Beach Writing Challenge Days 5 and 6 — Meeting with Friends, Risking it a Bit, and More Writing

by with No Comment Beach Writing Challenge

16th of July, 2018

Click here for the previous day’s post.

So, continuing with my Beach Writing Challenge, after a healthy writing sprint of 4 continuous days and crossing the 23,000 word mark, I took a break on this day. Just chilled out, walked around the Mapusa market a bit, ate, and did nothing. Let’s count this one as my holiday then!

Statistics so far:

Day 1 total – 6500 words

Day 2 total – 13000 words

Day 3 total – 20000 words

Day 4 total – 23000 words

17th of July, 2018

This was my 5th day of writing then. The word count right now is 23000 words and 4 days have elapsed. I am nowhere near my halfway mark (which should be at least 37500 words). The scenes that I write are so exhausting that I need to take a break after every two or three scenes. Now that’s an unanticipated problem. Well, at least, because I have thought of the story beforehand, I do not face the dreaded scourge of the ‘writer’s block’.

The Progress

Started out with a nice in-hotel breakfast of poached eggs. Loved the way they made it. The eggs weren’t too runny and though the yolks could have been a bit softer, these will do quite well. Tipped it up with ginger tea. Great mind stimulators for a long writing day ahead.

The Writing and the Story (Some Advice too!)

Then back to the hotel room and more writing. No distractions today. Wrote up quite breezily until lunchtime. Put in around 5 chapters, which is a biggie.

Our poor Devika is now in the thick of things. She has come to this house with a completely blank slate, for her memory is lost, and she is falling for the young doctor who has brought her into the house, Dr. Sumit Vishwakarma. Their romance is brewing, but at the same time, weird things are also happening in the house. Balancing the story between a blooming romance and nightly haunting is turning out to be a great narrative structure. Also, since the story is told from different POVs (we get to hear from both Devika and Sumit and even other characters when needed), there’s a lot of variety.

Pro-tip: Multiple POVs add variety to the writing and makes the reader sample different characters. Advisable if your story spans a large spectrum.

The Rest of the Day

Lunch was a brilliant prawns thali at a place called Flying Fish off Mapusa market. Wonderful fare at a dirt-cheap rate. Do check out the pic, and if you are here the next time, go to Flying Fish with all my recommendation.

Returned to the hotel room and back to writing. Only took breaks for a cup of tea in the evening (called it to my hotel room) and for dinner had some Goan specialties that I got from the market. One piece of batk was enough to fill an entire dinner for me.

More writing till late night brought my word count to 32000, which makes this day my most productive day so far. And also explains why there are not many pics!

18th of July, 2018

I was quite looking forward to this day because there was a plan to meet with fellow-authors in Goa. Authors have this thing; when they go to another city, they scope out other authors there and plan a meet. It’s almost an unspoken rule. And if those other authors are also friends, then it’s an icing on the cake.

The Mini Authors’ Meet

Four of us met at a lovely eatery called Cluck Tales in Panjim. It’s right across the Panjim Market and pretty famous. We managed to get a cozy table on the mezzanine floor and really had a go with our chats and plans for future events.

In the picture are (from left to right), Charmaine DeSouza Fernandes who is writing her first book and is a winner of the Readify Author Hunt and also quite a popular animal activist, myself, Uttam Kumar who is a social worker and has also written a book titled First Job and 10 Mistakes, and Rohan Govenkar who is an author of two books titled 1000 Kilograms of Goa and Oh My Goddess and a very popular Goan personality.

 

We talked about Rohan’s recent trip to Russia for the FIFA matches, Charmaine’s and Rohan’s visits to some of the spookiest places in Goa, and Uttam Kumar’s observations on society at large, which were quite the treat. We also spoke about having a bigger event in Goa to bring the local literary community together, on which details will be put up soon. Now that’s what I call an enriching meeting. Likeminded people getting together and trying to give something back. Rohan also gifted us copies of his books!

And since I always mention food, mine was a wiener schnitzel with beer! (sorry, didn’t get pics of the food). A shout-out to Vasco, the owner of Cluck Tales, for the good food.

Roaming Around in Panjim

Panjim is called the most walkable city in India. No, I don’t have any citation for this, but I have heard it said. And, of course, I have the experience. The city is quite clean and uncluttered and there’s no traffic on most routes, and then there’s this cool breeze blowing in that keeps you walking. I walked for about an hour through the various spots.

Here’s my pic of the Panjim Market. Have always loved the Mario Miranda murals on the walls.

Walked around to Our Lady of Immaculate Conception church, the popular church with the white exterior and beautiful steps, spent a few minutes at the Jardim Garcia de Orta, came to Fountainhas, and then got back. My story was calling!

Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church, Panjim
Jardim Garcia de Orta, Panjim

The Writing

Wrote a few scenes without any distraction until evening. I knew this day wasn’t going to be much fruitful writing-wise, and it wasn’t. Something else was coming up! A casino visit! A friend had invited me to one of Goa’s most popular floating casinos, and I saw myself going to Panjim again and was there then till the wee hours of morning trying to test my luck. Don’t ask me how that went!

Progress at the end of day = 35000 words in total.

One more day left technically. How will I finish?

Beach Writing Challenge Days 3 and 4 — A Change of Venue and Some Brisk Writing

by with One Comment Beach Writing Challenge

14th of July, 2018

 

Click here for the previous day’s post.

 

The third day of my writing journey began with my checkout from the Calangute Beach Residency. I had initially thought this would be silent owing to the off-season, but can a North Goa beach be quiet at any time? My hotel room was peaceful but the very fact that the beach was just a shout away tempted me to go out and look. So, I decided to change the venue.

 

New Place

I found a great deal at the Mapusa Residency. The room cannot be more silent than this, and there’s everything at a stone’s throw. The market and bus-stand are right across, and the buses can take me to anywhere in the state that I need to go. Beautiful, just the way I like it. Brightly painted too (see the pic!).

 

Had lunch at their in-house restaurant. Good food but had just a chicken sandwich and a can of Budweiser, since they didn’t have steaks and none of the other lunch stuff could be portioned for a single person.

The Writing

 

 

Wrote up a storm actually. Went 500 words higher than my average of the past two days and covered the 20000-word mark. Devika is now deep in the mess and her enemy has already had one victim and she’s inching closer to Devika. Things are bound to happen soon.

Okay, keeping Day 3 a very short post as I did nothing but write the whole day. See you again on Day 4.

15th of July, 2018

Day 4 dawns a bit late for me again, for I had been up till late in the morning. Had a short sleep and was up at 10, for the cleaners come in here and they give the room a good shakedown. It’s a good thing; not complaining. You can be as messy as you like.

Wrote two scenes in the morning and then set out to lunch.

By the way, I have been limping since two days because I have got a nasty slipper-bite (yeah, like a shoebite) and there’s not a medical shop open when I go down to get bandages. It’s healing anyway.

Lunch at Ronaldo’s

There’s this quaint little place bang outside Mapusa Bus Stand called Ronaldo’s where I had my lunch. You can see the football evidence everywhere in Goa actually. Even right next to Mapusa Residency, there’s a place called Zidane Boutique.

Anyway, at Ronaldo’s, I had some cool scotch (mistake, I’ll tell you why), some chicken tandoori and a rice plate. Interesting stuff, well-made too, and for just 300 rupees! Quite a steal for backpackers really.

Moved around a bit in the Mapusa Market, decided to come back when I am not limping, and got back to the hotel room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mistake

 

Well, the mistake was that I slept in the afternoon! Had a short sleep the previous night and then the scotch on a rainy afternoon could lull a giant to sleep even after getting up from a six-month slumber. Was out like a light for two hours, and by the time I woke up, I did not want to be in Goa. I wanted to be at the Luzhniki Stadium!

The Match

Well, what a FIFA World Cup Final that was! Chatted with my kids on WhatsApp all through the match and we had our own commentary going on here. A fun two hours, and the better team won, though for me the Croatians are the true winners. Not many people had heard of Croatia before this month, and see how they have just stormed into the world space. Modric, we love you.

The Writing

 

Sadly, didn’t get much by way of writing today. Just a piddly 3000 odd words. Have to buck up tomorrow, for it will be my fifth day here already. The week’s coming to a close.

Till tomorrow, ciao!

Beach Writing Challenge Day 2 — An English Breakfast, a Spooky House, and Some Furious Writing

by with No Comment Beach Writing Challenge

13th of July, 2018

 

 

Guys, thanks for continuing to read these updates on my self-imposed Beach Writing Challenge as I write the third book in my Supernatural India series.

 

If you have not read it yet, read what I did on the first day here: Day 1.

 

So the second day in Calangute began with me getting up late in a weird and divinely comfortable room, getting alarmed, and then realizing WTF I had no particular place to go to! As soon as I could, I set out for a breakfast and breakfast it was—a lavish English Breakfast at Infantaria (that famous restaurant attached to a church on Calangute), which had baked beans, Goan sausages, bacon, and two fried eggs. Dieting be damned.

 

The Spooky House

 

It was while returning to my hotel room from Infantaria that I noticed this particular bungalow. I had seen this the previous night too but as it was plunged in darkness, I couldn’t see much. Moreover, there was no light for a distance and there weren’t any people walking on this particular stretch too. In the darkness of the previous night, I had eventually noticed two dogs sitting on a corner of the fence surrounding the bungalow, and I had just walked away.

Now in the morning, I saw the house in its glorious self. It looked immediately like an abandoned house. All the doors and windows were shut; there was no evidence of anyone living inside. I heard no tales of this house from anyone, but it just gave off those vibes.

The gate is quite an anachronism to the rest of the house as you will see in the pictures. Maybe that’s why the house has this kind of bizarre appeal that makes a passerby stop in his tracks and take a few pictures.

 

Writing, Writing, and More Writing

 

On the second day of my writing challenge, I could not afford to not continue my writing. I was immediately back in my hotel room after breakfast and sat down to write. The scenes were already planned out and I had to lay them down now. So I entered into the world of Devika (the name of my protagonist in this tale) and built up her story as she enters into a new world. In parallel, I also wrote the chapters of her nemesis (the monster lady whom I shall not name for now). Really, it kicks me even as I write this thinking how I will build up to the eventual fight between Devika and her enemy.

 

By the end of the day, I had completed 13000 words, thus maintaining my average of 6500 words/day.

 

Picture from earlier in the day.

 

Night at Calangute

 

You cannot be on the Calangute Beach and not go see the water. So, I did. I am not having dinner these days, or rather it’s mostly a packet of biscuits, a pint of whatever beer, and a smoke. Lunches are heavy, afternoons are sluggish, evenings are vibrant. Just the way it ought to be during a vacation!

 

Spent a silent hour at the Calangute Beach just gazing at the water. The activities at Souza Lobo were going on in full swing and there were the hookah smokers at the adjacent restaurant. It was fun to watch when the rains came in all their heaviness and the waiters had to dismantle all their makeshift tables and take them inside. And funnier still was when the rains went away in ten minutes and they assembled everything again. We need some of these people in Mumbai for our municipal tasks!

 

End of Day

 

Back to the hotel, back to looking at my MacBook with 13000 words and rereading some of the good paragraphs I wrote and gloating over them in private, and then writing some more. Called it a night around one, and day 2 came to a close. Next day, new venue, new writing location.

 

See you with the next update. Ciao!

 

Click here to go to the next day’s update.

Beach Writing Challenge Day 1 — A Dead Man’s Tale, a Haunted Bench, and Lots of Inspiration

by with 4 Comments Beach Writing Challenge

12th of July, 2018

 

 

Sorry for the late post but blame it on the poor net connection. It is actually the third day as I write this here. But I promised a day-by-day account, so I shall be updating my posts of Day 1 and Day 2 shortly.

So It Begins

On the 11th of July, 2018, I started out from Mumbai to Goa by train. Train because of the rains. Definitely not a good idea to take a flight under these terrible weather conditions. But, this proved to be a blessing in disguise, mostly because of the Ola ride that took me to the LTT station. The driver of that cab, a man named Shyam, told me the most astounding story. Wait till you hear what it is. Okay, no waiting. This guy told me, with irrefutable proof, the story of how he had returned from the dead.

The Dead Man’s Tale

Two years ago, Shyam met with a terrible accident in his native Kanpur. He was on a bike and a truck rammed into him. So gut-wrenching was this accident that his left leg was completely severed from his body and thrown meters away and a portion of his skull was split open. The doctors proclaimed him dead. His parts were practically kept on the pyre, ready to be burned, but his wife had the firm faith that he wasn’t dead. As they were preparing to carry him to his funeral, his wife struggled and the corpse fell. That was when someone noticed his heart was still beating.

The family put him back on his arthi but this time they took him to the hospital. The doctors hailed this as a miracle. They said the leg could be sewn back, the skull could be closed. But it would amount to a heavy bill of 16 lakh rupees.

They were plunged in gloom again, and as the man lay there, almost dead for a second time, two strangers visited their house. They told Shyam’s wife that they were his old friends and had come upon hearing of the accident. When they knew the situation, they did not even bat tan eyelid in “loaning” the money for his operation. It was such a happy moment that the family did not even stop to ask them who they were. They just took the check and ran to the hospital. Meanwhile, the two friends volunteered to stay back and look after the house.

The operation was successful. So successful it was that Shyam did not even need a rod in the leg. But though he was joined again, he was in a coma for over a year. And after that, he miraculously woke up one day and walked home.

Shyam showed me the stitches on his forehead and on his leg. He drove perfectly too, and before I knew the story, he had even heaved my suitcase into the cab without effort. He was healthier and stronger than most men we come across.

His tale was carried in many newspapers in Uttar Pradesh and he even made it on TV.

But the strangest thing was about those strangers. They weren’t there when the family got back home. No one came to claim the money.

So here’s what’s striking. He told me those people were sent to him by Lord Hanuman, the deity whom he has worshipped every day of his life ever since he was a child. The rest of the drive was spent by him in describing to me how faith can move mountains. And as I rode with him, I saw just that.

The Haunted Bench

Okay, for this one I have a picture. I reached Karmali station on the afternoon of 12th of July, 2018. I caught another cab this time to take me to my hotel at Calangute. And on the way, I heard another amazing story from the driver. This time it was a local legend.

 

This bench is supposedly haunted.

 

Our car stopped for a while thanks to a large puddle right in the middle of the road. I happened to look to my left then, and I saw a stone bench. It was just standing there in the middle of nowhere. There weren’t any houses or shops for miles either way. Why would anyone need a bench there?

The driver saw me looking and told me that the bench had historical value. Decades ago, there used to be a house there which was broken down to make way for the road. For some reason, the bench stayed. It was part of the house where the couple who lived in the house would sometimes sit in the evenings and have their tea. The couple had then moved to another place and subsequently grown old and died. But even now, drivers on that stretch of road in the night sometimes see an old man and his hunchback wife sitting on the bench quite romantically close, looking into the distance. And it appears like they are having tea.

Wow!

The Inspiration

The third floor of this hotel was my writing challenge haven. Calangute Beach is out there.

 

There was no dearth of inspiration as I moved in to my hotel room. A perfect room from where you could see the silent part of the Calangute Beach. I strolled on the beach road in the evening, had my very late lunch of chicken fried rice (which I could not eat even half) and a Heineken, and then went back to the hotel room to write.

And, boy, did I write! I hit the ground running. That long train journey had helped me mull over the entire story in my mind.

On the first day itself, I crossed 6500 words of good solid content.

And this is the perfect story to write in such an environment. It is the story of a battle of two women, one on the good side and one on the evil side, and both flawed. Both women derive strongly from South Indian folklore, and they represent two communities. It’s a fantastic tale to write on an epic scale, and that’s how I think it will go. Early days yet, but I am hopping with excitement as I bring to you this one, the third part of my Supernatural India series after Pishacha and Yakshini.

Going back to write now. See you in a while with the post on Day 2. Until then, keep the comments coming.

My Beach Writing Vacation — A Self-Challenge to Complete a Novel in 7 Days

by with 2 Comments Beach Writing Challenge

(12 July 2018 – 19 July 2018)

A Writing Challenge to Myself

Hi folks! For those who just came in, I am Neil D’Silva. But of course you know that! This is my site, and here I am going to talk about a writing challenge that I have imposed upon myself.

Come tomorrow, I am embarking on a very special writing journey. Leaving the usual distractions behind, I am setting out on a journey to one of Goa’s secluded beach destinations to write my next novel. The novel is mostly outlined and all the main characters and plot points are in place; now all I have to do is breeze my way through it!

Consider it my self-challenge or, rather, a goal. Will I be able to finish writing my manuscript in 7 days? Come on, cheer me up already, guys!

The Location

I am headed to Calangute Beach in Goa to kickstart my novel! From there, I shall move on to other places. Pics shall follow.

Why Goa, some people might ask. But does that even need to be asked? I was looking for a place that was away from the usual trappings of routine life and at the same time not so far removed that I’d have to struggle for my basic needs. Goa fits the bill most perfectly. Listening to those lashing waves as I write promises to be pure bliss. I can almost hear the waves telling me my story.

And Calangute has a special connection for me. It was in Calangute Beach Residency four years ago that the plot of my debut novel Maya’s New Husband popped into my head. I am a romantic at the heart of it all, and the entire idea of going back to where it all began knocks me silly.

Read the story behind the story of Maya’s New Husband here.

The Plan

To accomplish my writing challenge, I am allotting myself 8-10 hours per day to write. I will break that into three slots — morning, afternoon, night. I expect the first manuscript to be around 75,000 words, which would be around 7,500 words a day. Quite doable.

As I mentioned, I have the story planned out already. I have to write it now. Of course I will see problems with my outline as I write, but I intend to repair them as I go ahead.

To keep away from the continued stress of writing, I plan to read, have my fill of the wonderful Goan food, visit its old churches and museums, buy trinkets from the markets of Mapusa and Anjuna (special note to get those Indonesian Black kretek cigarettes), indulge in a bit of the nightlife, and, of course, do my daily quota of exercise. Exercising on the beach—now that’s something to really look forward to!

Will You Cheer Me on?

Follow my progress as I keep updating my blog on my writing challenge every day. I shall be making 7 diary posts for the 7 days.

Also, look out for tomorrow’s first diary post where I reveal the working title of the novel. To all my fans and casual readers, this is some really wonderful stuff coming up! Based on a supernatural folklore concept of South India. Totally warrants staying in seclusion and writing this horror story.

Ooh, now I think of it… I’ll be all alone by the sea and writing a horror story. Sounds like the kind of fun I need!

Stay tuned. Until tomorrow. Be well and honor by the sword.

 

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