“Each one of us is a natural storyteller and each of us has something to tell”

Mukul Deva, an Indian writer who dropped out of school when he was 16. He left school to join the Indian army where he spent 16 and half years. In 2009 the Singapore government brought him here in Singapore. He wrote 16 books, one every year.

“The best way to learn is to do it”

Some advice that he gave us was:

That his opinion on the plot was that Mystery was challenging because what happens becomes unexpected.

Thriller is easy because it’s pretty straightforward

Romance is also easy because it’s very cliched and predictable.

Mukul Deva has written different genres such as mystery, thriller, action, and business.

Some advice about the setting:

(Time/Period)

He said that writing in the past is very hard because it already happened so everything you write has to be true and make sense. Writing in the present or the future is more of a relief because you don’t have to think so hard about what you write because the present is what is happening right now and who knows what will happen in the future, it can be made up.

Some advice about the location:

He says that it is easier to write about where you are located because you are seeing it through your eyes and it doesn’t require that much research.

Some advice about the characters:

When you write about the point of view of the character, you have to think like the character. You shouldn’t exceed the limit of 3 points of view characters. The characters have to relate to each other and each character has to be either likable or detestable. It’s good to confuse the reader to make them want to continue the story.

Advice on Others and Offstage characters:

Even though they are in the background of the story and offstage they need to still have some sort of purpose and be included.

Extra:

Break it into chapters

Define characters

Add scenes of Tension, risk, danger, and desire

 

The art

I feel that this is very helpful because he spoke about things I would have never thought of before. This inspired me for the next time I will write narrative writing. This also gave me more of a view of an experienced writer and the efforts they go through to make a story accurate.

 

 

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One thought on “Writer’s Fortnight: Mukul Deva, The Untold Story

  1. Hey,
    I also really agree with this one – Mukul Deva was my favourite speaker, and the way he was so honest and almost anti-UWC, and I felt that the things he was telling us about were actually useful compared to some of the other Writer’s Fortnight speakers. I really liked the way he told us to set out a story. The planning, researching, and writing had elements I had not thought about before, yet he made it so simple. He carried himself with this exuberant almost childlike experience and he seemed to really know and understand not only who he was doing, but what his audience wanted from him. We also worked on a story together, and he really made his presentation and talk interactive where we were really a part of it. I also thought it was extremely impressive how honest he was, especially during the Q+A when he was answering questions about companies turning his books into movies. “Once they’ve given me the money, it really doesn’t matter to me.” he said, laughing. I respected him and his books so much after that, as he seemed very truthful.
    Cheers,
    Lucas

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