Wow, today I watched an amazing episode of CAI Miami. There was a body which disappeared, a body that turned out to be not the body, a biotech firm that disappeared in one day, this episode could have been an Alfred Hitchcock movie!

This is what I want for my novel! 🤩 Detectives that upon investigating find more questions than answers; things that don't make sense and a mystery which deepens and turns out to be a conspiracy of some sorts.

(back to the CSI episode, it ended too soon and the mystery was solved rather quickly; the climax was a total lackluster and I wish the whole thing had ended differently. But oh well, there's only so much that you can fit in a 50 mins episode. Oh well :blobshrug: I definitely liked Hitchcock's North by Northwest much more.)

Anyway, I need to figure out the following things:

• What great mystery do I want to hide beneath the death of Catherine Emerson?
• Optional - perhaps the mystery begind Pearson is much more appropriate for this? I need a big mystery - a HUGE mystery.
• I need to figure out a way to tie the mysterious android to Pearson's past. I already have one, but how does the mysterious android know that Pearson's getting involved in the investigation?
• I need an evil organization to want to stop Pearson. But why do they want to stop him? Solving Catherine's murder is too mundane a motive. I need more.
• Maybe... Pearson's past is tied to Catherine's murder, somehow? What if... Catherine was investigating something, and something big, and she was silenced?
• Of course I need assassination attempts. Without these, the whole mystery gets rather dull. I need mysterious dangerous events! failing elevators, accidents where Pearson gets trapped in a drowning situation, or about to get crushed by machinery or something. This needs to happen MORE THAN ONCE.

So where does Pearson go that involves such a danger?

😃💡

I GOT IT! I found a way for Pearson to suspect the mysterious android! 😃😃😃

She will be present in all the assassination attempts! But I need to tie some loose ends. For starters, why does the investigation present such a danger to the people who want him dead?

I need Pearson to become the enemy of a big shadow org, and this shadow org needs to be rubbing some business unrelated to Catherine. No, it can't be real estate, too mundane. Needs to be something more, but here's the question: How does Pearson's investigation make him an enemy of this shadow org? What does he do that makes them say "we need to get rid of this bastard"?

This must be the pillar of the novel, the thing that ties everything together. And I can't figure it out! Arrrghhhh!!! :blobnotlike:

#amWriting #PandoraDownloaded

Writing Wonders Apr 28 - How would your antagonist celebrate their birthday?

Pearson's antagonist

It's a mystery murder, so it would depend on the culprit.

If they're a Victorian: With a fancy dinner and probably a masquerade 🎭

If they're a gangster: With a family party, and perhaps with some hookers.

If they're an android: Depends, are they still in servitude? With a partner in crime? On the run?

Bethany's antagonist

With the family or friends.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

I'm a very imaginative person, and I can easily imagine characters interacting between themselves. When I have two characters already figured out (their motivations, wants, fears, what ticks them off), writing their interactions is super easy. It feels like I'm simply watching the characters and I'm only an invisible observer simply jotting down furiously, as fast as I can, whatever happens between them - especially when one of them is angry.

In other words, Drama.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Pearson

"Make it old school, please. All I was waiting for was the budget." (smooth sax plays in the background)

Bethany

"FUCK NO! Leave my punk clothes alone, you capitalist bastards!"

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Pearson

No, he sees himself as a loser with the worst luck in the world. He fantasizes of being a hero.

Bethany

Hero? What is this, a kids' show? There are no heroes, only villains because those who try to be heroes either get killed or sent to prison.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Include

• The ridiculously human robot, and specifically, the sexbot 😉 - I feel it's a topic that hasn't been explored enough in scifi literature. Like, "what if androids are people? 😱" Yes, they are, and what happens next is where I'm going. What do corporations do about that, the ethics of slavery in labor, discrimination, sex work, etc. I keep asking the question: Is there any possible way that we can have robots (and sexbots) without exploiting them? But I'm afraid I don't be able to answer this fully in this novel. I might require a sequel.

Also, I admit it, I want to explore the sexbot fantasy, too 😅 and well, have some fun between the characters (wink wink, chapter 9 😏). But having an ORDINARY sexbot would be too boring, so let's give our protagonist a rogue android and see what happens.

• Action girl: Bethany. But I also give her some emotional baggage because I'm trying to have 3d characters and not bland generic protagonists.

• Noir detective: Pearson. He is an absolute fan of Film Noir, and tries to emulate the detective archetype as an ideal. But it's a long shot, and he's not sure if he can fill those shoes.

• The corrupt cop: Agent Williams, one of the antagonists. I started writing my novel almost a decade ago, when I wasn't class conscious enough, so the whole ACAB thing was a cultural shock for me. So I had to rewrite the novel so I changed him from a comedic Rosco P. Coltrane to an actually abusive bastard. I also upgraded him from a standard cop to a federal agent to give him more power. He'll become an unstoppable menace which Bethany will have to keep running away from. My fear is that I'll have to change the novel even further to make the narrative fit. There might be some heavy tweaking involved in plot points.

• The mega corporation: Prometheus Industries is your stereotypical megacorp that controls multiple industries: Virtual reality, remote sex work, androids, AIs, avatars, even prisons.

• The femme fatale: Clarise, Pearson's ex-gf. But I add some particular circumstances to explore the dangers of brain implants.

• The flying car: I mean, you can't have a cyberpunk sci Fi without flying cars!

Avoid or subvert

• The femme fatale (subverted): Bethany. Yes, she's a sex worker, but let's move on from the traditional prostitute that needs to be protected by the hero - or worse, is the villainess-. This is the 21st century (outside the novel, I mean) and we live in the Chaturbate and OnlyFans era. We live in a world where people send nudes in social media, sextortion is prosecuted and sex is discussed more openly and is de-stigmatized. So I made Bethany a stripper AND a camgirl. She's a local celebrity in her strip club and is a strong, independent woman. She sells sex because it pays and she's not ashamed of it. (Tho she hasn't crossed the line to actual prostitution...)

• The strip club as a synonym for debauchery and crime. Those times are over. Sex work is legal and sex clubs are a 100% legal thing and pay taxes. Sex work contracts are done via a legitimately established company and the fees for using the club as a sales front for the workers are negotiated.

Payments are done via credit card or anonymous pay card. Sign the contract with your e-signature and ding! Sex act approved. Workers get their taxes discounted and they gain social security, medical coverage, discount for contraceptives and STD vaccines and so on.

Yes, it's a cyberpunk dystopia but you just can't ignore societal advances. No more pimps. No more sleazy deals. No more battered prostitutes. This is the future!

(That doesn't mean people can find ways to fuck sex workers in the metaphorical sense; but we'll explore that later in the novel)

• The idiot plot (any plot that would be resolved in five minutes if everyone in the story were not an idiot). Nope! If a plot can be resolved with simple communication, it will. I have an argument between Bethany and Jane (her father) and what does Beth do, run away? Hah! Nope, she just goes to the gym to vent. I want people who hate this "miscommunication as a plot device" trope to cheer and applaud.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Pearson

With a tuxedo, of course. It's only appropriate.

Bethany

Depending on which body she's using:

If she's using her avatar, she'd be wearing a women's tuxedo with V-cleavage shirt. Tuxedo because it's kinda difficult to use a dress if she has to tuck, and that'd be uncomfortable AF.

If she's using her real body, it has to be a silk dress with a back opening for her tail. It would have to be a backless dress too so it won't get in the way of her wings 🦇.

She wouldn't be wearing anything else underneath because that's how she rolls. Basically she wants to be able to take off her dress and be ready for the action, and she expects to find more than one naughty girl in that ball.

As for the shoes, no high heels. She hates them.

One thing would bother her tho: it's the fact that she can't hide her wings and tail. If the point of a masquerade is anonymity, her cover would be blown the moment she entered; everyone would recognize her. But depending on the people attending, that might not be an issue.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

** Pearson**

His current antagonist of the culprit. There's nothing to like about a murderer... whoever they are.

Bethany

Her antagonist is the fucking cop who tried to kidnap her. He can go to hell. 🖕😡

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

For Pearson, definitely. Because of his implant-triggered false memories, he dreams a lot, and he doesn't know if his dreams are just dreams, false memories, or even real memories.

For Beth, most of her dreams are concept-download nightmares. They're not exactly nightmares as in "fear scenarios", but concepts that bleed out from her wetware into her brain. Especially when concepts are dense, brain activity increases, causing an adrenaline spike that turns them into an incredibly unpleasant experience. But they're not significant for the plot.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Pearson

A vacation day.

Go cruise for a while in the Ferrari, go to a dance club, invite one of the ladies to dance, if possible some Salsa or Cumbia. A dinner in a fancy restaurant, and a night of romance and passion.

Harris: Wait, Pearson, you don't have a Ferrari. And you can't afford fancy - ow!

Pearson: As I was saying... how about a vacation in Atlantis? Relax in the pool, maybe have a nice hostess serve you the drinks...

Harris: And a jacuzzi with three hot babes.

Pearson: Oh yeah.

Chief: PEARSON! Have you finished filing those reports yet?

Pearson: Sigh. Right away, sir... grumble

Beth

Free pass for Paradise VR, woo hoo! :blobcheer:

No, wait, I met this lady who's a pro domme, and she has this amazing dungeon in her mansion... 🤤 tee hee hee, I better stop now, hee hee 🤭

Interviewer: Okay, how about a perfect "normal" day?

Beth: Having fun with the gang. Racing on the rooftops all day until we're exhausted. I know this route, from the metro to the slums, it's full of obstacles and shortcuts. You just have to run it. You have no idea how it feels. It's absolute freedom. It feels like you're almost flying.

Then maybe watch a pirated movie. On a flat TV, old school, with pizza and everything.

Then sleeping on the couch, and waking up with nothing to do but relaxing.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Lots of things in my world are wish-fulfillment, but I can name a few:

• Flying cars. Wonderful views and zero traffic.
• Easily available gender surgeries and stuff. You can even get both genitals without much problem for the eccentric.
• Synthetic organs, easy organ replacements, even cultured blood vessels. Blood transfusions? What kind of barbaric treatment is that? Cultured blood cells are the medical standard.
• Transhumanist stores. If you can imagine the biomod, they probably have it in their catalog. Catgirl ears and tail, here we go!
• Avatars! Remote work just acquired a new meaning.
• Hyper-realistic VR with an entire catalogue of hedonistic experiences.
• Sex bots with anatomically correct muscles, bones and when nervous system (let's put the ethics aside for a moment and assume the androids are all-ok with sexual intimacy)
• Electronic pets who instead of dying just need to be repaired!

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Bethany

Bethany is kinda secretive about it (especially with her dad), but recently she fell in love with a coworker at the sex club she works at: Clarise. She officially calls her her "girlfriend". It's a toxic relationship, tho, because Clarise is manipulative and is only in the relationship for the money.

Pearson

Pearson fell in and out of love with two Japanese women: The most recent, Lt. Inoue of the Cyberpol. Nobody understands why these two fell in love, so them breaking up was seen as a "return to normalcy" in both police forces.

The second is a woman he met in a sex club 8 years ago in Hong Kong. Eventually he left her because he moved to the States (United States of Esperanza) and she was just too emotionally unstable. He wants her to work on something less risky, and I'm not talking about her job as a prostitute. She also works as a cybercriminal, hacking into unsuspecting men's brain implants. Being an officer of the law, Pearson could not tolerate her paying her bills with crime money - and not just that - she only gets a small percentage. A cyberpimp is controlling her, and Pearson could never find out who. That's why he left her.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Pearson

Clarise: "He's a gentleman. He knows how to treat a lady. Sometimes he tells you what you don't want to hear... he doesn't seek a woman to get a simple fuck and be done with it. He actually cares."

Harris: "Never gives up, man. Never gives up and he ain't afraid of assholes with power. I'll give you one: The other day he was filing some paperwork on a sexual harassment incident, and the culprit was a total asshole. One of those assholes with money that keep pulling strings and making your life impossible. Well, Pearson did his homework - more than homework - and started searching on the legal ways the asshole fucked up. He even downloaded basic attorney concepts, just not to let the bastard get away; made a list and gave it to the DA to help them make their case. Son of a bitch got sixteen years. Pearson should been a lawyer, man. Too bad he's too blunt when speaking. Upper ranks don't like that, and that's a damn shame."

Talos: "He earned Bethany's trust. Bethany rarely trusts men, especially men who go to sex clubs - and he's an ex cop. Bethany hates cops, and yet he earned her trust. That's enough reason in my book."

Lt. Inoue: "He really believes in justice. But I'm not sure if that's good for him The world's not do simple. He's bound to make many enemies. If he only were more proactive, and careful... He's good enough for the Cyberpol, but I don't want to give him wings. I don't want to be responsible for another... never mind. Scratch that last sentence.

Bethany

Jane: "I know my daughter has weaknesses and problems with authority... but she learned to fight for a just world. She cares about other people. Poor people, Black and brown people... even Terrans. I don't understand a lot of what she says, but she always tries to do what is right. If only her mother could see her."

Madame Dee: "She claims to be tough and experienced, but on the inside she's like a puppy. Poor thing. She's suffered so much... in a way, she reminds me of myself."

Lola: "You should see her fight. She's saved my ass more than once. Oh - don't tell her I said that."

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Bethany

Meeting new friends. When she first met the gang, she was excited to be able to do fun stuff without being judged. For the gang she was this weird white girl who wanted to spend some time away from home, and they weren't wrong; she needed to have new friends to mature eotionally.

Pearson

Working as a detective! Investigation! Solving crimes! Being a hero to someone - to anyone.

The moment he bought himself a new suit, Pearson felt like he was finally dropping his failed past away. For him, this was like an adventure. But will he fulfill his client's expectations? That's his worry.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Bethany

Keeping a stable job.

The fact that she opted for a job as a stripper was no coincidence; she's had trouble keeping a stable job, be it office or customer service (damn it, I would have loved to add such a scene at the beginning! 😩). In times of high competition and with androids stealing people's jobs, some bosses can really be real pieces of shit, and Bethany won't (can't) have any of that.

Fortunately, sex sells and she has both a baby face, a smoking hot body and succubus wings and tail. She took off like a shuttle and in a month of dancing she earned what would have taken her a year in a well-paid office job.

Pearson

1) Exercise. He has a heart condition (it gets better)

2) Using avatars. His medication renders him unable to use avatars. Sync problems.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Bethany

She has to be nice and kind. She has to have time to listen to her and give her emotional support. Not judgmental, but caring. She needs to be OK with an open relationship because Beth has her needs. And perhaps most importantly, not being a classist or racist bitch.

Oh yeah. And big boobs. Very big boobs if possible. 😅 Bonus points if she also has a big co** 🤭

Pearson

Nobody can replace his wife. She was perfect. But realistically... being good in bed would help, and most important of all, not being a fucking gold digger.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

Pearson

Stays late at night to watch movies, wakes up early, tries and fails to do some meager exercises (less than 5 mins per day, you call that healthy?), sits in his patrol all his shift, then sits behind a desk to fill his reports, basically he's become a lazy do-nothing that does not exercise at all.

Not that it's his fault, sedentary life ruined whatever left he had of a healthy life, even after recovering from his alcoholism 8 years ago.

Oh did I mention he eats too many cookies?

In chapter 13 or so he has a heart attack. Who could have seen this coming? 🙄

Bethany

If we skip her self destructive stage a few years ago, and past his therapy sessions, we could say she has managed wonderfully.

Cardio and martial arts training in the morning, Parkour in her avatar every other day, her regular pole dancing exercises, and actual pole dancing at night. Her day body eats protein shakes, low fat meals, but her avatar eats (and consumes) all the juicy fat: burgers, fried chicken, spaghetti...

After all, she lives a busy life with the gang and she loves it.

Now, her sleep schedule... that's a different story. How does she manage to withstand switching wakeup hours every other day? Between her avatar sessions, her night work at Venus, and her morning training, she sleeps less than 5 hours a day.

If not for her brain implants doing brain maintenance when she's using her avatar, her brain wouldn't have time to rest at all.

#WritingWonders #PandoraDownloaded

You know me for my sci fi writing posts. Here's a question:

If I opened a Patreon for my novel, would you subscribe to it?

#PandoraDownloaded #Poll #amWriting

Bethany works as a stripper in the VIP section of a sex club called Venus.

From my own experience, strippers are actresses, the sexual equivalent of junk food that keep teasing you but never give you what you crave. Their attention is expensive, and it's almost as if they were the sirens of the Odyssey: They lure you with their charms and drown you into debt with their demands for expensive drinks and prohibitive fares for private dances.

They know they're good and exploit it. In a way, it's cruel with the working class; only the richest / most privileged get to enjoy their company in the fullest (some of them do engage in prostitution, but their prices are expensive AF).

But at the same time I absolutely admire their self respect; they won't have sex for cheap, so they have the luxury to choose with whom they can have sex. Prostitutes don't have that luxury; they have to accept whatever comes because their bills depend on it.

In that way, Bethany is not a prostitute. She has never had sex with men, even when she has sucked dick and given hand jobs to rich patrons, but she's never engaged in a full sexual act.

This raises the following questions, snd I don't know if I can't answer them. I don't even know if Beth herself can answer them.

• Will Beth ever agree to sleep with a male patron for the right price?
• What will she think of herself if she does?
• Is it a one-way street? Does she believe in "once a hooker, always a hooker"?
• Will potential mates accept her after she does? Right now she can shrug it off as "I'm nota hooker, only a stripper", but after she sleeps with her first customer, she won't be able to lie. Despite her rebelliousness, she sucks at lying.
• She knows everyone has their price. But which is hers? She's scared to find out, and yet, she would hate herself if she could suddenly be able to buy a house thanks to sleeping with a rich client and refused out of morality.

So in reality, she has no idea what to do. She no longer believes in the Christian morality, but that leaves her with a huge void: Who decides what's right and what's wrong?

Maybe she'll open up to Pearson and share this? 🤔

#amWriting #PandoraDownloaded

Still not sure if I'm being too lewd with Bethany in my novel, because I try not to oversexualize her, even when she does oversexualize herself 🤔 but at the same time, it's a core aspect of her personality. Part escape mechanism, part enjoyment, Bethany's view of sex is that it's her only healthy coping mechanism; she could engage in self harm, overeating or drugs, but decided that as long as she does not incur in dangerous activities (like unprotected sex / sex under the influence of drugs), sex can be a wonderful thing in itself.

She has experimented a lot in VR, so by no means she's "innocent" - at 23 she probably knows of more fetishes than many of us combined.

So, sex (and porn) is a normal part of life and she loves it. It releases the so much needed dopamine that she needs to deal with her abandonment and self-esteem issues, and at the same time she honestly appreciates it because it's one of the basic pleasures in life, and best of all, it's free! All you need is your hands, and maybe a partner.

This is why she loves adult zones in parks and sex clubs; there she can simply be herself and show herself to the world naked (literally and figuratively), and be accepted without judgment.

I feel that lots of media try to ignore this part of human psyche, and either distort it (like in porn), bash it as evil / impure, or sweep it under the rug.

I do not want to write Beth as a sexual loose cannon or a seductress who is in search for victims to pervert with an evil gaze (I hate, hate, HATE that stereotype! 🤬). Beth just believes sex is one of the most beautiful things in the world and fails to understand how it can be a bad thing.

She has never suffered sexual assault, but she understands trauma and bullying. She feels sorry for victims, not only because she knows (intellectually) how they've been traumatized, but also because the attackers rob them of great pleasures in life, sometimes permanently.

She is to a certain point naive, and lacks a lot of real world experience. She cannot comprehend how asexual people can live. She tries to imagine them as people who are "neither-sexual", as in that sex disgusts them no matter the gender, but doesn't go further than that.

I want to write sexual characters because I feel there's this huge vacuum of them in literature and television. I want to write characters with a healthy sexual life; characters who experiment it, feel anxiety, curiosity, sometimes fumble and mess things up, but learn to enjoy it.

I feel Christian morality has robbed us of the appreciation for sex as a normal part of human life. It's our right to reclaim it.

And yet I can't stop feeling that people will judge me and see me as a perv 😖

#sex #writing #amWriting #PandoraDownloaded