Shape of whom? (for when you meet writers and artists)
Today’s writer’s fortnight talk was given by the man known as ‘The Change Maker’ (according to his biography on his website), and a writer of 16 books, Mukul Deva. I felt like I got to know him due to his personality and language but also not so much as besides his brief introduction of his background, he did not explicitly state anything else.
So comparing with theEd Sheeran’s process of Shape of You, the talk about how to write stories is a more foreign territory despite previous lessons in English class for the past 4 years (Looking back, I feel quite dumb…). “Everybody is a storyteller,” he reasoned as he walks us through the process of how he writes his story “(and) I believe the best way to learn is by doing it”
He split the process into two: the art part and science part of how to write a story. The art part is where you have the plot, settings, characters and incident imagined into your head. I was expecting a session that leaves me with confusions of how to implement what has just be learned just before into my own writing. I was not expecting to have ideas filling my head.
I really enjoyed his explanation and how he had chosen to answer when questions are asked. Like when someone asks who he admires in the writing world, he had answered with “Other than myself?”. That had got me laughing all the way. And in other times, he is as wise as an owl, stating that from his 16 and a half years of military, “(He was) taught that the gun does not solve any problems.”, that it hurts as much as the victim in front of him each time he pulls the trigger.
Headlines
The Art and Science of a story: Mukul Deva
“Everybody is a storyteller.” Mukul Deva begins as he introduced us to the art and science of writing a book whilst adding some humour to it.
How a boy dropped out at 16 became one of the best-selling authors
When Mukul Deva dropped out of school at the age of 16, one cannot have predicted that after his 16 and a half years of military service, he would rise and become one of the best-selling authors for thrillers and military action.
Inquiry Factory
- As you have experience dropping out of school first-hand, would you encourage others to follow your footsteps too?
- Who was there to support you as you advance through the stages in your life decisions?
- When writing stories, what is the fine line between writing stories and getting yourself into a messy political situation?
- How did you feel when you were quitting your 16 years of military service after rising up to a high position to start a company?
- How did it feel when you had dropped out of school at the young age of 16?
Mukul Deva seems like a really interesting person from what you’ve put down over here. Glad to know that his talk on his writing process really helped you fill with ideas for your own writing, he must be quite a good teacher. I think I really like your questions in the inquiry section about dropping out of school and would have really liked to have read his answer to that question. Once again, you could probably work on keeping your headlines short and to the point and I would have loved to read about your personal experiences in writing as well. Things like how your mindset about writing changed and whether you are more motivated to write after that talk would be quite interesting to find out more about.