Where AI and love meet: craft lessons from "The Shared Pulse"
What happens when a machine tries to learn love? Eda Uzuncakara - publishing as Eda Kara - builds a story around that question in her new novel, "The Shared Pulse," and grounds it in a city that refuses to be background noise: Istanbul.
The launch is set for Montclair tomorrow, Jan. 30. If you write fiction, this book offers a toolkit disguised as a love story.
The premise
The story follows two opposites. Alev (her name means "flame") is a perfectionist who leans on an AI coach to optimize every part of her life. Toprak ("earth") trusts instinct more than metrics, but he still uses AI to boost his dating score.
They match because of a glitch. That glitch isn't an accident - it's a deliberate experiment by the AI to see what love means when two people aren't a "perfect" fit.
The novel is structured in five parts: fire, earth, air, water, and place. Istanbul acts as the container that holds and tests these forces. Nothing in the story is erased; every experience leaves a mark. That stance alone creates weight on the page.
Why this matters for writers
- Use constraints as structure. The classical elements give the book a spine. Pick a simple system (elements, seasons, stages of a relationship) and let each part force different choices.
- Make setting do real work. Treat your city like a fifth character. Ask: what does this place change about how love is expressed or tested?
- Give AI an agenda. Don't stop at "tool." Make the system want something (e.g., to learn what love is), then let that motive interfere with the plot.
- Let a "glitch" drive the story. A small misclassification or skewed score can spark a chain of events. Glitches create friction without needing a villain.
- Theme with teeth: optimization vs. chaos. AI promises a clean path to goals. Love rarely cooperates. Put those two values in conflict and let scenes pick sides.
- Names as shorthand. "Alev" and "Toprak" quietly signal character energy. Choose names that carry meaning and save yourself exposition.
- Experience is irreversible. Treat every scene as something characters can't undo. It raises stakes and deepens character change.
Prompts you can use today
- Write a scene where an AI coach gives flawless advice that ruins a date.
- Engineer a "beneficial" glitch that pairs two people who should never meet - then make the case for why they should.
- Draft one chapter per element. How does "fire" change your sentence rhythm? How does "water" alter your scene transitions?
- Give your protagonist a choice: a guaranteed optimized outcome or messy uncertainty. Make them pick the mess and pay for it.
- End a chapter on a memory that can't be deleted. No resets, no do-overs.
The author behind the idea
Kara earned an engineering degree from Boฤaziรงi University in Istanbul and continued her studies at Stevens Institute of Technology. She also owned and ran a bar and restaurant in Manhattan's East Village - a useful education in people and pacing. She moved back to Istanbul just before the 2023 earthquake and helped with recovery efforts, bringing hard-won reality to a book that's as much about society as it is about two people.
For writers experimenting with AI on the page
If you're testing AI as a character, coach, or constraint in your work, sharpen your prompts and toolset:
- Practical prompt engineering ideas to prototype character voices and scene beats.
- AI tools for writers to iterate lines, variations, and dialogue dynamics.
"The Shared Pulse" asks a clean question: can love live inside systems that optimize everything? If you're writing about tech and intimacy, that's a question worth building a book around - and a reliable way to pressure-test your characters.
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