Why Cooking is the Perfect Writing Companion

Stephanie Sowden, debut After Everything You Did from Canelo Crime 9th April 2022

I was in the midst of dicing a three-kilo sack of onions when my main character popped up and told me how to solve a particularly niggling plot hole that had been driving me crazy.  I dropped my knife, opened the Notes app on my phone and tapped in the solution.  Later, on a quick break, I nursed a flat white while furiously typing an email to myself with the key scene I needed to get my work in progress back on track.  This is how the majority of progress is made in my writing – via hurried notes tapped into a sticky phone that’s survived more spillages than it has any right to.  That, or scribbled paragraphs on torn out sheets of paper from the back of my kitchen notebook – pages crinkled with oil splatters and smeared with indecipherable stains.

For context, perhaps I should explain – for my day job I’m a chef.  I was (up until recently when Covid-19 took its final swing) running my own catering business, and for nine years before that working my way through cafes, restaurants, bakeries and street food stalls.  And I’ve found that switched off from my laptop, with nothing but aching feet and a full line of checks to concentrate on, is usually when my characters start chatting to me.  Working the odd hours of hospitality can be a God send for focusing on writing – I’m usually off mid-week and in the middle of the day when everyone else is either pulling a different shift pattern or holed up in the office.  But when I’m struggling with a plot hole or character arc, I’ve learnt to take a step away from the computer and let the book just breathe.  I’ve learnt the wonder of just allowing my brain to tick it over in the background and feel very lucky that my job allows me the space to do this.  My debut was written primarily over lockdown when I wasn’t working, but whenever I got stuck, I would push back my desk chair, head into the kitchen and warn my boyfriend he was about to have a dinner big enough for fifteen. 

Photo by Jack Kirwin -JK Photography-

I write my menus in the same way I write my books – bringing together elements I love into something new and exciting.  Pairing this chicken with that sauce and those potatoes – matches how I pick and choose inspiration from settings I’ve researched, true crime cases I’ve heard about and characters I’ve developed.  There are failures in both (and believe me when I say I have missed the mark on many a dish and many a manuscript) but when you get it right it feels like magic.  Both offer me a creative outlet and the freedom to make mistakes and learn the different tweaks that might just lead to success.

Even if you find cooking a chore – sometimes taking a break and doing a chore can be just what your work in progress needs.  A meditative break to do something with your hands so you can come back fresh and ready to hit that word count again.  Ordinarily I’m a bit of a ‘plantster’ when it comes to writing – I usually have a general idea of where we’re going, but let my characters make their own way there.  But for my latest WIP I’ve turned to the plotting side and found the same techniques useful even when just writing my outline and chapter breakdown.  So, if you’re struggling on with trying to grind your words out onto the page, maybe try stepping into the kitchen for a quick half-hour break – I’ve put my super easy brownie recipe (adapted from a Nigella recipe to make the end result even fudgier) at the end if you need some inspiration. The bonus is of course writing fuel to keep you going for the next few days!

Super easy chocolate brownies

(Fits a standard size brownie tray around 26.5 x 24.5cm)

330 dark chocolate

330 butter

300 caster sugar

Good pinch of sea salt

4 eggs

150 ground almonds

• 

  Photo by Jack Kirwin -JK Photography-

  Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a hot pan of water

• In a separate bowl whisk together the sugar and eggs until it’s pale and thick (this is what will give your brownies that nice flaky layer on top)
• Carefully fold the chocolate and butter mixture into the eggs (don’t beat it or else you’ll get kill of all your nice aeration from the whisking!)
• Once combined, add your sea salt and fold through the ground almonds.
• Pour into your lined tray and bake for 22-25minutes on 180C.  You want to take it out when there’s still a little wobble in the middle.  Leave to cool to room temperature and then chill in the fridge for at least two hours before cutting.
• Take back to desk and enjoy a fresh writing session with chocolate and a brew!

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Stephanie Sowden grew up in Manchester and studied History and Politics at Durham University. After a brief foray into magazine journalism, she retrained in another love of hers – food – and now runs her own catering company. Stephanie took part in Curtis Brown Creative’s selective novel writing course, during which she completed her debut novel, After Everything You Did. She lives in South Manchester with her partner, Dave, and their little mad staffy, Butter.

Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/Stephsowden_

AFTER EVERYTHING YOU DID

It ends with a car crash. Two women, both maimed, their long blonde hair matted with blood.
It begins with waking up, in an unfamiliar hospital bed. Bright lights, nurses – and handcuffs.

She is told her name is Reeta Doe, and that she’s been in an accident. That she’s in Florida. That the FBI have been following her since Mississippi. That she has brutally murdered two women. College girls, who look just like her. Two more are missing, and one survived.

Reeta recalls nothing. She cannot answer the questions; all the things they want her to explain are no more familiar to her than the prison she is taken to. Her only hope is a journalist named Carol, who can follow the trail of devastation Reeta left in her wake.

All the way back to Pine Ranch, and the only family she ever knew.

An astonishing debut crime novel, exploring identity and nature versus nurture, with an unforgettable character at its heart. Perfect for fans of Girl A and The Girls.

Buy here