some cyberpunk. It’s called, “Marlowe.”
The rough synopsis (will likely change):
After the great war, in what was once the United States, a new government emerged. They hired a clean-up company to remove debris and junk to clear out land for homes and farming. This company used machines and robots to assist in the cleaning. The robots are cyborgs: half human, half robotic parts. Cyborgs could only be created by using dead human parts but there are secrets the government doesn’t intend for anyone to learn. A girl named Marlowe will unearth the truth.
The temporary cover:
I have a playlist I’m putting together for my story. Here’s one that I’ve imagined to go along with a scene. The scene is when Marlowe learns that her friend was converted into a cyborg without his consent. He finds a way to talk to her and asks her to turn his switch off (to kill him). She refuses.
I’ve been busy with writing and didn’t get the chance to share this on the blog. My hard copy of the anthology came in last month. I’m excited to finally have one in my hand. The book and the Kindle version are available on Amazon or you can just click here: Realm of Magic Anthology.
The anthology I’m in is getting close to release date. I’m both excited and nervous. Exited because this will be my first published work. I don’t think this feeling will ever get old even with other works I’ll be releasing. Nervous because this story is close to my heart. It’s a fantasy story I’ve been dreaming for a long time…maybe 10 years, maybe longer. There were times when I wanted to trash the story or told myself, “It’s just practice,” but I’m glad I perservered. It’s a great feeling to know that someone cared enough and was interested enough in my writing to want to publish my work. I am grateful to be amongst the other authors in this anthology. It means so much.
It’s been some time since I’ve worked on my fantasy novel. I’ll call it, TLS for now. Reason being, I graduated this past May (the 5th) with my Master’s of Arts in creative writing. My capstone project was to finish my fantasy story, this TLS one, and I did. It was an intense ride and so after I graduated, I took a week to relax. Out from relaxation, I started the first round of editing. It’s been a slow start.
It hasn’t been easy getting back into the mood of TLS. Last week, I spent about four days writing Aeva, the sci-fi outer space novella. Aeva was just in my head. Yesterday, after reading a book by George R.R. Martin, I had the urge to write TLS so I dug in and cleaned up a little bit of dialogue.
Here’s the original:
And, here’s the edited:
I’m happy with the changes but nothing is permanent yet. This is only the first edit.
In this teaser, Petra, the commander of the knights, is upset that she’s been removed from her position. She blames it on Jharyn, who was given her position.
WARNING: This clip contains foul language and violence.
It was then Petra lunged at Jharyn, punching him on the left side of his jaw. He stumbled, and a look of shock fell on his face. “I told you about the Ravens, you bastard! You should have backed me up! You should have fucking backed me up, you son-of-a-bitch!” she raged. With her right hand in a fist, she back swung it across his right temple, catching him in the eye and the bridge of his nose.
I’ve been working on my main fantasy story but there was a moment last week in which a scene from my paranormal story needed to be written. Here’s that piece:
“Don’t touch me.”
“I promise I won’t.”
“Don’t promise me anything. You took the one thing that made me want to live and now you want to make promises. What do you want from me?”
Kellan frowned, not knowing what he could do to mend what he was asked to do by the higher powers. There was no way to bring her father back. There was no trade off. “I just –“
“What? Do you want to take my life too? Tell me, if you take my life, will I see my dad? Because if I can then take me now.”
“I’m not going to take your life and I can’t take you to your father.”
“Then what are you still doing here?”
“I am mesmerized by you, Haylie. I’m sorry about your father, but –“
“You’re not sorry!” Haylie exclaimed, tears lined her eyes. “You are not sorry.”
“You’re right. I’m not sorry that I took your father’s life or that you’ll never see him again. I can’t be sorry for any of that because I don’t understand the connection you have with your father. I’m not human nor am I the kind of angel who understands how human’s work. That’s what I’m sorry for. If you’ll just let me explain myself, then at least you’ll know why I’m here.”
Haylie stared at Kellan with his dark wings like the silhouette of a giant creature over him. She folded her arms and waited for him to continue.
“The carrier angel couldn’t make it to your father, so I came in his place. I thought I could do the job quickly – release your father’s spirit and leave. But, you interrupted me. I could have ignored you but hearing your voice was like hearing an angel talk. I’ve heard humans talk, but I’ve never had one talk directly to me, especially one that sounded like one of us. What confuses me is that I felt something for you, a feeling beyond my control. If I were to use a human term for it, I think it would be called, love.”
“You don’t know what love is. You said it yourself, you’re not human.”
“Yes,” he simply agreed.
“Where is my dad or whatever became of him? His spirit?”
“I’m sor –“ Kellan caught himself. “I don’t know,” he answered.
“Where do you take the spirits?”
“We don’t take them anywhere. They know where they have to go.”
“And where’s that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You liar! If you’re really an angel, then you would know.”
“I’m not that kind of angel.”
“What kind are you?”
“The kind you’re not supposed to see or know about.”
“What’s the point of your kind?”
“To regulate all angels to make sure processes and procedures are followed through.”
“You must have a nice big office.”
“No office. In human terms, it’s like seeing into their hearts. We know if they are true to who they are and their duties.”
“And if not?”
“They leave the kingdom.”
“Fallen angels,” Haylie stated.
“Yes.”
“You mentioned a carrier angel. Can one of those take me to see him?”
“No one can take you to him.”
“So, it’s true. Death is final. The pain of missing my dad is just a human thing.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t believe you. You know why? Because you exist. Angels exists. For all I know my dad could be an angel.”
“He chose not to be one.”
“What?”
“I asked him when I came to take him.”
“Why didn’t he want to be one?” Before Kellan answered, Haylie said, “Let me guess, you don’t know. You asked if he wanted to be one, but you didn’t bother to ask why not when he said, no. You don’t care to know because you were only doing someone else’s duty.” Kellen didn’t reply. Haylie shook her head from side to side in disbelief. “Why is your kind so cold? Why do you seem so evil? I hate you.”
“He said he had nothing else to give. He knew you…loved him and that was enough.”
Haylie fell to her knees and sobbed, covering her face.
“It shall pass. Time heals all wounds,” Kellan said, thinking he was helping her.
“Go away, whatever you are. I don’t want to see you ever again.”
The Writing Sparrow 
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