Thoughts On The End Of A Draft

Approximately ten minutes ago, I wrote the 102,993rd word of the current draft of my novel, and then I stopped writing. I had reached the end of the last planned scene. It was done. The second full rewrite of my novel is finished!

The Writing Process: A Guide For Non-Writers - Part Three

So by now we've gotten to the point in the writing process where you’ve written a book. Congratulations! But your work is far from done.

I feel like people with no writing experience see this as the end point. You’ve written a first draft, therefore you’ve written a book, right? What people forget is that things hardly ever turn out right first time. If you read Part Two of my writing process series (discussing the writing of the first draft), you’ll understand the extent of this and the reasoning behind it. Even if you outlined your book in great detail, there is no guarantee that you won’t change things halfway through, or that you will be happy with the book that your outline produced. And of course, it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll be happy with the actual writing. Every writer has their flaws: some of us ‘underwrite’, some of us ‘overwrite’, and we all have words and phrases that we use far too often. The first draft is just a foundation for all the good things to come later, and it may need fixing before you can even do that.

So once you’ve finished your first draft, it’s time to edit. 

The Writing Process: A Guide for Non-Writers - Part Two

In my last blog post, I talked about preparing to write a book, which is the first part of the writing process. You can find it here. Today, I'll be continuing with the next stage of the writing process: writing the first draft. This, I’m sure, is the bit non-writers think of when we say we’re writing a book. The bit where we sit down at our desks with huge smiles on our faces and a coffee by our side, and just let the words pour out of us. We’re excited about this idea and this story, and everything from the overarching plot down to every last comma is perfectly aligned in our heads. Now we just need to write it all down, then it'll be ready for the world to read and love! 

Sounds too good to be true, right? That’s because it is. Although writing the first draft may be the least complicated part – the only step to it is “sit your butt down and WRITE DAMMIT” – that does not mean it is easy. A writer faces many challenges while writing the first draft. Many writers quit at this point.

The Writing Process: A Guide For Non-Writers – Part One

I recently came across the image below, detailing things that writers hate hearing people say to them. It reminded me of some other things that I’ve known people say to writers – things like “Hurry up writing!”, which naturally goes hand-in-hand with point three, and “Can I read your book?” as if it isn’t a very personal thing that I haven’t even shown to my closest friends and family yet (I wrote a full blog post about that a while ago).

It occurred to me that the reason people say things like this is because they have misconceptions about what writing a book actually involves. So rather than just reminding people that writers find being told these things incredibly annoying, I thought I’d write a bit about what novel writers actually do. Hopefully this should help people understand that writing a book is ridiculously time-consuming and difficult, and even more so to do it well. Then you can go forth into the world safe in the knowledge that you’re not going to offend your writer friends, and can actively support them!

Ice Massacre: Book Review

Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner is the first in the Mermaids of Eriana Kwai trilogy. It centres around eighteen-year-old Meela, a native of the remote Pacific island of Eriana Kwai. For all of Meela’s life, and longer, the island has been plagued by vicious mermaid attacks that are slowly killing the island’s people. In response, the islanders started sending out warriors on Massacres every year in the hopes of culling the mermaid population enough for them to be able to finally resume fishing. But in recent years, less and less men have been returning from the Massacres, instead falling prey to the mermaids’ allure, and the island is falling further and further into poverty.

Finally, the islanders decide to try a new tactic: send women, less susceptible to the mermaid’s allure, instead. And so, after five years of training, Meela and nineteen other girls set out with the promise of glory and honour – but without the promise of any of them even returning home alive. But for Meela, the Massacre isn’t just about saving her people from starvation. It’s also about Lysi – the mermaid she saved and befriended when she was ten, and what happened to ruin their seemingly unbreakable friendship.

Radio Silence: Book Review

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman tells the story of Frances Janvier, a 17-year-old A-Level student aiming to get into Cambridge University. Everything she does is in aid of this goal, but her constant studying prevents her from having hobbies, bonding with her school friends, and being her true self. This begins to change when she makes friends with Aled Last, another top-of-the-class student with high aspirations, and discovers that he is the anonymous Creator of her favourite podcast. Frances' friendship with Aled helps Frances gain confidence and have a life outside of academia, but they run into problems when Aled leaves for university.

Year Abroad, Part Four: Welcome Week

I’ve been in Germany for about a month now and classes still haven’t started. Yes, Tübingen University starts late, and I arrived earlier than I probably needed to. But I’ve not had nothing to do. I have a book to write (still not finished, but this draft is getting there!), and of course there’s cooking, cleaning, sorting out the last bits of paperwork (which seem to take the longest… Never mind this “your year abroad is the best year of your life!” stuff; I swear all I’ve done on mine so far is get stressed over admin). And last week (12th - 15th October) there was also welcome week!

My Least Favourite Writer Stereotype

I've come across a fair few writer stereotypes. The one where no writer can survive without a ridiculous amount of caffeine. The one where we're all awkward, introverted, anti-social shut-ins. The one where we're just generally a bit weird.

And while I disagree to some extent with all of those stereotypes (except maybe the weird one, assuming that "weird" here means "an individual, because no two humans are the same, so for everyone to subscribe to the same social norms would be ridiculous"), the one that I think I disagree with most is the one that says we're all tortured souls who convert pain into creativity.

Year Abroad, Part Three: My First Week

It feels far longer than a week that I've been in Germany. Technically, I have: my parents and I arrived last Wednesday, so it's only really that I've been Germany on my own for a week. But that isn't what I meant. Saying that it's only a week since I said goodbye to my parents just feels wrong. Surely it can't have been so recently?

I've spent my first week alone in Germany working on my book, exploring Tübingen (pictures below!), going for jogs (admittedly only two), having awkward conversations with flatmates I barely know in the kitchen, setting up a German bank account, handing in forms, and Skyping numerous people, numerous times. I definitely feel like I'm settling in; like I'm getting to know my surroundings and life here is a little more normal.

Year Abroad, Part Two: Travel, Arrival and Settling In

So. I'm in Germany. My parents have just left; I'm here to stay now. What a weird thought that is.

Today is Saturday. We set off at perhaps twenty to three on Wednesday afternoon, and reached the Euro Tunnel in plenty of time - only for it to be delayed. After waiting there for a couple of hours, we finally got to France and had soon found our Ibis Budget hotel. It was clean and comfortable enough, but I didn't sleep well. Not because I was nervous, though - I was determinedly not thinking about where we were going. Apparently I just wasn't tired enough once my head hit the pillow, and once I did manage to sleep, I was woken twice during the night.

We set off again at about six AM French time, and I napped (badly) through France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Once in Germany, though, I decided to stay awake despite still being tired: I wanted to see where we were going. At that point, I was quite excited. But the closer we got to Tübingen, the more nervous I got. What if I didn't like it? What if it wasn't a nice town? And did I really want to go away on a year abroad anyway? (The answer to that was no, I didn't.) I just wanted for us to keep on driving, as if we were just going on a trip through Europe, not dropping me off on my year abroad.

Year Abroad, Part One: Preparation

Since I got back from my family holiday in Italy, I haven't been writing as much as I'd have liked. I've been busy. But not in the usual way. My year abroad has come around rather fast and I've suddenly realised there's quite a lot I still have to do to prepare for it.

I'm spending my year abroad studying, in Tübingen, Germany. I leave in two days.

Writeometer: A Word-Count Tracking App

I find that NaNoWriMo gives me a certain motivation to write. Without it, I may write bits here and there, but there's a lot less dedication to my project. I'm never sure whether it's the idea of keeping up with the targets, or the idea that thousands of other people around the world are doing the exact same challenge, or both, that motivates me, but I've found that a smartphone app called Writeometer (I don't know about iOS, but it's free on Android!) has certainly helped motivate me to write more!

Writeometer does a similar thing to the NaNoWriMo website in that it tracks how much you write per day. You have more options when setting up your novel with Writeometer than on NaNoWriMo. For one thing, you're limited neither to one particular month, nor to 50,000 words. You can choose your total target word count, daily target word count, and when you want to finish your project by - or two of the three, and the app will calculate the third for you. There's also an option for continuing with an already started project, so you can input the number of words you've already written, and it'll use that as your starting point.

You can also choose when you would like Writeometer to remind you to write, and this is the main thing that has actually made me write these past few days. It's all well and good having an app to help you reach your writing goals, but you have to actually remember to use it! Without it, Writeometer would've been forgotten and I wouldn't have motivated myself to get past the scene I'd been struggling with.

Writeometer reminds you of your daily writing goal

To update your word count, you have to create a new entry in your writing log. You can choose whether to input how many words you've written since your last update, or to input your new total word count, and let the app work out how many words you've written. The "new log entry" page also lets you input how long you spent writing and add a note, which you could use to keep track of what you wrote when, how you felt about your writing, or something along those lines.

Then the app displays your data for you in nice graphs and charts, and in your project overview, so you can see all your stats and see how you're progressing.

And you can have multiple projects and inspirational writing quotes (provided by the app), too!

You might think this review/walkthrough is coming to a close (it's rather long as it is), but there are still more features that I haven't explored yet, including treats, the timer, and the toolbox. You may have noticed that the "new log entry" page had a "guavas" option, and this relates to the treats feature: when you feel you've written enough, you can assign yourself a guava, which you can redeem for real-life "treats" of your choice, which you can do right there and then. I don't use it, but can certainly see how helpful it could be for others.

The timer gives you 25 minutes to write, and is designed to get you to sit down, ignore all distractions, and get as much done as you can in the time limit. You can choose whether you'll be awarded with a guava at the end of the 25 minutes or not. And I thought all the above would be useful enough, but the toolbox offers even more extras with a word-of-the-day, a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a "word salad" feature designed to inspire.

 Which leaves very little more (bar a word processor) that a writer would ever need!

Midnight Never Come: Book Review

Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan is a fantasy novel set primarily in London in the late 1500s, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I - and also during the reign of another queen. Invidiana rules the not only the magical Onyx Hall which lies beneath London itself, but also all of faerie England. Our story follows two main characters - Michael Deven, a gentleman who seeks to better himself in the service of Queen Elizabeth, and Lune, a recently disgraced faerie Lady trying to win back the cruel Queen Invidiana's favour - and their discoveries concerning a pact, a curse, and the schemings of both fae and mortal politics.

The Lunar Chronicles: Book Review

So far I've only reviewed individual books but The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer is a completed series, including four novels, a prequel novella, and a collection of short stories, though I'll only be reviewing the novels. I suppose you'd class the series as science fiction, as it's set in the future and none of the plot would be possible without advanced technology, and it was because of this science fiction element that I was reluctant to read The Lunar Chronicles for quite a while. Eventually, though, I was swayed by the hype (and after all, I just can't resist fairy tale retellings).

The series focusses on Cinder, a cyborg mechanic who lives in New Beijing in the Eastern Commonwealth. Cinder's world is threatened by a deadly, incurable disease called letumosis - nicknamed 'the plague' - and by Queen Levana, the ruler of the Lunars, a moon colony of people with the ability to alter perceptions, who wishes to extend her control to Earth. Closer to home, Cinder dreams of escaping from her hateful stepmother to create her own life where she wouldn't be discriminated against for being a cyborg. But a strange twist of events leads Cinder to make some startling discoveries that (as cliched as it may sound) dramatically change Cinder's life forever.

As I mentioned previously. these are retellings of classic fairy tales, with each book focusing on a different one: Cinder is Cinderella, Scarlet is Little Red Riding Hood, Cress is Rapunzel, and Winter is Snow White. While this may make the plotlines of the individual books a little predictable, the story that Meyer creates in order to weave these stories together is rather original and wonderfully exciting. Each book also introduces a new protagonist, whom each book is named for, and who are incredibly unique and vivid. I think the characters are my favourite part of this series: they are extremely well developed, and Meyer's wonderful writing really makes them come alive. They're also all involved in some very cute romances - and not a single dreaded love triangle in sight!

Personally, I would say that Cress is my favourite of the four books - probably because she, a naive Lunar programmer with a huge imagination, may well be my favourite character;  - but I do love all of them. Scarlet is probably my least favourite; it's a little slow and takes a while to get into, and it took me a little longer to bond with the main character - a tough and fiesty farmer/pilot from France. Compare that to Cinder, which had me hooked literally from the first line (a very good thing to do, in the first book in a series). What I really loved about Cinder - both the book, and the chapters written from her perspective throughout the series - was the unique point of view she has as a cyborg with interfaces in her brain. I can't help but think that her sections must have been really interesting (and fun!) to write.

Another thing I love about this series is the example it sets to the teenage girls who it is primarily aimed at (though that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed by anyone of any age or gender). All our main characters are incredibly talented and are not restricted to stereotypically 'female' roles: Cinder, for example, is the best mechanic in New Beijing, and I've already mentioned the career choices of Scarlet and Cress. Meanwhile, Winter remains strong, brave, and incredibly cheerful while battling with mental illness (though admittedly Lunar Sickness isn't a mental illness that exists in the real world), but this aspect of her defines neither her personality nor her storyline. Also it's nice to see that the 'fairest in all the land' is a Black girl rather than one of the white models we're so used to seeing on magazine covers. So although some of these characters might be princesses, none of them are damsels in distress, and all of them are not only believable and lovable but also great role models.

In conclusion, I HIGHLY recommend the Lunar Chronicles to:

• anyone who loves fairy tale retellings
• anyone who likes science fiction
• anyone who loves books with characters that stay with you for years after you read them
• anyone who loves a nice, cute romantic subplot
• anyone who is looking for an exciting, enjoyable read.

Adventures in Wales

Back in April (yes, this is how far behind my blog is), I went to Caernarfon in Wales for two nights with the Newcastle University Creative Writing Society. As part of the Creative Writing Society's committee, I helped to plan and organise the trip. We chose Caernarfon mostly because we found a nice hostel there that was available on the last-minute dates we wanted. (If anyone's interested, the hostel was Totters'; situated inside the walled town, it's a nice little hostel with very friendly and accommodating owners, and it was just what we were looking for) Caernarfon's main attraction is its castle, though it also boasts a beaches, a pretty town, and a Roman fort.

 Once we arrived on the Thursday, we settled into the hostel, went for some food, then wandered around the shoreline until after it had gone dark, before returning to the hostel for some games.

In the morning on the Friday, we set off for the castle, a short walk from the hostel.

Admittance to the castle is £5.60 for students, but as a group of students, we got this discounted to £5 each. This admittance fee allows you to enter and leave the castle all day as you please, so there's no need to do everything at once; you can go to one of Caernarfon's cafes for lunch, and still come back to the castle without having to pay again. We then paid an extra £3 for a tour, which was informative, interesting, and definitely worth it. The tour does not cover all of the castle's large expanse, so there was still lots to explore once it had finished: towers, hidden passageways, exhibitions and displays... And of course plenty of photo opportunities!

We had a great day wandering both the town and the castle before returning to the hostel in the evening for more games and an attempted writing activity. Back when I was in my school's creative writing club, we had tried to write a story as a group, with each of us writing from one character's perspective, so I thought we could try something similar. Since Caernarfon castle has an interesting history involving a rebellion and two sieges, we decided to write on this theme. However, we didn't even get to the plot and character complications that come from having the input so many writers, which I encountered in my school's creative writing club: we barely even finished discussing ideas before we decided it was too late to write much. A writing activity like this needs more time than we had and definitely more planning, so that the group can spend more of it writing rather than brainstorming. It's something I'd like to try again - hopefully with more success next time!

All in all, it was a lovely few days, and we didn't even get to see all that Caernarfon has to offer! It would be great to go again and I definitely recommend both the town and the hostel.

Red Queen: Book Review

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is a book I've had on my to-read list for quite some time. Set in a kingdom called Norta, where people with silver blood and supernatural powers rule over people with red blood, Red Queen is the first in a series of four books. The story centres on sixteen-year-old Mare, a seventeen-year-old Red from a poverty-stricken village who is doomed for conscription into a war she is sure to die in until she makes a very public discovery that she has a power much like those the Silvers possess. Unable to ignore the scandal Mare has caused, the Silver royalty decide to take her in and claim she is a long-lost Silver to cover up what they can't explain. From within the Silver court, Mare has the perfect opportunity to take down the Silvers from the inside and get the Reds the equality they deserve.

When I picked up Red Queen, I was very much expecting a high fantasy - perhaps something similar to A Game Of Thrones, though with less characters. So what I found surprised me. Despite being part of a fantasy universe, Norta has all the technologies of the modern day, including guns, television, electric lights, and security cameras. This gave the book more of a dystopian feel, which is certainly not what I was expecting, and it wasn't really what I'd been wanting either. Nonetheless, I tried not to let my personal tastes get in the way of my judgement of the book. After all, I would say it makes Red Queen a little more unique, with a world similar to that of The Hunger Games, but with the Silvers' abilities bringing more of a fantasy element to it. So if that's the sort of thing you're looking for, definitely give Red Queen a go.

As for the rest of the book, I found myself a little bored at times, and had to force myself to continue reading it. I didn't find Mare to be particularly likable and if you asked me to describe her personality, I'm not sure I could, at least not without thinking about it quite hard first. But maybe that's just because I wasn't paying close enough attention. Unfortunately, my disconnect with the narrator and protagonist wasn't an isolated issue; it meant that, in places where Aveyard built up suspense, I just didn't feel it because I didn't care about Mare and her situation enough. I didn't feel immersed in her world. Also, I found it a little too political for my personal tastes: there's terrorism, war, manipulative royals, detailed plots... It's quite a serious book (and slow in parts), but at least that means that nothing is romanticised. And speaking of romance, I at first found this subplot to be quite annoying because it seemed so predictable...

Except it didn't turn out to be predictable at all. In fact, by the end of the book I really liked how the romantic subplot seemed to be turning out (obviously, this arc is not finished; I imagine it will take many more twists and turns throughout the rest of the series).

And I'm very pleased to say that the other plotlines improved towards the end of the book too. By the last hundred or so pages, I was finally hooked; I finally cared about the characters and what happened to them. The suspense also increased hugely and, though I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, get ready for some major plot twists. Do not expect to see any of them coming.

In the end, I'd say that most of my problems with Red Queen are down only to personal preference: it's a good book, and I feel bad publicly discussing the bits I didn't like about it. But those last hundred or so pages made the last few weeks I've spent reading this book truly worth it, and I'll definitely be picking up both the sequel and the prequel (which actually sounds more to my taste than the original). I would highly recommend Red Queen to anyone looking for something similar to The Hunger Games, but if a high fantasy is what comes to mind when you read the blurb, I'd suggest trying a different book instead.

Camp NaNoWriMo: Week 3 and Week 4 Summary

So, this July's Camp NaNoWriMo is over. Done. Finished. This year, I worked on the second draft of my novel, The Secrets The Dead Keep, with the goal of writing 50,000 words throughout the month. But how did I do? Did I manage to complete the challenge?

Yes! I did! :D

Though I managed to keep up and even get ahead during week 3, I was unfortunately unable to do the same in the final week, which was a little worrying. Life got in the way, which included two days of travelling right before the last day. I didn't think I'd be able to write anything while in the car on those two days, but it turns out I can, in fact, fit my laptop on my knee, so I managed to write 2,600 words in the end. Which meant that, on the very last day, I only had to catch up 5,000 words rather than over 7,000.

Five thousand words may sound like a lot (probably because it is), but I know from experience that it is a manageable amount to write in one day (though any more would not be), so even when I had no desire to write in the morning, I still wasn't worried. By late afternoon, at which point I'd already written over 2,000 words, I'd found my motivation, and the rest wasn't too difficult.

What a satisfying sight this is:

However, completing my 50,000 word goal does not mean that I have completed the second draft of my novel. After 2014's July Camp NaNo, I spent all of August finishing the first draft, which amounted to approximately 84,000 words in the end. I intend to do the same thing this year: keep writing until it's done.

I'm not entirely sure how far through the story I am, as a last-minute plot change has messed up my novel outline a bit, though a little rearranging should sort it out. I've been writing my novel in Microsoft Word, with the sections written during July's Camp NaNoWriMo all in one very long document, but I now intend to transfer it all the yWriter5. As yWriter5 separates all the chapters from each other and all scenes within those chapters from each other too, it makes organising and planning a lot easier, though I found during 2014's Camp NaNoWriMo that it can stifle creativity in favour of a rigid plan. That is why I opted this year to use it only in editing and not in the original writing. Hopefully once this draft is finished, no more original writing should be needed: so far I'm happy with how my plot's going, so only minor changes should be needed. Fingers crossed that minor changes don't require as much rewriting as major ones do!

One of the prizes for winners of Camp NaNoWriMo is a (previously free, now discounted) proof copy of your book. Back in 2014, the deadline for sending off your manuscript for printing was the end of August, and, as I mentioned earlier, I spent all of August 2014 finishing the manuscript, never mind editing it. Formatting it to send off for printing the night before the deadline was a bit of a nightmare! So I'm very relieved that this year, the deadline is at the end of December, which should give me time to not only finish the story but edit it too. Maybe I'll even be able to place my order before the last day of the offer this time!

Congratulations to everyone who reached their word count goals in this July's Camp NaNoWriMo, and better luck next time for those who didn't! It's been a great month for writing and I hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I have. :)

Camp NaNoWriMo: Week 2 Summary

It's pretty much halfway point in this year's Camp NaNoWriMo, so that should mean that I'm halfway through both my novel and my word count, right? Wrong. Despite trying to get ahead so that I have less writing to do at the end of the month, I've mostly been playing catch up this week. After a couple of days with less than 500 words, I only just got back on track yesterday. Here's how my word count graph is currently looking:

So, we've established that I'm not quite halfway through my word count yet... But what about my plot?

Unfortunately, that's even further from the halfway point. But that's to be expected. Back in 2012 when I first attempted this story, I got to 41,000 words before giving up - because I wasn't even halfway through the story (and I was busy). When I finally completed a draft in 2014, the total word count was about 85,000 words. So I'm neither surprised nor concerned that I'm only on the fifth of my planned twenty chapters at almost 23,000 words.

On the bright side, I am happy with this draft so far. Sure, I'm writing it thinking "I'll need to seriously edit this later", but I haven't had any doubts about this version of the plot, so this may be the last complete rewrite. That thought is a very nice one indeed.

Also, I made a Spotify playlist of songs that inspire me and help me build up the atmosphere specific to my story and setting. You can find it here.

Find me on Camp NaNoWriMo here, or find out more about NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo here and here.

Happy writing!

Camp NaNoWriMo: Week 1 Summary

It's July! For me, this only means one thing: Camp NaNoWriMo. Being in the middle of my summer holiday and with no exams or deadlines looming, July is the perfect time for me to write. This July's Camp NaNo marks the fourth year I've been working on my novel, The Secrets The Dead Keep, and I'm really excited to be working on the second draft this month, after finishing the first draft during July 2014's event. Here's how it's going so far.

But first, for anyone who hasn't heard of NaNoWriMo (short for National Novel Writing Month, even though it's actually international... don't ask me, it wasn't my idea), it's a month-long online event which challenges participants to write 50,000 words within 30 days. The original NaNoWriMo is held in November, but a few years ago, the Office Of Letters And Light (the organisation responsible for the event) introduced Camp NaNoWriMo, which is held twice yearly - in April and July. For more information on NaNoWriMo, follow this link, and for more information on Camp NaNoWriMo, follow this link.

The first week of this July's Camp NaNo has been pretty good; so far, I've managed to stay pretty on-track. At this particular moment in time, I'm about 800 words ahead of my current target word count. I only missed the word count on one day, but I made up for my measly 500 words by writing 3,000 (!!!) the day after.

There are generally two strategies for completing: planning and 'pantsing' - i.e., whether or not you plot/outline your project beforehand, or whether you just start writing on the 1st of July and see what happens. Back in July 2014, when I finished my first draft, I planned. I planned out every single scene and... it felt like following Ikea instructions. The finished product was very functional (my mum loved it), but to me it lacked a certain something. It lacked that passion that was obvious in every line of the unfinished first attempt from way back in 2012's Camp NaNo.

This year I'm... neither planning nor 'pantsing'. That is to say, I made a plan more extensive than I did in 2014 (this one actually had an ending before the beginning of July; in 2014 I planned up to the middle of the story before I started writing, and then updated my plan when I actually thought of a suitable ending). But the difference is that this year I'm trying to look at my plan as little as possible. It gives me the confidence of knowing exactly where my story is going while simultaneously giving me the freedom and spontaneity of having absolutely no idea where it's going. It makes me feel creative even when I'm actually just ticking scenes off a checklist as I write them. It's bringing life back to my story and characters. At least, I hope it is!

The other thing that's making me more excited about this draft that the previous one is the plot changes. As I said, I only finished my 2014 scene-by-scene plan halfway through the month. This is because, despite having already been working on this novel for two years by this point, I had no idea how I was going to build up to my conclusion - or even what my conclusion was going to be. Eventually I found something that worked and slapped that in place. It was very obvious that it needed improvement. Plus, when you've been writing the same story for four years, you do need to keep it interesting for yourself. The changes I've made and the new aspects I've added mean I'm currently much happier with my plot. Let's just hope I'm still as happy with it once I've written it!

Find me (and my novel!) on Camp NaNoWriMo here.

Good luck to anyone else doing Camp NaNoWriMo this July! :)

Making Cheesecake (Student Style)

I’ve been unable to post much since Easter thanks to university obligations (apparently you actually have to study to get a degree), which is a shame because I’ve had two posts in my head waiting to be written since then; one about making Danish pastries, and one about the Creative Writing Society’s trip to Wales. But in the meantime, here’s one about making cheesecake with approximately half the equipment needed (and this recipe (and I’ll be writing as if you’ve read it)).

The first problem was that neither I nor my housemates own a rolling pin. The second problem was that we don’t own any scales. The third problem was that I very much doubted that the digestive biscuits I guessed to be about 250g would fit in one of our plastic food bags.

My first solution was to break the guessed quantity of biscuits up and sandwich them between two sheets of cling film and crush them with a flat dish. This didn’t go too well. The top layer of cling film kept sticking to the bottom of the dish and I didn’t use enough cling film so I still had to separate my broken biscuits into two halves to crush them. Plus, if I’d have carried on trying to crush the biscuits with the dish, it would have taken forever.

My second solution was to put the biscuits in the dish and use a tin can as a substitute rolling pin. This worked much better.

It was much easier to get the right amount of butter, thanks to the labelling on its packaging.

Melting the butter and making the base. The recipe suggests a round loose-bottomed tin and baking parchment, neither of which we had, so I used a rectangular tin and tin foil instead. I do not recommend using tin foil as it creases and tears very easily, which means your cheesecake will end up in odd shapes and will be very difficult to remove.

While the base was chilling in the fridge, I started on the filling. I had never seen a vanilla pod before! Also I forgot that, while we don’t own scales, we do actually own a measuring jug, so I ended up guessing the amount of cream.

Vanilla pods

WHAT A LOT OF SOFT CHEESE

Before and after mixing the filling:

Once the filling is spread on top of the base

In the end, I didn’t unmould the cheesecake as the recipe suggests, but instead topped it while still in the tin. Tesco didn’t have any strawberries when I went in for ingredients so I used raspberries instead. Rather than blending some of the raspberries and putting the rest on top, I blended all of them and then grated chocolate over it.

It’s been about two months since I made this recipe so it’s a little hard to remember the verdict. It was nice, although I would’ve preferred having more base compared to filling and strawberries probably would’ve been nicer than raspberries, which were slightly sour. Also I would definitely recommend having the right equipment – it would’ve been much easier!