Imagine that you are writing to a reader who has not yet been born. Perhaps you're writing to your own grandchild or great-grandchild. Or maybe you're writing to someone whom you don't know at all. What would you say?Here are a few of my favourites from this year's Writers' Club. There are many, many more!I do believe that a good book can change a life. Perhaps even yours Read if you like, but I'm sure both my GOGGLERS know the whole story by reading it many times. If you really want to find out what GOGGLER means, find other mysteries. How exciting it is to have a dog, but how hard it is to name it (him)! You would probably have shifted to Mars by now. I truly love to read Harry Potter and would totally recommend them to you (if at all they are found in Mars) Think before you read this book. You can roll down the chair with laughter!Also, many made lists of … [Read more...]
Writers’ Club 2018-19
The Writers' Club at St. Mary's School is now in its fourth year!We started so that we could commemorate the sesquicentennial year with a collection of work put together by the children, but then just carried on from there.Today, we discovered how we have stories within us, just waiting to be told. This is an activity I love to conduct with children and parents. I divide the children into pairs and each one narrates an anecdote to her partner. Never do I have more than ten seconds of silence - everyone has a story to tell. What comes after that is even more fun, where you pretend the story you just heard happened to someone else in the room ... We began our year with laughter; I hope to keep it going!In the first year, we had a collection of stories and poems published - Flickering Flames. In the second year, we were somehow too busy with a writing competition to … [Read more...]
A Wonderful Month
Every so often, I think about doing a monthly round-up of workshops I've conducted and books I've read. And then I think, maybe next month. But the month that went by was just so full of wonderful things that I want very much to share everything that happened and everything that's coming up!Last month, I was invited to a teachers' conference in Bengaluru. It was one of the most heart-warming events I conducted. I shared a few pictures already, but what made it special was how involved the teachers were. I conducted two sessions - one on reading and one on writing, and both were lovely!Then came the sessions I look forward to each month - my workshops at Just Books Baner. During the last session, we worked on magical stories, and played with lovely new ideas. Then came workshops with teachers at Universal High Malad, Sanjay Ghodawat International School (Kolhapur), … [Read more...]
Meet the Monsters!
The huge, purple monster is on the loose! It has 12 arms, 12 legs, one eye, one horn, two mouths and 43 teeth, and it's going to take over the town. It eats 12 people every day: it ate my neighbour and my children; it even destroyed a nearby building! It stinks to high heavens, and people are trying to kill it with fire. So far, they have been unsuccessful because after all, what can kill a monster who is so enormous that even an elephant is like a rat to it?Meet the Crushing Monster - this one can be destroyed by just one person in the world, a young boy named Krishant.Meet the Destroying Monster. Vikas and his younger brother Vishnu are going to kill this one!Meet Mono. Vishnu and his friends will triumph over this one.And finally, meet Tide. We don't know yet whether this monster can be destroyed at all!What fun the workshop at BookMark Coimbatore … [Read more...]
Young Writers’ Club – Mystery Stories
A priceless necklace has been stolen from a museum and you are one of the suspects. How can you convince the jury that you're innocent?"I was on a plane to Kashmir," said one girl. "I can show you the ticket!" A little later, she added, "And I even have a photo that the air hostess took to prove that I was there!" And immediately, the cross-questioning began. "Why did she want to prove you were there? What air hostess takes a photo of the passengers? It looks like you're trying too hard to prove you were somewhere else! You're involved in the theft in some way!"And so, we examined how we can create characters that convince readers that they're innocent. At what point does an alibi begin to sound like the character is needlessly justifying herself? Also, how can you leave clues but still surprise the reader at the end?The children at the Young Writers' Club at Just Books … [Read more...]
Workshop for Women’s Day
Yes, I was a bit sceptical about doing a workshop for children to mark International Women's Day. What would I do? How much would I say? How would I even begin to talk about the inequality we see around us every day without even noticing it?Talking about equal pay means nothing to these children. Pay is something far, far in the future. Unequal opportunities and conditioning do not ring true to them. Believe me, I've tried. Most are too idealistic to think that these could be true - and perhaps that's a good thing.So, I began with home.How many of you have mothers who work outside home? Six out of seven.Who cooks at home? Two children said both their parents do. The others, you know the answer.Laundry? Three said both parents. Then, as an afterthought, another agreed.Who buys groceries? Both parents.Who does 'extra' cleaning - windows, dusting, cobwebs … [Read more...]
Writers’ Club – Another Year Ends
The Writers' Club at St. Mary's School has been running for three years now! The third year ended on a high, with children (and me on the inside) running, shouting and celebrating. All through the year, we played games around writing, kept inspiring one another, wrote and rewrote - and this was the result.In 2016, the children had their work published in a collection called Flickering Flames. This year, a fourth standard child suggested the title that we finally chose - The Book that Speaks.To add to the excitement, the children took part in a competition that was judged by two ex-students of the Writers' Club, and we announced the results during the last session. Here's the winner of the first prize.Thanks to all the poetry we read together, many children played with style and form. Here's a poem that received a special mention from the judges.The … [Read more...]
The Joys of Conducting Workshops
There are so many things I love about conducting workshops! I just finished a five-day creative writing workshop at Baner, and it was, as always, good fun. We began with limericks, which are always exciting. Sometimes, they're funny; sometimes, just fun. Here are a few the children came up with during the session.Day two introduced the children to the wonderful Shel Silverstein. Every time I introduce his poetry to children, I fall in love with it all over again! I used his poetry workshop kit, and here's an epigram that one of the children wrote.And that leads me to what always makes me laugh with delight during each writing workshop I conduct - imaginative spelling! Here's some more:Surprises. Workshops are full of surprises. This creative writing workshop led me to a comic inspired by Monty Python!And the sense of satisfaction at the end when you realise that ten hours … [Read more...]
Children’s Day at the Writers’ Club – Who Am I?
“I know that,” I said, irritably. “But that’s no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumours.” I threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore, hoping he was going to tell me something, but he didn’t, so I went on. “A fine thing it would be if, on the very day YouKnow-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?” Who am I?I live in Oxford College in Jordan. My Uncle Asriel is researching something called Dust. There are evil people in my world, people who snatch children and cut them away from their daemons. I'm going to find out who they are. Who am I?I followed a rabbit down a hole because I was curious to know what I would find. Who am I?I live with my parents and my brother. My favourite … [Read more...]
Fortunately-Unfortunately
Option 1 "I am going to meet a monster today." "Fortunately, it doesn't bite." "Unfortunately, that means it will just gobble you up."Option 2 "I jumped into the swimming-pool today." "Fortunately, the pool was heated." "Unfortunately, I cannot swim." "Fortunately, it was not deep."Which beginning do you find more entertaining? I was very surprised to find that many, many girls at the Writers' Club find the second story more promising. I would choose the first, any day.How does this activity work? It's a hugely entertaining one, which I learned from the book Creating Stories with Children by Andrew Wright. Someone begins the story, and then each of the other participants must contribute one sentence, alternating between beginning with 'Fortunately' and 'Unfortunately'. It helps to introduce the idea of plotting and the wonder of surprising the reader. … [Read more...]