Signal Boost: Budding Writers League

When I first started writing, my only critic was my English teacher in Primary Six. Most of my work was just created and forgotten on the Powerpoints of my old computers since Primary Three. Then the urge to start writing longer fiction came along when I was 13, in Secondary School. Again, my only critic was another English teacher.

So you can imagine how glad I am that young, budding writers are getting more support now.

Introducing the Budding Writers League.

They are a non-profit organisation designed to aid young, budding writers in getting their work out and critiqued. From my experience on the site, it’s rather open, where you can post your work (within Terms & Conditions, of course) and have it critiqued by anyone on the site. Likewise, you have access to the other stories people tell and comment.

One good thing which I felt was rather beneficial was being able to put your work out to your probable target audience. Members range from the ones who have a relative amount of experience to the ones who are just starting out. The environment is rather open so there is space for discussion.

Also, the Budding Writers League is full of young energy, so expect active participation!

On top of that, the committee brings programmes and workshops to its members, usually in collaboration with other organisations like Monsters Under the Bed.

So if you’re just starting out and would like to gain feedback for your work, the Budding Writers League could be a place for you to start.

For more information:

Budding Writers League
Budding Writers League Facebook

They are one of the many support groups our young writers can turn to when they are in need of support. Signal Boosts will cover other avenues of support for the local literary arts and local authors. So stay tuned!

Joelyn Alexandra wishes you…

A HAPPY & PROSPEROUS CHINESE NEW YEAR!

Thank you all for reading this ramble central =)

And for a cool Literary treat, check out Joyce Chng’s “Rider”, only available this Chinese New Year!

Weekend Missions: Derwish Turkish Restaurant

So after an afternoon of researching, planning, and shopping, Avarielle, Mintea, Sarah, and myself headed to Arab Street for dinner. Since we were unable to decide on a place to eat, Sarah read out the first name she saw on a banner. However, after heading there, we spotted a new place – Derwish Turkish Restaurant.

Craving for culinary adventure, we went in.

There are two kinds of seating, indoor and outdoor. Outdoor seating is pretty cool during the evenings, especially if you’d like to soak in the scents of Arab Street (Shisha, mostly) and relatively cool breezes in the evenings (Not this time of the year though).

The indoor décor, however, was magnificently Aegean – quite a bit of Greek influence but with the colourful Turkish details.

Prettily Aegean, don't you think?

Our Menus as presented.

Our table - all set and ready to go.

We got a jug of Turkish Mint Tea and Hummus for starters. I never really liked Hummus until I went to Alaturka with some ex-colleagues. Even then, I thought it was some special kind of Hummus that only they had.

Intricate Designs housed our Mint Tea

Hummus and the accompanying bread.

I WAS WRONG.

It wasn’t overly smooth, but spreadable and you could dip your bread in rather well. The balance of its graininess and smoothness was just right, so you won’t have anything stuck in your teeth or coating your tongue. The chickpea to garlic to olive oil ratio was also well-balanced, though the accompanying bread could be a bit bigger though.

The Mint Tea was rather strong, but I attributed it to the fact that the jug came with a generous bunch of mint leaves in the water. Sarah, Mintea, and Avarielle drank more of it so they might have better opinions. I just liked the smell of mint wafting from the glasses.

My Spinach Pide (bottom) and Mintea's Sucuk Pide (Vertical)

Then our entrees came.

Mintea and I got Pides (Turkish stuffed/ flavoured breads) – Mintea got the Sucuk Pide, which was like this breakfast pizza of Turkish Pepperoni, Egg, and Cheese, and I got the Spinach Pide, which was spinach, onions, and cheese. Essentially Mintea had a breakfast pizza, which I very much liked.

The spice of the sausage is slightly mellowed by the egg and cheese, but the balance also maintained the sausage’s flavour. However, it could be a tad too salty if you’re not alternating tastes. The Spinach Pide was much milder in comparison though. However, it had a subtle, sweet onion taste which went really well when I dipped the bread into our Hummus appetizer.

Sarah got a Beyti, which looked like a sliced kebab drenched in sauce. I ate her roast tomatoes for her (as usual). HAH! But I thought Avarielle’s Iskander was amazing.

Simply speaking, an Iskander is a plate of sliced, grilled meat, served with sauce, yoghurt, and bread or rice. She usually has this in Anatolia, which is tasty on its own. Derwish just made it celestial.

The meat was well marinated and thinly sliced, which made the eating much more pleasurable.

That's Sarah's spoon. She did a great deal of *hurhurs* that day.

We finished our meal with an almond-topped rice pudding (I scraped the almonds off because I’m not nut-friendly. HEE.) Like Anatolia, they use real rice for this pudding. I don’t really have a preference among the two taste-wise but I’d go to Anatolia for the rice pudding based on the face that Anatolia’s pudding doesn’t have nuts. But that’s just me. HAH.

If there was one line used to describe Derwish, they really define the line “Getting what you pay for.” It’s not exhorbitant (mains are between $15-$25), and the food really tastes great. So yes, we will be going back again, probably try their Moussaka (Greek Lasagna but with Eggplants instead of Pasta) the next time!

Derwish Turkish Restaurant is located at 60 Bussorah Street.

Eternal Sights of the Spotted Kind: Character Analysis – Jan Xu

I had “itchy fingers” today – which means writing a post here. But while looking for topics to talk about, I decided to do something that has been going on in my head for a while – Literary Analysis.

Let me remind you that it’s been eight (8) years since I conducted some kind of Literary Analysis of any sorts (‘O’ Level English Literature) so I might be a little rusty.

My subject today?: Character Analysis – Jan Xu, protagonist from the Myriad Series by J Damask.

Summary

Jan Xu is a mother of three (Aurora, April, and Aidan – appeared only in Obsidian), an ex-teacher and now currently a homemaker. Her family’s a clan of wolves or Lang, as stated in Wolf at the Door, and she got promoted to Pack Leader and possessor of The Eye in Obsidian Moon Obsidian Eye. (You can get the e-Books here)

Analysis 

Now what I’m going to do next is a technique I picked up from one of my teachers in English Literature. It makes character and scene analysis so much easier because it follows the same flow of profiling – Person -> Trait -> Evidence -> Conclusion.

*Note: There are many traits and profiles she can have, depending on your view. However, you’ll need to back it up with sufficient evidence. That’s how Literature and basic analysis works. I’m just going to concentrate on one for now.

The role of Alpha was handed to her at the end of “Wolf at the Door”, but we could actually see the signs of pressure before. She was born to alpha wolves, who handed her the power. And while it is claimed that she loves being Lang and savours the moment, the same cannot be said about her Alpha role.

For people having problems with English Literature, I welcome you to use this technique, it has helped me over the years and that’s probably why I got an interest in profiling and character development.

It would also be good to note that the writing could relate to the psyche of the writer, which will be very useful if you were to do a more extensive literary analysis. While I subscribe to the notion that authors will write what they want, I’d still like to believe that there’s a motivation on why.

For example, I won’t be surprised if the writer herself is a spiritually open person, seeking solace in the metaphysical or questioning what lies beyond life. Her style of writing has a lot of underlying internal communication, so it could suggest that the writer herself is constantly reflective, and rather organic in seeking relief, probably heading to something very natural (not necessarily nature, but she probably tends to avoid massive commercialization).

Disclaimer: There is no guarantee that the psyche of the writer as interpreted from how they write will be accurate. However, it will be interesting to see what you may think when you spot a pattern in various styles from the same writer. It may just help you understand the writing a bit more.

So yes, as you can see, genre fiction can be used to teach Literature in schools. All you need to do is to be creative. In this age where we’re constantly progressing, creativity will help us through.  

Muse Moment: Pandamian and the Widget

So what’s the widget, you may ask? Put it simply, it’s a link to a novel I’m working on, uploaded onto a platform that will allow the public to read what I have so far and community critique. Thanks to the brilliant minds behind Pandamian.

They are rather similar to Smashwords, but their focus is very much on the pre-final manuscript stage, rather than an all-out e-Book publishing platform. Thus, it’s pretty much a three-pronged benefit (for me, at least).

Benefit #1: It doesn’t have to be your final draft

Pandamian was developed to provide a platform for writers to put their work up for public reading and critique. This automatically means that whatever that goes up does not necessarily need to be of best-seller or ready-to-publish standard. At least not straight out.

It encourages first drafts, second drafts, multiple drafts, drafts for writers and creators to edit, change, and develop for public viewing. So there’s no pressure for you to write the best possible thing in the best possible way before you even think of uploading something. You can just edit as you go along.

*Sidenote: Pandamian also serves as a back-up option for people participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and is a major supporter of NaNoWriMo Singapore.

Benefit #2: Chapter-by-Chapter uploads & comments

Like the first benefit, you are not pressured to finish your entire project before uploading anything online. You just upload as you go along.

Another good thing about Chapter-by-Chapter uploads is that it allows the audience to absorb more and be more focused. Rather than be overwhelmed by a whole barrage of things to read, little capsules of the story stay better in the little pockets of your mind.

This also means that comments can be given on each chapter so you’ll know what went wrong/ right and where. No more flipping or scrolling like crazy to pinpoint something that may not be entirely right.

Benefit #3: Motivation for completion

This is a personal benefit and I believe it will be one for many writers or creative people in time.

I once read that in a time where many things have been created, done, and redone, a piece that’s “done” is better than a piece that’s “good but incomplete”. It’s easier to edit a “bad page” than a “blank page”. You get my drift.

Thus, when I got my Pandamian account, I found regular uploads of the chapters (I upload every Friday), made sure I was working to produce more work. This will probably go on until the entire project is done.

I call this a great benefit, especially when some of us creative people cannot bear to complete something when there’s this mistake or disturbing paragraph, chapter, or character that just irks us. This need to upload weekly pushes me to carry on, leaving the draft to rest before working it again.

After all, the dough has to have the chance to rest and rise before you could work it again, right?

Note: I use the Free version of WordPress, so I can’t really alter HTML and stuff at will. While I did attempt to place the above widget in my sidebar, it did come out a little weird. So I just stored it as a link under my “Links” page, so named, “Work-in-Progress”.

Weekend Missions: 2011 – The Year of the Memes

Saying the phrase, “Time flies” really does not even begin to describe how quickly 2011 just went past. Even Sarah, known for her unique logic, made perfect sense when she said, “I get confused, is this 2010 or 2011? I can’t really tell.”

My only conclusion for 2011 moving so quickly?: The fact that it was filled with countless events and happenings that just made the entire year seem like a day. No kidding – it was really like yesterday when I recalled going to the Via Ferrata in the January of 2010.

Many people would say that 2011 was the year of many great events – regardless of joyful or tragic events. Personally, I think it would be more suitable if I were to just stick to what I called it in front of the Valkyrie Knights – The Year of the Memes.

Now, I’m not going to bore everyone with something they already know – like the Orchard Road flood memes, the broken SMRT train window memes, or any election memes. What I’m looking at are the memes that the Adventure Crew/ Valkyrie Knights have come up with – and still use because of its… “special meaning”. So here you go, the Top 5 Memes from the Valkyrie Knights to you.

Let’s get to it then, shall we?

Meme #5: “The Monix Harpies”

Every year since 2010, we wrote a story called “The Mystical Adventures of Kara Soulheart” during the NaNoWriMo month. Being the ultimate Mary-Sue story, it’s largely based on our adventures and lives, only that it’s placed in a mystical land where everything went according to “Sarah Logic”. The Monix Harpies came as a tribute to Harmonix, creator of one of our favourite games, the Dance Central series.

In the story, the Monix Harpies are harpies who basically dance to Dance Central music, with everyone having this coloured bubble around them to rate how they were doing. “Inspired” by this name, Sarah then said, “If we enter a Dance Central competition, we’ll be called the Monix Harpies.”

Meme #4: “I’m spreading my hotness everywhere.”

 

Lab Tech, Lab I/C, Street Detective, Chief, Psychologist, Legal Counsel. HEHE. Photo Courtesy of Sarah Coldheart.

January 2011, after visiting the utterly tragic exhibition of Life in Pompeii (National Museum of Singapore), we headed to “The CSI: Experience” at the Science Centre. Apart from going through a simulated case in all its forensic glory, we also had the opportunity to toy with tools and techniques officers used in forensics – like the body thermal scanner.

Yes, we spent a while in front of the scanner, watching Sarah as she spread her fingers on the clipboards we used through the CSI experience, leaving red traces on the plastic – and according to her, traces of “hotness”.

Meme #3: “You mean all this while, I’M MARRIED?!”

This was the running joke for a good half of the year, mostly because Sarah said she did not want to marry – she just wanted to wake up one day and think, “I’M MARRIED?!” Yeah, something like that.

So this became promoted to the status of “insider meme” from “running joke” after Sarah got her grant letter. Apparently it was addressed to “Ms. Sarah” at the top where the recipient’s address was, but then it started the letter with “Dear Mrs. Sarah”. A typo, but you get the drift. HAH.

Meme #2: StalkerPorsche

This meme is for June a.k.a. MizHalle. For her love of cars and Sarah’s insistence that she saw an orange car instead of a red one on display (at SOTA) “because of the light”. Very simple story – after settling into her new workplace, June realised that there was this same Porsche, a white one, permanently parked at the car park of her workplace. It’s there when she arrives at work, it’s there when she leaves work. Thus, we came up with the term, “StalkerPorsche” for it.

Meme #1: BACKPFEIFENGESICHT

Let me state for the record that our top memes seem to be German, though it’s through no one’s fault (Sarah). Last year was Wo ist mein BH?, which translates to Where is my Bra? This year, however, had a little twist.

Upon noticing the StalkerPorsche’s annoying presence and car countenance, June consulted Sarah on the German equivalent to a typical Singaporean-Hokkien term – Kiampah face. Literally translated, it means slappable face. Sarah’s answer to that? Backpfeifengesicht. And no, don’t go round trying to Google Translate it, it comes out as back whistling face. We checked it with a German, it’s legit.

So there you have our Top 5 Memes in the Year of the Memes! May 2012 bring new adventures and a smooth crossing to 2013!

 

2011 closes, 2012 beckons.

So a year has passed and everyone’s scrambling to usher in the New one. I’d say 2011, like many other years, is a year to be grateful for. But to leave this year in a more light-hearted way, I did tell the girls – This year is the year of the memes. But as a new year starts, a new journey beckons. Here’s just something I thought I could have and share:

Day #31 of 1000 Days: The Month in Review

Read Book this month: The Proper Care of Foxes (Wena Poon)
Progress on work: Prologue and Part One (Chapters 1-7) for Watered Down

Goals for 2012

• Lose Weight (Isn’t it always the case?)
• Go to at least 1 literary event a month
• Read at least 1 book a month (from the reading list)
• Finished “Watered Down” and at least the first draft of an anthology
• Go to at least 1 of these places w/ friends: Adelaide, HK Disneyland, Malacca
• Gain deeper faith in the religion that chose me.
• Finish at least half of Project: Write It!
• Learn at least 2 of these things: Latin Jazz dance, Wing Chun, MMA, Cello, Jewellery Making
  

Just to keep track and have a direction for the new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Merry Christmas from Joelyn Alexandra to you =)

Just something for the holidays, a snippet of one of our festive adventures:

Us in the Hunger Games Christmas Snow Globe! Also another sign that I should be getting a digicam.

MERRY CHRISTMAS
HAPPY HANUKKAH
HAPPY KWANZAA

“May the coming year be better than the next. And may all of you find what you love, who you love, and have the drive to see things through.”

Thank you all for reading this blog!

Eternal Sights of the Spotted Kind: Traditional Publishing vs e-Books

This debate has been done and redone and done all over again, but with camps insisting on their end of the balance, I’m just going to put my two cents in (one cent in both) and walk off. Let us start by looking at the points of both traditional and electronic publishing, shall we?

Form

• There is a physical form to the book. You can flip through the pages, peruse the words, browse through it, admire and play with the cover, and go to a physical bookstore to purchase them.
• Electronic form usually saved in a device (laptop, Kindle, iPad etc…). Space is not an issue here and you can always update your editions without worry of what to do with the older version.

Price

• Depending on the bookstore, they can be quite pricey, ranging from $15 to $30 for fiction novels.
• Cost of downloading the eBook itself is not high. Most fiction eBooks do not go beyond $20.

Indulge Factor

• Opportunity to indulge in immersing yourself in the bookstore scene with your nose in a book.
• The indulge factor here is highly dependent on the individual. Some find it more immersive and spot the opportunities to be more interactive in e-Books.

Collector’s Value

• Certain level of satisfaction if you manage to collect a series of a certain cover design or edition.
• Because e-Books can be downloaded with different editions, you may acquire collections faster, albeit only of the digital kind (galleries?).

Reading Value

• Counting on the world’s most powerful graphic card – Imagination. But it also lets you watch as the characters slowly unfurl and grow at your own pace. For some, flipping the pages is part of the reading experience.
•  e-Books do not have the physical pleasures of the pages, the smell, and any design elements to the book itself. However, this can raise opportunities for more interaction and/or focused reading in an e-Book.

In a very practical sense, e-Books just seem like that something that will just wipe out the entire generation of the analog book. Strangely, that’s what they said about television and radio as well.

I’m not here to take a side. In fact, if I may digress a little, I’m convinced that one day, I’m going to be trampled by either an apologist or a militant (or both) because I don’t incline to any side totally. I’m just here to offer my views on either side of the coin.

As you can see, both traditional and electronic publishing have their demerits and their opportunities, most of which dependent on the reader. You will have the reader who wants all his/ her favourite books in one single device because they don’t have space to spare, and you will have the reader who wants to sniff the pages. Either way, I find that people arguing on both sides seem to paint the picture that the particular audience on their side of the argument seems to outweigh the other side dramatically.

I have no idea on statistics and the amount of people who want their books in a device or the number of people who want to stick their noses into paper. What I’m saying is this – traditional or electronic, writers are using either to get their stories out.

So in my opinion, neither of them are nor should be dying. Instead of fighting over which triumphs over the other, perhaps what they need is a perception change.

For example for electronic publishing: Interactive e-Novels? Links to references? Collaborative works?

What about traditional publishing?: Collectors’ Covers? Book Art? Book Doctors?

As with any suggestion, these things will take resources. If you’d ask me though, I’d say no guts, no glory. Why not? Go for it, things can be worked out on the way, that’s how you grow right?

Weekend Missions: A Walk to the Past

And the adventures are back again!

Okay, just a snippet of it mostly because of the revamp (in stages. VERY slow stages.) of this site is still on the way.

*

Heritage Along Footpaths

Welcome to Heritage along Footpaths

It actually started last week but due to TGIO and the launch of The Steampowered Globe, we only managed to get to this interesting stop last week.

So what the whole thing really was is this walkway studded with items of Singapore’s past – cue street side barbers, fortune tellers (different types), cobblers, and the various snacks that the children used to love back in the day. The best thing about this whole set up? The prices remained as they were back in the past – the most “expensive” things were the haircut and fortune telling, 50 cents each.

Note: Let me state for the record that whatever’s being said from this point onwards may appear to be incredibly crude. As it was as it was said at the scene itself.

Since it was incredibly sunny and hot that day (we arrived about midday), the first thing the girls (Avarielle, Mintea, Raven, and Sarah) went for were the Ice Balls – 20 cents each. For those who aren’t sure what Ice Balls are, they were shaved ice, shaped into a ball, and slathered with sweet syrup (fizzy sometimes) and condensed milk.

The guys making the Balls for us.

Kacang Puteh guy - Kacang Puteh vaguely means mixed nuts, for those who do not know.

I didn’t get one because of my sensitive teeth and the prospect of getting sticky fingers. HAHA. Plus, I could never finish one on my own. I told the girls that I’ll nip from their Ice Balls instead. I got kacang puteh for 20 cents a stick instead.

Avarielle's Ice Ball. I nipped off Mintea's and Avarielle's. HEE.

My Muruku - Like Indian Crackers. I'm allergic to nuts so yeah.

So after the street snacks, Mintea, Raven, and Sarah went to get their fortunes told. The Chinese Fortune Teller had a long queue – kinda figures, it’s popular even up to now. Raven and Sarah went for a Japanese Fortune Telling session during AFA (Anime Festival Asia) so they thought they’ll just try something different this time.

Raven getting her fortune told by parakeet and teller.

Sarah had a very… interesting fortune. Apparently none of the Adventure Crew girls are going to let it go so it may just seep into future posts. (HAR HAR SARAH).

So there you have it! Wasn’t a very long adventure but we did have fun. I would think that most of the fun from this simple but interesting row of shops was through the reminiscing that people would have when they get an Ice Ball or a hair cut from a street side barber like they did before.

It’s like my grandparents talking to me about their experiences in the past when you ask about things like wood stoves, opium, and street side char kway teow (fried, flat noodles).

Thanks to the National Heritage Board (NHB) and Singapore Art Museum (SAM) for the great experience!