Fired up by writing a story

 For about 150 students from over 100 DHiE schools in the City, it was fun to step into a world of story writing at the Army Public School on August 9. ‘Juniors’ and ‘seniors’ turned into serious writers for 90 minutes at the short story writing competition organised by Deccan Herald in Education (DHiE).

Young fans of JK Rowling, Ruskin Bond, Enid Blyton, Abdul Kalam, Roald Dahl, and as one boy said, the ‘classics’, wrote their own imaginative stories on the spot, to topics like ‘Bring back an extinct species’, ‘Have a cosmic breakfast’,  ‘a message in a bottle gives you the goosebumps’, ‘Robot surgeon’ etc. Bookworms all, some drew inspiration from great writers for their own stories. They enjoyed the process of plotting a story and shaping its characters.

“This is a great experience, to be creative, to be a writer for a day,” a participant said. The ‘I’ element was strong. Some included their classmates, friends and parents in their stories. Aditi Kumar, a Class X student, who likes to write and wants to be a journalist, chose ‘Walking down a street, you see smoke percolating through the window of a building and hear the faint strumming of a guitar.’ She chases adventure in her story on the IIT Madras campus.

Archith said the contest “helps a student hone the competitive edge, and more importantly, turn them into writers”. For Devansh, the moral in stories is interesting. The inspiration for his story, ‘Message in a bottle’, came from a movie, he said. Gowthami, a Class X student, enjoys writing and never fails to show up at such contests.

‘I was the main character in my do-or-die story. I have a moral in my story – Do your best, never give up.’ Anshal Kumar of RMS, who likes science and technology, chose ‘Robot surgeon’. He dreams of joining the airforce to ‘protect the country’. The topics were the trigger to be imaginative, besides the variety and scope, nearly all of them said.

“The topics freed me, allowed me to wander around and find my own story,’ a student said. The consensus was that ‘creativity, improving vocabulary and writing skills – and – enjoyment,’ were the benefits of the contest. The approach to writing varied. Some pored over the plot, others allowed their characters to call the shots.

Niharika Saha said,  “I was writing my characters too shaped up, my story got fleshed out. I’m in that story, so are my classmates. There’s something wrong with me and them. Then there’s a face-off between me and them. But we resolve it in the end.” 

Syed Junaid underscored concern for others in his tale. “Concern is important – this attitude helps to create a better society.” Ajit became a girl in his fantasy. Ria Carol could see the fantasy unravelling before her eyes as she penned it down. To sum up in Ria’s words, the “parallel universe” won the day. The writers left the hall with smiles, happy that they were able to experience a journey made up of words, even if for a day.