Food in Fiction

I'm one of those people who don't like overly detailed descriptions of a character's looks. I want the barest brushstrokes to guide my inner vision - a proximate height, a build and coloring. A penchant for long flowing skirts and army boots. That's enough. Any more and I feel tied down. Especially in a main character where I hope to inhabit this person, go along with her story and emotions. If she's got grey-green eyes with blond eyebrows, seven freckles per cheek and a nose like a button mushroom. I lose some interest. Because I'm being told exactly what to see, instead of letting my imagination sketch in the image.

The exact opposite is true for descriptions of food. So many books skim over the details of meals the protagonists eat - It was a fine meal with excellent wine. They ate well of many delicacies. He grabbed a sandwich and a bag of chips. WHAT MEAL? WHAT DELICACIES? WAS IT DORITOS OR FUNYONS?

These are questions I must have answers to. Because, more than a person's physical description, food description anchors the time, place and mood. Food should give clues about characters. What they worry about, what they indulge in. Because we have to eat so often (say, compared to a boa constrictor) we get to make new choices several times a day. Those choices reflect on us, even more than the clothes we wear and our hair cuts - choices we make less often.

In Maggie Stiefvater's THE SCORPIO RACES, there's food and blood and hunger. And there are November Cakes. November Cakes are not only a food item - an expensive luxury for Puck Connelly and her brothers - they're also a symbol of the isle of Thisby and the violent, chaotic and profitable festival they hold each November. It represents the lifeblood of the island, how dependent they are on the tourists that flock to see the Scorpio Races. November Cakes are part of the culture.

No one dies for a November Cake. A November Cake doesn't win the Scorpio Races. But the description of food in THE SCORPIO RACES is as much a character in the book as any other. It is vital.

Don't let your main character walk out of her next scene carrying a bag of nondescript sustenance - leave that for the Soylent food-substitute crowd. Treat food in fiction like the rich layer of meaning it should be.

I stumbled upon a website - Food Adventures (in fiction)  - and immediately fell in love. They have a picture of - and recipe to make - November Cakes. I'm going to try them this weekend.

What about you? How do you handle food in your fiction?

Greetings from the Writing Cave...Now Go Away

I've been sequestered in my writing cave of late, occasionally coming up for air to tweet about scenes that are soft in the middle, or giggle at the internet meme of binders full of women.

But mostly I've been writing my ass off. I've been clocking about 1-1.5k a day. That may not seem like very much, but I only have about 3 hours of writing time a day and part of that time is spent drinking coffee and staring out into space. It's amazing to me that I can write nearly as much a day now, writing a fairly tight first draft, as I did doing NaNoWriMo when I was throwing words up against the wall to see what sticks.

This leads me to two separate but related questions:
1) Are you doing NaNoWriMO? Why/why not? I'm not doing it this year, and probably not ever again. While participating definitely was the springboard for me to get serious about writing, ultimately, I agree with Maggie Stievater (who's RAVEN BOYS audiobook I am OBSESSED with)- what you gain by getting your arse in gear and writing, you lose by having to go back in and heavily alter/edit/rewrite what you didn't have the space to think properly about in the first place. Read Maggie's NaNo thoughts here. Bonus Question: What do you think?

2) What does your writing cave look like? I thought I'd be the kind of person who needed 'things' to get me writing. Like, a lucky pencil, or a special coffee mug. I even bought a pair of silver owl bookends (before I actually started to write, when I thought I might like to write.) But none of those kinds of things help. I write anywhere and everywhere, as long as there's music. Library, Starbucks, screen room, dining room table, bed. Right now, I'm a beggar who can't be choosy. But how about you?

A Lovely Award and a Shed Load of Revisions

I know I said I was doing NaNo but somehow it hasn't really happened. Two things have waylaid me.
Most important is my revision schedule. I've said before that I am killing myself to complete these revisions. These will be the LAST revisions I make on this ms until (if) someone with a shiny agent badge asks me for more. It's root canal with a cup of tea for anesthetic, but I'm muddling through. I'm a third of a way through guts and garters revisions and my self-imposed deadline is November 18th.

The second thing that's put me off NaNo is this post from Maggie Stiefvater. At first, I discounted it. I've heard criticism against NaNo before (like this from Salon's Laura Miller last year) and it never rang true to me. But Maggie's 'dear john' letter to NaNo did. BookEnd is a NaNo baby, and though it would most likely not exist if not for NaNo, it would also probably not need such extensive revisions if I'd taken more time with the writing of it.

So, while I'm happy with the new story I've started this year in NaNo, I'm not going to worry about word count (like, not at all.) In fact, I'm using November as a springboard not to write a new book, but just to think about one.

What about you? Are you a NaNo fan forever, or do you have your doubts?

On another note, thanks to Jenna at Finding the Write Way for the "One Lovely Blog" award.

I hereby bestow the "One Lovely Blog" award on the following three blogs which are both lovely and smart:

Yvie Gonya at Wandering on the Edge of Paradise
Sharon Bayliss at The Blue Word
Jennifer Burke at Jen's Bookshelf