In just a few weeks, yet another writing programme will come to an end! Yesterday was the third and last guest session of the season–a creative writing workshop with children’s book author Sowmya Rajendran.
I love it when guests reinforce something I’ve been talking about for a while. During yesterday’s session, it was ‘write what you know’. Of course, I do give children the opposite advice too–write what you don’t know–but the point, for me, is to bring stories into familiar contexts.
When Sowmya told us about how her book Mayil Will Not Be Quiet was born, she stressed that she and her co-author Niveditha Subramaniam wanted to write a book about being a child in India. What is it like to go to an Indian school? What sort of conversations do we have at home? This idea is well worth repeating, especially as most children continue to write stories about Michael and Felicity, who live in Massachusetts (which, of course, many cannot spell)!
Sowmya spoke about the importance of an authentic voice because finally, it’s the voice that will keep the reader invested in the story. Step by step, she led us through the process of making the diarist’s voice feel real. For one, we must have a clear idea of the character. For another, we need to look at the character’s social circle because naturally, a diary would be full of stories about people around this character.
From character and form to little quirks and doodles, Sowmya helped us make our epistolary story believable. It’s with conflict that a story really becomes a story, and that’s what we explored through yet another writing activity.
Just like that, we’ve had three rewarding guest sessions, creative thinking, and a lot of writing. The last writing programmes of the year with fourteen young writers are racing to an end!
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