BLOSSOMING THE FLOWERS OF CREATIVITY

"Imagine Write Creatively" is a joint initiative by The Daily Star (TDS) and United International University (UIU), which hosts workshops in schools around town with a view to inspire and instruct students on the ways of creative writing. On August 8, one of these workshops was held in Willes Little Flower School and College, and the students there got a chance to learn a thing or two about the art of writing fiction.

Students filed into the auditorium at 10, and the enthusiasm was palpable from the look on their faces. They were all given some worksheets and a copy of SHOUT which would help them better grasp the things they were about to be taught. The teachers looked on as their students eagerly participated in all the games, exercises and other segments the trainers prepared for them. 

The workshop was an interactive session where the trainers tried to communicate and get as many answers from the students as possible, in an attempt to open up their mind and get their imagination working. They were introduced to the basic elements of a fiction, the characters, a setting, a plot and an intriguing climax, and how to come up with them and string them together. The trainers talked about the little technicalities of writing, where the objective is to show, not tell, all the while giving the kids the freedom to do everything on their own which is the best way to get their creative juices flowing.

Students had to come up with background stories about characters whose pictures were shown on a big screen, then create plots that would best suit a setting given by the trainers. They were shown pictures of incidents and told to imagine why and what might have caused those. These exercises all worked towards getting them acquainted with the process that would help them come up with absorbing plots and climaxes that would best suit a certain type of character or setting.  

Shams Arefin, a student at Willes Little Flower School, had an amazing time at the workshop. "We all got individual attention from the trainers, as in all our ideas were heard and taken into account, which was new and refreshing. Not having to memorise what I was being taught was a good change, and I think this will help me get a lot better at creative writing for the future," he said.

Anika Sharmin enjoyed the bits in the workshop where the grey matter in her brain was put to work. She said, "To get a chance to develop my creativity in such a manner was quite fascinating and enjoyable. In some cases, we played mind games and to reflect on our own thoughts like this was something quite out of the ordinary."

Her friend, Lamia Ahmed was relieved to get a break from the everyday pressure of the classroom. "For us, it's all about studying all the time. We learned some useful things here, but we played games too and it was a lot of fun," she mentioned.

Mafia Afrin is a teacher at Willes Little Flower School and College and she was quite enthralled to see how her students took to learning about creative writing. "The methods they implement here are quite different from what we do in class; it's a different structure of teaching that works with the students' creativity. It's great to see that the students find amusement in studying for once," she expressed.  

The trainers for the day were Sharmin Sultana, Assistant Professor of English at UIU, and Mahejabeen Hossain Nidhi, writer for SHOUT. When asked about her experience of teaching young ones about creative writing, Mahejabeen's answer sums up all that is good about this initiative by The Daily Star and UIU. She said, "I find it very interesting to see how different students respond differently to our material. It's a joy to watch students engage themselves with what we try to teach through interactive games and tasks. What I found most rewarding at this workshop was when some students came up to me and wanted to know more about writing fiction, how I write, and so on; I felt like I truly made connections with people genuinely interested in creativity through words."

Azmin Azran is terrified of the challenges life is about to throw at him. He watches football and listens to weird music to find strength. Give him encouragement at fb.com/azminazran