Meeting #9: Midi Bookworms learn "How to Write a Story"

Ten eager 📚 🐛Midi Bookworms 🐛📚  got together on a pleasant Friday evening to learn "How to Write a Story". Aspiring authors Ara, Sarisha, Mahika, Mysha, Kavni, Shraddha, Jiya, Surya, Aarohi and Anirudh attended the 9th Bookworms Meeting  at the Al Jimi Avenue rooftop.

After a quick round of introductions, we jumped into a discussion of what a "story" is. We talked about characters, what makes them interesting, what motives they have, what struggles they could face and finally how to resolve the issues of the characters. The "Story Mountain" was a concept we discussed in depth, before dividing ourselves up into groups of 2s and 3s. 

Now, the fun began! Using Daniel Nayeri's creative Story blocks as starting points, each of the four groups began to create their very own stories. The group members brainstormed, debated and used their imaginations for a full 30 minutes to make up coherent stories that followed the "Story Mountain" format we had discussed earlier. With help from our volunteers Anushka, Mili and Anita, each group managed to pen down a complete story within the given time. 

Here are their works: 

The Girl, the Boy and the Trophy by Ara and Sarisha (Volunteer: Maitri)

One day, there lived a boy and a girl who were brother and sister. They were looking for a shiny, golden trophy. 

They couldn't find this trophy anywhere because an evil mouse had stolen it. 

Finally, they reached an island and saw the big, strong mouse guarding the trophy. 

The girl tricked the mouse, "Look there's your friend!" and then she ran away with the trophy. 

-The end-

The Mermaid and the Shark by Aarohi, Anirudh and Surya (Volunteer: Mili)

Once upon a time, there was a river and in it there lived a beautiful Mermaid. 

There was an evil shark in this river who used to trouble the Mermaid's family members. The Mermaid wanted to protect her family and began to think of ways to trap the shark.

So she decided to take her friend's help; her friend got a fishing net and set it up near the shark's den. They kept a piece of meat under the net. The Mermaid was ready to cut the net. 

The shark saw the meat and charged to eat it. The Mermaid and her friend cut the net and trapped the shark. Then they took a Minecraft sword and killed it. They lived happily ever after. 

-The End-

 

Roxy becomes a Princess by Kavni. Mysha and Mahika (Volunteer: Anita)

Roxy was a nice elf girl who lived at the North Pole with Santa and all the other elves. This little elf secretly wanted to be a princess in the human world. 

Only a witch who lived far far away in the middle of a deep forest, could help this elf to turn into a human princess. 

When Roxy is making the long, hard journey to meet the witch, she bumps into an evil dragon who surrounds her with fiery flames. 

Luckily, a king who is out hunting in that forest, sees the dragon and shoots him down. Then he rescues Roxy, who is unconscious, and takes her to the witch to revive her. 

The witch does a spell on her and as she comes back to life, Roxy finds that she is now a beautiful little girl. 

The kind king adopts Roxy and she finally gets to become a princess. 

-The End-

Grandma Paints a Masterpiece by Shraddha and Jiya (Volunteer: Anushka)

One day, an old grandma decided that she wanted to paint a beautiful picture. She thought and thought but she couldn't think of anything to paint. 

Suddenly, she heard thunder. Rain pounded on her windows like Gods playing the drums. She felt scared and her hands were trembling. 

With shaking hands, she decided to take her mind off the tornado outside, by painting. She mixed colours fervently, her brush strokes scattered across the canvas, she didn't realize how fast her hands were moving out of fear. 

Finally, the rain stopped and so did the old lady. Suddenly she realized that her painting was majestic. 

-The End-

At the end of this exercise, each group came up and read their story out loud for their friends. It was a wonderful experience to see how these Bookworms turned into confident writers within the span of an hour. I managed to get a picture with the authors and they have also promised me signed copies once they publish their bestsellers. 😉

Thanks to everyone who attended and especially the volunteer scribes who helped out. I had a great meeting and I look forward to seeing you all again!