Perhaps it was the right to time to reread this book and realise that Roald Dahl, genius beyond compare, never intended to be a writer. In the last-but-one story, he talks about how he happened to get a lucky break and things did not stop after that. He also writes about a little notebook in which he jots down ideas as they occur to him. The most wonderful stories of all time, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar come from a maximum of three sentences.Roald Dahl, Roald Dahl. Will I ever be able to write an endless short story, with a story within the story, and a beautiful non-preachy moral - without losing the interest of the reader? Will I ever be able to build atmosphere as effortlessly as you do time and time again? Will I ever be able to write crazy stories that take not only imagination but also boundless courage?Perhaps it helps … [Read more...]
Toto Funds the Arts 2014
I wrote about having been long-listed for the Toto awards three years in a row, without being shortlisted even once - it's time to try again!I know there are several young writers who read my blog, writers who don't quite know how and where to begin. A competition is sometimes the best place. I know that's where I made my beginning!So, anything I write for will now find a way into my blog. Why not? … [Read more...]
Stories on a Postcard Challenge
I found this such a charming idea that I felt compelled to share it!I have so many memories of postcards! My father used to send postcards like this to me when I was on vacation in Bangalore with my grandparents. Somehow, I remember one postcard very clearly.'Did you hear the one about the two holes in the ground? Well, well.'I remember finding it inordinately funny. I still have the postcard!Needless to say, I will take part in this! … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday, Harry Potter
How can I let this day go by without wishing one of my favourite fictional characters of all time?I don't have the books in front of me, but phrases flash through my mind - 'emotional range of a teaspoon' 'Gred and Forge'I can see Harry at school, praying not to get to into Slytherin. I can see him thinking about what 'Wood' Prof McGonagall could mean. I can see the glint in his eyes when he thinks of the fact that the Dursleys don't know that he is not permitted to use magic at home. Ah, Harry, Harry.My friends know how fond I am of writing letters to them on their birthdays.This is, perhaps, my letter (though in peculiar third-person) to Harry.Happy birthday.Love, Varsha (A writer who loves to think of fictional characters as real people) … [Read more...]
Hyperbole and a Half
LOOK AT MY BOOK. LOOK AT IT. IT IS VERY NICE. I AM VERY IMPORTANT.15 July 2013 at 07:30 I have been told that I need to promote my book so that people will know it exists and maybe some of them will pre-order it. My first inclination was to accomplish this by sitting in my house and wishing really hard, but I'm almost positive that wishing isn't an effective promotional technique. Unfortunately, neither is "pretending I didn't write a book so that I don't have to promote it," "hoping for the best," and "waiting for everyone to accidentally discover my book on their own." So here we are.With a beginning like this, how could I not read further?http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ … [Read more...]
Blue Shoes and Happiness
A colleague of mine saw me reading the book and commented on how it looked like a children's book.Many people don't know yet that I spend more time reading children's books than anything else - and am not ashamed of it.This one was delightful, as Alexander McCall Smith usually is. It's the kind of book you can read slowly, knowing that it will not run away. You know that you won't forget crucial details that contribute to the plot. You know that the focus of the story is not the plot, but life itself. You know that ideas and thoughts will un-self-consciously find their way into description and dialogue. The name itself brings that sweet smile and says, "Hey, that's a book I want to read!"I took my own time to read it, chuckling at traditionally-built women, women who dream about shoes and men who dream about cars and garages. I remembered, once again, the fact that cliches are … [Read more...]
Unit Plans
There's nothing, absolutely nothing, like teaching. You can be so joyously idealistic in everything you choose to teach!Planning my units on narrative and imaginative writing, and descriptive writing was almost as inspiring as writing itself. Well, not really, but you know...I made a whole plan on how to introduce the idea of story-writing. The effective opening. The appropriate ending. Dialogue, atmosphere, character, setting. For each, I mentioned resource material that I will use in class - pieces of music, video clips, extracts from stories and plays... Even pieces of cloth and chocolate. Because inspiration truly comes from anywhere. (And I'm not just being mean to students who have no desire to write - it's part of their course to explore abstract inspiration!) I planned classroom activities - group activities where the students begin with the same sentences and seek to explore … [Read more...]
Sylvie and the Songman
What a crazy book.And that's a compliment.There were parts of the book that I read only because I wanted to finish the book. I pushed myself to read, page after page, completing each chapter before putting the book down. So I simply can't give it those overused compliments - 'page-turner' and 'unputdownable'.When imagination is truly beautiful, there's such a strong semblance to life that there's no need to understand each detail. The world is like that. There are so many questions that we ignore. We don't feel the need to answer or even understand the questions. Why do fiction writers so often feel the need to explain everything?Sylvie and the Songman made me think. I did not need to understand everything. I needed to accept and marvel. The ideas were magnificent. The concept of music was thrilling, frightening, enlivening.And like all good books, it made me ask why we create. … [Read more...]
Butterscotch’s Washing-Machine
Ought I to be embarrassed by this one? It was written two days after my tenth birthday, when I was eager to show off newly acquired vocabulary and paragraphing abilities.Butterscotch was a brownie. He lived in India. You may not believe it, but he was tinier than a wild daisy!Butterscotch was very kind. He had a wonderful washing-machine. He not only washed his clothes, he washed all the other brownies'clothes. He charged only Re.1. The washing-machine was as big as a real one, so he could not hide it anywhere.Now in a nearby village lived human beings, Sarah's mother, father, Sarah and brother had a small house in Cherry Town, the village. Now Sarah was very poor. She did not have any toys. Her mother found it difficult to wash, for they didn't have a washing-machine. They used solar things. Sarah's neighbours were very rich, but they were misers and refused to help Sarah. Sarah … [Read more...]
Reading Stories
I was asked to read and assess stories written by Grades III and IV. What a joy that was! Of course, I had students who wrote for me the story of The Life of Pi or other movies they've watched. In fact, I felt rather bad for one of the children who wrote about that movie - the movie evidently made no sense to him! He wrote about how a tiger and boy decided to run away from a zoo. I wonder, was that his attempt at imagination?My favourite story went something like this. I wish I could have copied it, mistakes and all, but I did not think of it. I particularly noted, though, how direct speech seemed to have no punctuation at all. I wonder why.Once upon a time there was a boy. His name was Bingo. Bingo was always thinking about chocolate Taj Mahal. One day, there was another boy. His name was Krishna. He lost his ball. He was crying. Bingo saw Krishna and asked "what's your name why are … [Read more...]