NaNoWriMo: 50,049 Words! I Have Tips & Tricks! Don't Give Up!

Woo hoo!  I made it!  I tell you, the moment I glanced down and saw my word count tick over 50,000 my shoulders slumped in relief.

I've crossed the finish line of my first marathon, and it feels so good!

Allow me a moment of gratuitous celebration - yessssssss!

Man, did I just sneak though or what?  3 days to go, and now I can spend some time editing, not that I have room to edit too much or my numerical barometer will dip back into the 49,000s.

If you're languishing just below the mark, here are a few tips and tricks to tip the balance in your favour.  I don't endorse all of them, I have used some of them myself, but at the end of the day, if you're running your first marathon it doesn't matter how you cross the line, as long as you do!  Don't give up!

1. Always spell out numbers (I try to do this)
2. Ask yourself ‘what’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to your character right now?’ and then write it into the story (I've done this one too)
3. Digress – have your character think back to something which happened to them at school, or last week
4. Introduce a new character, or make a minor character into a bigger part (Yup, used this one)
5. Do you have a villain?  Or at least someone creating tension?  If not, introduce one. (two of my characters screw up along the way)
6. Write an epilogue or a prologue.
7. Use characters’ full names and make them long (only if you have to)
8. Kill off one of your characters so the remaining characters can reminisce about the good times they used to have and you can describe the grieving process (with lots of adjectives)
9. Never use hyphens
10. If you’re very desperate, expand your contractions (really only if you have to)
11. Spend time describing your surroundings, and do it precisely
12. Give your characters a voice – dialogue takes up space, and don’t forget to add who’s talking:  she said, she replied, she nodded (all my characters talk out loud)
13. Build in a dream sequence
14. Have your character listen to some music or sing karaoke – better yet, have a karaoke party!
15. Gratuitous adverb usage – these can really, wonderfully, truly and absolutely help increase your word count
16. Give your character a time out to think about things – describe what s/he is doing – for example, at work
17. Name your chapters, add a poem/quote at the beginning which suits the chapter
18. Create an echo (cave, empty room, haunted house)
19. Have your character keep a diary
20. Have a character with Alzheimer’s so things have to be explained several times
21. Have your characters speak another language that you have to translate
22. Give all your characters a back-story
23. Have a character with Alzheimer’s so things have to be explained several times
24. Take your characters out to dinner so you can describe the restaurant, the food, the wine… all in great detail, with lots of adjectives

There are still three days full of writing potential to go ("that is seventy two hours," she thought to herself longingly whilst scratching her head and thinking about when she might go to bed that night).  Turn on the music ("don't give up, you know it's true, gotta do what you've gotta do," she sang), decide which character is going to kill off the other, describe, elaborate, then give the killer amnesia.

And then they woke up!

NaNoWriMo Day 21: 28,024 Words

Yes, yes, I know I'm hopelessly behind but all is not lost.  I can do it! 

Just last week I would have told you I was running out of steam, that my plot lacked real substance, and that things were far too easy for my heroine.  She would have lived, suffered and triumphed all within 20,000 words.

That was before my literary muse stepped in and the resulting inspiration was the jolt my waning storyline needed.  Optimism has returned, as has a renewed stubborn resolution to see this through.

Photo by Bachtiar Rahady on FlickR

Have you ever thought about writing a novel?  I hadn't really.  It's a huge step up from a few blog posts, that's for sure.  

These are a few of the things which seem to be helping:

1.  Invest time up front to structure your story.  

You may want to jump straight into the creative process, but simply defining what your story is about is immensely helpful for keeping the story on track.  Trust the formula:

Disturbance: An event (can be small), that interrupts the main characters blissful life. It could have happened before the story begins.

1st Doorway: The event that pushes the character out of their comfort zone and sets them on the path to face the novel's conflict as they can't go back to their ordinary life without seeing the story out.

Midpoint:  The point where the character stops reacting to what's going on around them and starts being proactive.

2nd Doorway: The event which sets the main character on the unavoidable path to the climax and resolution of the story.

Then organise it into the Three-Act Structure:

Act I (The Beginning) – Introduce the character/overall story problem and creates the bond between the reader and the main character (the sooner the better).  The world of the story is established, as is the tone, pace, opposition etc.  The beginning ends when the character passes through the first doorway.

Act II (The Middle) – The confrontation takes place, subplots play out and plot twists keep the reader motivated and engaged, caring about the characters.  This builds to the climax in part three and ends when the character passes through the second doorway.

Act III (The End) – The resolution.  The climax takes place and the reader learns whether the main character achieves their goal and what happens.  Loose ends are tied up.

If you can fill these out with simple sentences, like your elevator pitch, then you're away.  Once I know where I'm going, I've been surprised by how enjoyable and easy the writing is.  The voices appear in my head and I'm really just transcribing their conversations on my computer like a diligent court reporter.  It's funny, in any other context transcribing the voices in my head would mean I was probably going nuts.  Perhaps I am...

Trust the formula.  

2.  Make Time for Writing

Unfortunately for me I'm working longer hours than usual this month, which is not ideal for writing, but in the spirit of 'you can do anything for a month' I'm getting up at 5.30am each morning to write for a few hours before work, and then after work taking at least an hour off to clear by brain and give my eyes a break from staring at a computer screen all day before writing until around 11pm.  Tonight I also had to bake muffins for a charity bake sale we're having at work tomorrow, so I'm working a bit later than usual.  They're delicious by the way.

3.  Do. Not. Edit. As. You. Go.  Do not do it.

This is incredibly difficult for me.  I spend so much time deleting sentences, correcting spelling mistakes and pausing to contemplate which synonym sounds better in the sentence.  Do not do it.  What ever you have to do to stop yourself editing, do it.  Do not stop writing.  At the moment I am typing with my eyes shut so I can't see the mistakes I'm making.  It's actually working well.  It helps me focus on the story and how my characters sound, and the words seem to flow better.

Next time I'll fill you in on some of the ways I've bolstered my word count.  There are tons of ticks out there, some of which I think are a little outrageous and completely undermine the quality of the writing, but some of them are actually genius.

If you're a bit behind like me don't give up!!  There is still one full weekend and one working week left.  You can do it!!

Monday Night Meals: Salmon Steaks in Chraimeh Sauce

Salmon Steaks in Chraimeh Sauce

Typically served as a starter, the hero of craimeh is the sauce so use any large firm fish steak.  Typically served with bread for dipping, or over rice or couscous, I served mine with a root vegetable slaw and labneh.  Both recipes are in my latest cook book obsession - Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi.

Ingredients:

110ml sunflower oil

3T plain flour

4 salmon steaks

6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

2t sweet paprika

3T caraway seeds, dry-roasted and freshly ground

11/2t ground cumin

1/3t cayenne

1/3t ground cinnamon

1 green chill, roughly chopped

150 ml water

3T tomato purée

2t caster sugar

1 lemon cut into 4 wedges plus 2T lemon juice

2T coriander

Salt and black pepper

Method

Take a frying pan with a lid that will comfortably fit all four fish fillets.  In a bowl or plastic bag, season flour with salt and pepper.  Toss fish until coated and shake off excess.  Heat 2T oil in pan and lightly sear fish on both sides until golden. Remove from pan, set aside and wipe pan clean.

Blitz spices, chili, garlic, 2T oil in a food processor to form a thick paste.  Add a bit more oil if you need to bring it together.

Heat remaining oil in frying pan, stir and fry the spice paste for 30 seconds (so it doesn't burn) and then add water and tomato paste (it will probably spit!) to stop the paste cooking.  Bring the paste to a simmer; add sugar lemon juice, 3/4t of salt and black pepper.  Season to taste.

Add fish to sauce, bring to a gentle simmer, cover pan and cook for 7-11 minutes, or until fish is just done.  Remove from heat and allow to cool until warm or room temperature. Serve with lemon wedges and coriander over rice or couscous.

Looking for more Jerusalem recipes?  I have another one here for aubergine stuffed with lamb mince.  Delicious! 

Have you tried any of the recipes from Jerusalem?  Do you have any favourite Middle Eastern staples to recommend?

NaNoWriMo Day 5: 2,231 Words

16% of time gone, 4.5% of word count reached.  At this early stage every decimal counts!

I'm on my way!

Technically this is my first full day of actual writing since procrastination forced me to allocate four days to outlining.  Doing an outline is brilliant, I have to say.  I feel like I know where my story is going, although I have grave insecurities on my plot line.

Initially I'd planned to keep the whole thing under wraps and do the 'big reveal' at the end, but somehow Sander convinced me to convey the storyline.  He's damned persuasive when he wants to be!

Anyway, my self esteem was crushed when, after an admittedly quite drawn out explanation, he responded with an 'interesting', and that's it.  'Interesting' for Sander is code for 'yeah.... nah...'.

Sigh.

I contemplated changing my storyline (to what?), or adapting some well used generic plot line into erotic fiction (so current!), but in the end decided to stick to the story that had been swimming around in my head since February.

Frustratingly, work has exploded lately, dramatically cutting down both daydreaming and writing time (constructive daydreaming!).  However, I will not fail this challenge, so I'm setting myself a new routine of getting up very early (5.30am this morning) for a cup of coffee and a few paragraphs, going for a run (my thinking time) to plot out my next literary attack, and then a few more paragraphs over breakfast before work.  This meant I busted out around half my daily word count target before Sander was even out of bed!

Ok, I'm keeping these progress reports brief because I've now been sitting at my computer for a grand total of thirteen hours and everything is becoming a little blurry.

Until next time...

Review: Urban Bites ("The Best Lebanese in Singapore")

Endorsements of "the best <insert cuisine here> in Singapore" are a dime a dozen, so I could have written off Urban Bites with a sceptical shrug, but I didn't and my taste buds are much better off because of it.

Firstly, the recommendation came from an Lebanese ex-Singapore resident.  A recommendation from someone who should know what they're talking about is always a good first step.  Secondly, the recommendation was prefaced with "it's not fancy but...".  This is always a green flag for me.  Too many restaurants try to distract from their good-but-not-great cooking with fancy surroundings.  Strip that away, and what do you have?  Great food will most probably taste fabulous whether it's eaten out out of a brown paper bag or off a bone china over-sized white plate.

We tried to get to Urban Bites without checking the opening hours (it's closed Sunday's) and biked on, disappointed.  I would not make the same mistake twice - our second attempt was confirmed in advance.

Walking through the doors I was struck by two things - the first being a solid cloud of garlic (yum!), and then the thought "oh no, I hope we can get a table" as almost every seat was full.  Luckily we spied a table near the counter and squeezed five chairs around it.

Mixed grill kebab

Deciding to go for full immersion, we toasted a few times with arak which is similar to pastis.  I love how the clear spirit becomes cloudy once you add water.  Having arrived slightly earlier than everyone else, I'd spent about ten minutes salivating over the menu and promptly decided I wanted to try almost everything.  A good way to start was always going to be the mezze platter with a selection of hommos, motabal baba ghanuj, and labne to scoop up with torn chucks of fresh warm pita bread.  Some tabbouleh, fattoush and plump falafel and tahini sauce.  I couldn't resist adding some grilled haloumi as well.  Delicious.  All of it.  And so nice to have moist falafel rather than the overly dried out version.

One bottle of (surprisingly decent) Lebanese wine down, our attention turned to mains.  Don't miss the kebab teen (minced lamb kebab with sweet fig) and the saffron-marinated fish kebab.  Both are served with Lebanese rice and mixed vegetables.

They also serve traditional swarma, pizza and pasta and a selection of salads, but we were far too full to attempt anything more.  That was until a small selection of bite-sized baklawa treats came out!  After a few deep breaths I found some more space in my little toe and satisfied that sweet treat craving with a cup of strong mint tea.

The shelves behind the cash register are groaning with ingredients for those who want to try to recreate their menu at home.  I was thrilled to see they have za'atar which I've found almost impossible to find anywhere else in Singapore.  Hopefully they have sumac as well.

So would I go back?  Absolutely, I can't wait!  You should too!  Just don't plan on a late dinner as they close by about 10/10.30pm.

Urban Bites
123 Telok Ayer Street, Singapore
P: +65 6327 9460

November 30-Day Challenge: Write a Novel in a Month

Oh no... this is the one I've been dreading all year.... "November Write a Novel in a Month" month.

Gulp.

I've brushed this challenge off month after month, thinking "it's ages away, don't worry, you'll come up with something", but "ages away" is upon me and "come up with something" has become "COME UP WITH ANYTHING!!".

As I said, gulp.

Image by hummyhummy @ FlickR

Dubbed NaNoWriMo by those in the US (National Novel Writing Month), it runs the month of November and gives you 30 days to write 50,000 words - that's 1,666.7 words per day.

There are a few rules naturally.  You can't write the same word 50,000 times (bummer), you have to start from scratch and all you can do in advance is plan your outline and do some research.  You have to be the sole author and it has to be a novel (lengthy work of fiction).

Sounds simple right?  If you're organised maybe.  I've been telling myself for the whole of October to get organised and prepare.  Did I?  Of course not!  Luckily during one lengthy decent of a Javanese volcano in February I came up with the basic outline of the story, and weirdly, the title.  When we reached the tent I pulled out my trusty red Moleskine and brain dumped.  So I guess that's research right?

But how do you write a novel?  Where do you start?  I start by tapping 'how to write a novel' into my iPad over breakfast on November 1st.  Apparently you need an outline.  What's an outline?  Hmmm...  clearly I have some due diligence to do.

So here's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to spend the weekend doing my outline and start writing on Monday.  That gives me 25 days to write 50,000 words, which happens to be a nice round 2,000 words per day.

For perspective, I've written about 300 words in this post so far... so another seven times that, per day.

Gulp.

Back to Jerusalem: Stuffed Eggplant with Lamb Mince

Three and a half years ago I wandered the well-worn streets of old Jerusalem.  Just four days there was enough to leave a permanent indent in my heart.  Jerusalem (the city) has an incredible energy bubbling away under the surface of a concentration of deeply significant sites (if not the most significant) for four main religions.  The history, the people, the smells, the food...!  As the meeting point of Europe, Asia and Africa, a wide and varied influence is ingrained in the most simple and sophisticated cuisine.

When my friends Jess (check out her awesome blog here) and Jono gave me Ottolenghi and Tamimi's new cook book Jerusalem I couldn't wait to dive into the pages and (hopefully) resurrect some of those memories.  Aside from the mouthwatering recipes, one of the things I love about the book is the introduction - eight pages explaining the importance and passion invoked by food in the region and how history has shaped what you are about to prepare.  The gorgeous street life photography captures the hustle and bustle, and the gritty character of every day life.

Stuffed Aubergine with Lamb and Pine Nuts

Ingredients
4 medium aubergines halved lengthwise
6T olive oil
1 1/2t ground cumin
1 1/2T sweet paprika
1T ground cinnamon
2 medium onions, finely chopped
500g minced lamb
50g pine nuts
20g flat leafed parsley, chopped
2t tomato puree
2t caster sugar
150ml water
1 1/2T lemon juice
1t tamarind paste
4 cinnamon sticks
salt and black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Place the aubergine halves, skin-side down, in a roasting tin large enough to accommodate them snugly.  Brush the flesh with 4T olive oil and season with 1t of salt and plenty of black pepper.  Roast for about 20 min, until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

While the aubergines are cooking, you can start making the stuffing by heating up the remaining olive oil in a large frying pan.  Mix together the cumin, paprika and ground cinnamon and add half of this spice mix to the pan, along with the onion.  Cook on a medium-high heat for about 8 minutes, stirring often, before adding the lamb, pine nuts, parsley, tomato purée, 1t sugar, 1t salt and some black pepper.  Continue to cook and stir for another 8 min, until the meat is cooked.

Place the remaining spice mix in a bowl and add the water, lemon juice, tamarind, remaining sugar, cinnamon sticks and 1/2 t salt; mix well.

Reduce the oven temperature to 195°C.  Pour the spice mix into the bottom of the aubergine roasting tin.  Spoon the lamb mixture on top of each  aubergine.  Cover the tin tightly with foil, return to the oven and roast for 1h 30min, by which point the aubergines should be completely soft and the sauce thick  twice though the cooking, remove the foil and baste the aubergines with the sauce, adding some water if the sauce dries out.  Serve warm, not hot, or at room temperature with some bread or simple rice.

My Notes:  Lamb mince wasn't available so I substituted for beef mince and it still tasted delicious.  I forgot to cover the pan with foil during the cooking and mine dried out pretty quickly (as you can probably see by the photos).  My aubergines also cooked very quickly, so you might not need the full 1h 30min for roasting.  Instead of rice, I served mine with an adaptation of the artichoke and herb salad, using artichokes from a jar, green apple roughly cubed, finely sliced fennel and lots of fresh herbs.  Delicious!

You can get your own taste of Jerusalem on The Book Depository (here) with free international shipping.