Renowned Author & Birder Ranjit Lal holds Creative Writing workshop for students of Dikshant
Prolific writer Ranjit Lal conducted creative writing workshop in two groups for students of Dikshant International & Global Schools at both their school campuses. The workshops were organized in two sessions for age groups 11-14 years & 12-16 years. Around 30 students attended the workshop in each group. Considering the fact that children choose to read scary stories for pleasure, and the horror genre has become extremely popular amongst them, the author chose to conduct a horror story writing workshop for students of middle group. He helped them to explore story structure and develop critical thinking skills. In a two hours workshop students were taken through all important aspects of creative writing and story elements (e.g., character, setting, plot etc).
In senior group the eminent writer gave students useful insights and encouraged them to be observant. “One must draw upon real life experiences to weave an interesting tale. In both my workshops i insisted that characters defined how the story would progress. It was therefore imperative for a writer to come up with carefully thought protagonists and antagonists who would go on to shape the plot.”Explained Mr Lal. For Ranjit Lal, an author should be able to express and transform emotions into writing. Only then creative fiction comes alive.
The excited students in both the groups wrote their own stories and narrated them to Mr Lal. The noted author listened with rapt attention and provided feedback to each one of them.
Ranjit Lal has authored 32 books. It is noteworthy that Ranjit Lal’s book Faces in the Water, won the Crossword Best Children’s Book Award in 2010 and the Laadli National Media Award. Some of the titles Ranjit Lal has authored include The Crow Chronicles,The Life and Times of Altu Faltu, That Summer at Kalagarh, The Bossman Adventures, Enjoying Birds, Birds of Delhi, Birds from My Window, The Caterpillar Who Went on a Diet and Other Stories, When Banshee Kissed Bimbo and The Battle for No.19. His last book, ‘How weird is that? : Nature’s Bizarre’ was published in the year 2016.
“We at Dikshant try to rope in well-known subject specialists for different training workshops. Ranjit Lal is a well-known Author &a Birdwatcher of eminence. He has a rich experience in writing books for children and this helped him strike a great connect with the students.” Said Mitul Dikshit, Chairman, Dikshant Group of Schools.
“We learnt about the finer nuances of writing a horror story. It was a great experience interacting with Ranjit Sir, as he explained everything in a very simple way.” Said Mehtab of Class VII.
“The students were very responsive and full of ideas. The questions they asked were pertinent. It was an interactive workshop in which I engaged students by making them develop small creative write ups which boosted their confidence.” Summed up Ranjit Lal.
