Dheera's Workshop of Whimsy

THIS WEEK…

I will answer the many questions I have been asked. Thank you all for the interest and for writing in. I have taken your permission to mention your names and ages. The writers who wish to remain anonymous have been respected but their ages have been mentioned.

Seema (14 years) asks: How many times should one edit a story? How does one know when it is ready to go?

Answer: A difficult question, but I will tell you what I do. I write the first draft just to put my thoughts down. Once I am happy with that, I mix and match the sequence, which most times makes the piece better and gives me new ideas. By that I mean, I bring the middle to the beginning and take the beginning to the end. Not always but just as an example. I juggle the format and get the structure going. Then I include interest elements so that the story never sags. The next edit is to improve the language, add a description, delete an unnecessary detail and so on. Most times, I discover that I don’t like large chunks of the story or that the story is not holding together as well as I would like it to…so the edit goes on. When I ‘finish’ with it, I put the piece away and let it cook on a slow fire while I pretend it doesn’t exist. Taking a few days away from your story helps a lot.So the answer to your question, as you can see, is difficult!There are no fixed number of edits that complete a story.

Rohit (13 years) asks: I prefer to write in rhyming verse. How do I write a story?

Answer: Write a story in rhyme, Rohit. My latest book which will be out by the end of the month is a book of stories in verse. They are long stories…sometimes too long but they are all in rhyming verse.

Pia (15 years) asks: Could you give us some out of the box exercises to do on a daily basis, just to improve on the writing habit you mentioned in the first session on your blog?

Answer: This was a challenging one, so I did some research in my library of ‘Writing’ books. I like the exercise Bonni Goldberg suggests in ‘Room to Write’. Choose any one of the following words that have more than one meaning: bear, lie, tear, desert. Copy the word and start writing and don’t stop until you reach the end of the page. When you are done, read what you have written and better still, send it to me!

Inky (12 years) asks: What is VOICE in a story? I’m confused.

Answer: It is the voice of the author. It develops through writing and writing and writing some more. In a story it is the view point voice of your main character. You must get into the head of your main character and know what he/she thinks when she is faced with situations in life... being bullied at school/ scolded by his parents/ losing a game of tennis/ sitting for an examination/stuck in a lift. Try working on this and let me know the results.

Next week we will discuss Voice in depth, with suggestions for exercises to work on.

Keep the questions coming please, I love it and I’m sure the others like it too. Until next week then!

Dheera