Each morning, among the first things I do is visit my creative writing forum. I love it. I love that every day, there are new pieces to read, all shared by young writers who are part of my online creative writing programme. I've done four sessions with one batch and three with another; it's time to bring a little more excitement in - a guest session! I spoke to author Nalini Sorensen, and we finalized things super quickly. I'm delighted to announce a one-hour writing workshop with this warm, lively, award-winning writer. While the event is free for those who have enrolled for my online programme, it's open to non-participants too, on payment of a registration fee. Edit: This event was held on the 19th of November. Look out for all workshop announcements on my blog, or on social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). To receive information about my reading and writing programmes … [Read more...]
How to Write a Limerick
What is a limerick? A limerick is a (usually humorous) five-line poem with a strict AABBA rhyme scheme. It's fun to write and, usually, fun to read. I've always loved limericks by Edward Lear, and over the past few years, I've read many, many more. Do you remember the nursery rhyme 'Hickory Dickory Dock'? That was probably the first limerick most of us learned! Why should I write a limerick? While I can't give you an answer to that, I can tell you why I work with limericks so often at creative writing workshops I conduct. Limericks are fun.Limericks are funny.Limericks have a definite structure, which forces us to pay attention to both rhyme and meter. Read more about that here.Limericks are short, with no room to wax lyrical. What do I need to know about limericks? The best way to understand the form of a limerick is to read dozens - or hundreds - of limericks for … [Read more...]
Creative Writing with Children
Every time I work with children on creative writing, I realise why I enjoy it so much. Each interaction is full of laughter, fun, and most joyous of all--moments when children finally understand something and it shows on their faces. I'm still elated after yesterday's online creative writing session! Since I launched the programme on the 5th of October, I've had a regular routine. Early in the morning, I log on to my forum. What will I find? Which of the writers would have contributed something delightful? One morning, I discovered a letter to be placed in a high technology envelope that could be opened and closed with a button. Another morning, I discovered a list of words that one of the young writers loves - goofy, amazing, surprise ... And soon, I will find a set of limericks. I can't wait to read them! Yesterday, as usual, my session was full of all kinds of activities. I … [Read more...]
Online Creative Writing Programme (ages 9 to 11)
Please note that registrations are now closed for this batch. To find out about the next batch for this age-group, please fill this form, or follow me on my social media handles - Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Outline Different kinds of poetryMaking a story engagingCreating believable charactersWorking with plot and settingGenreStructureDialogue writingEditing and publishing Details Age-group: 9-11 years Start Date: 5th October 2020 End Date: 28th December 2020 Online Interactions will be held every Monday from 4 pm to 5pm. Please note that Monday the 16th of November will be a holiday for Diwali. Fee: ₹15,000 per participant (payable via UPI to seshanvarsha@okhdfcbank or bank transfer. International payments may be made via PayPal to seshanvarsha@gmail.com) This includes 12 online interactions, access to a private forum to share … [Read more...]
Online Creative Writing Programme (ages 12 to 14)
Please note that registrations are now closed for this batch. To find out about the next batch for this age-group, please fill this form, or follow me on my social media handles - Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. “I’ve written five poems. Will you read them?” “I’ve written three stories. How can I get them published?” “What is self-publishing?” "How can I have my book sold at Crossword?" This 12-week creative writing programme seeks to answer all these questions and more. It will guide children through their creative journeys. Participants will explore a range of literature to hone their writing skills, working towards finding a unique voice and an engaging storytelling style. Outline Different kinds of literature Poetry, prose and drama A short history of English literature Writing what you know Writer's discipline Copyright and intellectual property Heroes and … [Read more...]
The Chat Box
I love virtual school visits. I enjoy talking to children about my books, encouraging them to explore reading and writing, and taking them through my journey as a writer. Visiting schools virtually was such a novel experience that I wrote an essay for The Curious Reader about it. But of course, as virtual visits go on, more stories are created. That's the fun of working with children, isn't it? Recently, I did a session with a group of about 200 children. I know from experience that it's important to lay down the rules at the outset, and one of the rules is no mics. If 200 children switch on their mics, there's utter mayhem. Most children are now used to the idea, but at this school, the session was rather chaotic to begin with. In the beginning, before the session began, I did answer a few questions out of turn but as more and more participants joined in, I shook my head and kept … [Read more...]
The Writers’ Club 2019-20
I can't quite believe it's been five years with the Writers' Club at St. Mary's School. I remember we had a maths teacher in class V who had been teaching there for FOUR YEARS. And I thought that it was pretty much forever. I'm there now. My first batch was created for the sesquicentennial celebrations, and it led to the publication of Flickering Flames. In the second year, we put together a book of our own, handmade, and we called it The Book that Speaks. And in the following three years, I held a writing competition, with the results being announced during the very last session. Last year, I also invited a special guest to give away the prizes - and what fun that was. This year, my batch was particularly enthusiastic and we had not one but two parties - one for Christmas and one yesterday for our very last session. I love how excited all the girls are about the competition … [Read more...]
World Read Aloud Day 2020
Five days late, but why can't every day be read aloud day? I happened to have a session with my Writers' Club on World Read Aloud Day, so each of the girls chose something to read. It was delightful! Above all, I was struck by how well most of them read, without burying their faces in their books and without too much stuttering and stumbling. That is privilege, isn't it? That level of fluency? Also, this time, I loved that nearly all of them chose their pieces well. While last year, I had children struggling to read an abridged version of King Lear aloud, fumbling with names like Cordelia and Goneril, this time, I found that their choices were, on the whole, quite good! Some read easy poetry; I had a couple of stories about Akbar and Birbal, and we had excerpts from Nancy Drew and Enid Blyton. I have written earlier about why children choose texts that are too difficult for them; … [Read more...]
A Theme-Based Reading Programme
A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post for StoryWeaver about a training programme I have been conducting for the last three years for librarians in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, and the ways in which I use StoryWeaver and Pratham Books for the reading programme they implement in schools. I have grown so much through the workshops I purportedly conduct! Working with a range of librarians with limited resources has been an eye-opening experience for me, an experience that I treasure. Each year, I tweak the programme slightly, trying to make it more accessible to every level of learner and easier to implement. This year, I continued with a theme-based approach, but I chose themes that were clearly linked with the needs of reluctant readers. How delighted I was when I learned about how the librarians took the ideas to their schools! Linking the reading theme with the overall … [Read more...]
Dear Fictional Character
Yesterday, to round off our letter-writing activity, we wrote two more letters. One began with 'Dear Reader', and this is an activity I've done more times than I can count. I tweaked it slightly this time because of the idea of posting their letters to them. Instead of telling them that what they wrote would go into books in the library, I told them their letters would go in the mail to someone else in the room. They enjoyed it tremendously! (Here is an explanation of the activity, plus a link to a video you could use.) The second was a letter to a fictional character. I asked the children to choose any fictional character they love, and write a letter, sharing whatever they liked with that character. Among all the letters to Hermione Granger, Tom Gates, Silky (Faraway Tree) et al, here's one letter I found: I couldn't stop chuckling at this! Of course, I'm thrilled … [Read more...]
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