Into the Mind of a Writer (Creative Writing Workshop)

The Department of Languages, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Pune Lavasa Campus, in collaboration with the Readers’ Club, organised a creative writing workshop ‘Into the Mind of a Writer.’ The resource person for the workshop was Dr Hilda David, an Associate Professor at the Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce and the Coordinator at the Symbiosis Centre for Liberal Arts. She has also conducted many creative writing courses and soft skills workshops at various institutes. She has worked as a consultant with Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She had done various major and minor projects and is also part of several reputed committees. Dr Hilda has written and published poems and short stories. A teacher, guide, philosopher, friend, confidante and much more, she is a very versatile and creative person who profoundly impacts others’ life. 

The event started with a Welcome Note by Vryshin Ram (2nd Yr BCom). Vryshin invited the Dean & Director, Fr Dr Jossy P George, for the introductory speech. Fr Dr Jossy P George appreciated the efforts of the department and Readers’ Club to initiate events which aid in the holistic development of the students. He welcomed the Resource Person, Dr Hilda David and expressed hope for more collaborations in future. 

The main goal of this workshop was to get interested students achieve their writing goals. It was to help the budding creative writers formulate a road map, go through step-by-step guidance, and get them writing with ease. It was an interactive workshop with lots of activities and tasks to complete It was a one-day workshop, and the students got ample time to interact among themselves and with the resource person. The students belonged to all the departments of the Pune Lavasa Campus.  departments. The workshop was a masterclass in the intricacies of writing, starting from the basics, such as the key elements of a story and culminating with the students writing their own short stories. Dr Hilda started with a discussion on how to select a great idea for the narrative. She then explained to the students how to refine ideas and pick one. She moved the discussion to create interesting characters (and choose the protagonist and the antagonist), to know about point of view and its suitability. The students got to know about choosing a setting in time and place that works for the story. They became aware of the essential elements for crafting a compelling plot, writing the outline and synopsis, weaving together narration, description and dialogue. 

 The session included 

■ Tutorials to introduce the concepts

■ Practical writing exercises

■ Take-home assignments

■ Feedback 

The workshop concluded with each student writing a small write-up of their life on campus. Vasantha M gave the Vote of Thanks at the end of the session, and Dr Richa Srishti, the Head of the Department, presented Dr Hilda with a memento as a token of appreciation. 

The workshop helped the budding creative writers formulate a road map, go through step-by-step guidance, and get them to write with ease. It was an interactive workshop with lots of activities and tasks to complete. There were individual as well as group tasks. The workshop was an enjoyable experience for the students, many of whom are budding writers. They were able to learn quite a lot from the expert Dr Hilda and were able to further their aspirations and hone their creative skills.