Sky Seven Addition

I’m currently working on a new twist to my previous Sky Seven take-offs.

The “old” Sky Seven (it feels weird calling it old when I haven’t even gotten past Chapter 1 yet) revolves around intrepid Judge Investigators Parke and Aria.

This newest idea is for a young adult version, and I have to say I feel positively energized by the new character names.

Sometimes I struggle mightily with my character names. I’ve been around and around – what IS a cruel man’s name?! – with several characters in my beloved Bruised manuscript and still can’t nail down all the names (other than the twins - Harry and Sam - who I cannot imagine being named anything else now).

Sky Seven is set in the distant future, after the almost total destruction of earth by a cyber virus. All of earth’s remaining population now resides in seven Sky Towers. The people who reside in the towers were all reanimated from portions of their DNA recovered by the mysterious “Commission” who now oversees day-to-day running of the towers.

I’ve spent a good amount of time in Parke and Aria’s apartment working out personalities, dialogue, and logistics. Then I got to wondering how children would be raised in these unique circumstances, and inspiration struck.

My new cast of characters includes Delta (17), Chase (15), Orson (13), Kari (11), Erix (8), and Yellow (4). They chose these names for themselves during their reanimation process.

I have to say I’m particularly smitten with Orson, a once roly-poly smart kid who was horribly abused in the past. He reanimated into himself again, only not roly-poly, and has trouble adjusting to being “normal.” Sometimes, he even leans toward being a bit vain.

Another pleasure has been writing for Erix, a musical wunderkind at only eight years old. I like the idea of him being a smart-mouth, but also horribly talented and branded by his own abilities. Can you imagine being only eight years old and lauded as the best musician ever? What would you do for an encore? And you’re not even in double digits yet.

I’m just getting to know the others.

Delta is truly lovely. Dark hair, ruler straight bans. Exotic, almond-shaped green eyes. She’s a definite follower.

Chase is the charismatic leader of the POD (the children share the same Place of Development aka POD…so, yes they’re podmates). He’s blessed (or shall I say re-animated with) olive skin and kinky brown curls that spring out from his head like wayward Slinky toys.

I’m still working on Kari. I know she loves animals and wants to be a vet someday.

Yellow is only four, but I’m tempted to give her an artistic bent. The opposite of Grandma Moses, you know?

I’m wondering if working on both stories at the same time will be helpful or more difficult. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. If I manage to squeeze out any time to work on them at all!