Many times, I have been asked by parents and students how to make their story writing more engaging.

Give me one quick tip to make my writing into effective stories?

Today i speak about a very easy and yet fantastic strategy that can make any story a notch above the others…simply add dialogues.

While most students are familar with dialogues within their reading, many omit it in their writing. Dialogues is one of the best ways to bring any narrative alive and hook the reader to the plot. We all have seen umpteen movies and theatre plays. The gripping words spoken by the characters can make even the dullest plot exciting and create suoerb suspense.

So why is dialogue writing important in narratives?

Dialogues break the monotony of storytelling. They break up the action writing and descriptions and improve the flow and pacing of a story. When there are shorter paragraphs and more dialogues, it is easy to the eye and the reader is glued to the story.

Dialogues also help bring characters alive. They add layers and makes the reader feel more connected to the story.

In simpler words, dialogues can make a story go from blah to blitzing fantastic.

Arent dialogues simply words a character speaks?

No, don’t make the mistake of thinking dialogues are just words spoken by the characters. It is important that dialogues aren’t just window dressing. There is no room for boring chit chat in the story.

In a movie or play, it is the actors job to enhance dialogues with emotions. On paper, it is upto you. Dialogues should earn their place in an essay. Think of them as spices. If added well, they can do wonders, else if left out or added wrongly they can convert even the best recipe into a disaster.When written correctly, dialogues can be a dynamic powerhouse and grab the reader’s attention instantly.

Where should I add dialogues in my story?

Here are some ideas to help you add effective dialogues in appropriate places

Dialogues are great ways to describe a character and reveal their personality :

Consider these dialogues examples :

Make me a sandwich now.
I could really eat a sandwich now. Would you mind fixing one for me please.
Oye, you lazy fellow, always sitting around all day. Get off the chair and make me a first class sandwich.
There are 3 very different characters revealed in the above dialogues which the reader can easily visualize without you writing long descriptions.

So use dialogues to skillfully reveal your character’s personality.

Reveal back information, dreams, desires and intentions:

Sometimes a strong requires the reader to know the back events, thoughts and intentions of a character. Use this technique to arouse the readers interest and create suspense. Give small hints to make the reader wonder, think, guess and grow concerned about the upcoming conflict. The character can either be discussing it with another character or simply thinking about it in their head. Either ways this is a perfect opportunity to use dialogues and convey information.

Use dialogues when the plot needs to move ahead :

Instead if writing the actions or events, add dialogues to show how the plot moves ahead. Use it to create turning points in the scene.

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret, this dialogue engages the reader with the plot rather than just informing the reader what happens in a narrative format.

“Not today, Mr. Weasley,” said Dumbledore. “But I must impress upon both of you the seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing yo both your families tonight. I must warm you that if you do anything like this again, I will have no choice but to expel you.”

Can you give some tips in good dialogue writing?

There definitely are many tips which a writer can use :

Mimic a real life character…think of someone you know in real and make the character speak like them. It will be easier to write and will also get you comfortable in the skin of the character. Eg, the detective in your whodunnit can speak like your mom.
Avoid boring useless dialogues.

Eg

Character 1 : Hi

Character 2 : Hi

Character 1 : what are you doing

Character 2 : nothing. What are you doing

Dialogues like this can be avoided unless the plot demands such bland words. Put on your thinking caps. Find fresh and interesting ways to write Dialogues.

Give out plans, secrets and technical information through Dialogues. This can be easily conveyed without sounding like a boring report where one character is explaining it to another character.
Use colloquial language. If you character is a native of a certain region, research and use the local phrases in Dialogues. That will give som much value to that character for the readers. Dialogues portray a scene vividly and breathe life into the characters.
Don’t forget correct punctuation. This though part of proof reading, is a very important element that should not be overlooked.
So, put on your writers cap and start writing brilliant stories with even more fantastic dialogues.

I end with an excerpt of a dialogue from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Notice how the dialogues are dynamic, lively and give us information expertly compared to plain narrative writing.

“Unfortunately I got stuck on the Earth for rather longer than I intended,” said Ford. “I came for a week and got stuck for fifteen years.”

“But how did you get there in the first place then?”

“Easy, I got a lift with a teaser.”

“A teaser?”

“Yeah.”

“Errrr, what is…”

“A teaser? Teasers are usually rich kids with nothing to do. They cruise around looking for planets which haven’t made interstellar contact yet and buzz them.”

“Buzz them?” Arthur began to feel that Ford was enjoying making life difficult for him.

“Yeah,” said Ford, “they buzz them. They find some isolated spot with very few people around, then land right by some poor soul whom no one’s ever going to believe and then strut up and down in front of him wearing silly antennae on their heads and making beep-beep noises. Rather childish really.” Ford leant back on the mattress with his hands behind his head and looked infuriatingly pleased with himself.

“Ford,” insisted Arthur, “I don’t know if this sounds like a silly question, but what am I doing here?”

“Well, you know that,” said Ford. “I rescued you from the Earth.”

“And what’s happened to the Earth?”

“Ah. It’s been demolished.”

Have you ever picked up a mystery book that hooked you from the word go, one you just couldn’t put down until the big reveal? Now that’s what a great mystery does. But the intrigue that makes the mystery a gripping one requires intricate planning and hours and hours of writing. Crafting a mystery, however, can be a very exciting and rewarding experience. It requires patience and perseverance and a knack for details. While mystery writing is an art, here are five tips that can aid you in your quest to create a great mystery.

Work Backwards
If you have the ending clear in your mind, it becomes easy to work backwards and figure out the clues that lead to the big reveal. You can work out different ways to move forward knowing where you have to reach. Once you have a basic way to connect the dots and reach the end, you can work out how to add subtle clues to raise the mystery quotient. It’s convenient to introduce twists and turns at this stage since you can never get lost knowing how everything turns out. Working backwards also helps you avoid loose ends.

Know The Crime
It is imperative that you know everything about the crime that your mystery revolves around. If you don’t, your story won’t be believable. You cannot write a mystery without knowing the who, what, where, when, why, and how. The how is especially important. If you gloss over the how, you can’t build a coherent road to the final reveal and your readers will feel cheated. That’s why you need to research everything you can about the crime, including the post investigative and legal aspects, if required, that can lend authenticity to the story.

Throw In Red Herrings
A mystery has clues that move the story forward. But if your readers can figure out the clues easily, there won’t be much of a story to tell. Instead, wouldn’t it be more fun to mislead your readers? In fact, they’re expecting it. After all, how else will you draw them in? These false clues, also known as red herrings, not only build the suspense but also create engagement with your readers. Your job is to nudge them in a particular direction and just as they’re beginning to feel smug about their deductive powers, you introduce a twist and leave them biting their nails.

Construct Convincing Characters
Character development is especially important when it comes to writing mysteries. This is because mysteries have suspects and if these suspects are one-dimensional or based on stereotypes, the story can quickly become boring. You want your characters to be complex because that’s how people are in real life. Your character development should be nuanced, revealing as much about their personalities and motives through speech as much as their actions. When your character development is strong, it adds a lot of flavour to the mystery and keeps the readers engaged.

Introduce Obstacles
While solving the crime is itself an obstacle, it’s necessary that you don’t make things easy for your characters, especially your protagonists. You don’t want them to discover clues easily. You don’t want them to have epiphanies. You need to make them work hard, to face peril, to struggle. While you do offer little victories, the greater the obstacles they face, the more magnificent their final triumph. And that is just what the reader wants as well. After all, they all know that the crime will be solved and the culprit apprehended. What they want to know is how exciting you can make it.

Here’s a bonus tip for all you mystery writers. If you want to write a great mystery, read as many mysteries as you can. You will not only enjoy the stories but also learn the art of mystery writing from other accomplished authors. You will also get exposure to different writing styles and get to understand the techniques used by them to heighten the suspense, throw readers off the scent, and pull all the elements together to create a riveting mystery.

So what did you think of our tips? Did any of them help? Write to us and let us know how your experience in crafting a mystery.

Today’s fast-paced and digitally enhanced world demands us to be competitive and adaptable. Kids are no exception. The aspiration of watching children succeed in various fields on one hand and giving them a fun-filled childhood on the other is indeed a catch-22 situation for many parents today. How nice would it be to see our children enjoy everything that they do without feeling any kind of pressure! It is indeed possible to do so when there is creativity around.

Children relate to creativity based on individual perspectives. For some, it means to be artistic, for others to think out of the box while few look upon it as a means to the end. While all are right in their own sense, creativity can be a game-changer for children in their growing years.

Research has shown that children display maximum adaptability quotient from the age of 3 years to 14 years. They are curious, inquisitive and question things happening around them. If creativity is pursued during these years, with a conscious effort to make it a norm rather than an exception in everyday life, it would indeed have a marked effect on them. It would help them to imbibe qualities that would change their perspective towards everything from studies to sports and from relations to emotions. What are these qualities? Let us look at the most crucial ones.

Creativity makes children OPEN -MINDED. A simple school activity of submitting an essay can be presented in unique ways like an essay with a portrait of the personality, a collage of text and pics or an essay submitted with calligraphy art, thanks to creativity. We often come across children who question why trees can’t be purple or why our hair can’t be in a shade of green instead of the usual colors. These seemingly childish questions display their creative bent and need to be nurtured rather than corrected.

It makes their THINKING NON-LINEAR. Armed with it, kids do not shy away from problems or issues faced by them. They rather take it as a challenge and try to find alternative ways to crack it while making it fun. Learning important historical events using acronyms or specially formed sentences is one such example. Children who are interested in coding often find themselves drawn to solve STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) problems. Interestingly, they apply the coding logic to a completely different activity like learning a musical instrument and make it fun.

Creativity makes children RESPECT EFFORT & FAILURE. When they try to do things differently, they may not succeed in the first instance. However, renewed efforts to fulfil the task at hand with the intended results make them appreciate the time invested to do it. They do learn many things in the process even though success and satisfaction elude them the first time. The ability to accept failure and move on from it towards success helps them in all aspects of their lives. Let’s think of a situation where a child has been assigned the task of building huts for a school science project. She decides to make huts of different sizes and different materials. She might not succeed in the first attempt. After many attempts however, she finds the most apt one for making the huts. The additional knowledge gained in this activity would help her on some occasion if not in this instance.

Creativity builds IMAGINATION. Albert Einstein said that “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. Kids have unhinged imagination. Its right tapping can make them realise their hidden potential and likes. While creating an artwork a child’s desire to write a few lines about the artwork makes him/her realise his ability of creative writing. A simple activity of helping a senior citizen might motivate a young teen to develop an app to benefit them.
Creative children display a higher EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT. It makes them active listeners & doers. They explore, discover, and communicate any creative process and realize the value of others’ thoughts & opinions. It also makes them accept criticism and channel it positively.

Creativity builds CONFIDENCE. It helps them to try, experiment and innovate. They believe in themselves and their ability to carry out a task differently. It also builds SELF-ESTEEM. We all know the proud look on our children’s faces when they do small things for us like making a greeting card, doing a surprising chore or exhibiting a new hobby that they have learned.
It makes children HAPPY. Creativity in any form gives us positive thoughts. This positivity percolates into an optimistic demeanour which makes them enjoy everything they do.

When creativity is imbibed as a behavioural trait it changes their perspective and outlook. They become SOLUTION SEEKERS Their minds instinctively react to situations to make them better, find a way out, and better the existing. They accept challenges not with fear or because they must, but knowing that they can cope with them. They seek enjoyment in every single act of theirs. They find satisfaction in being creators and explorers. It assures them of their abilities. Aren’t these things that we want our children to have more than anything?

Creativity is thus the game-changer that can make children have a unique and distinct identity of their own. What are you waiting for? Let your child embark on this journey and find his / her trueself!!!

By Geetanjali Padoshi

‘Mist fills the Himalayan valleys, and monsoon rain sweeps across the hills. Sometimes, during the day, a bird visits me—a deep purple whistling thrush. She perches on the window sill, and looks out with me at the rain.’

These are the opening lines of ‘A book of simple living’, another instance of the great Ruskin Bond weaving magic with his words. The legendary Anglo-Indian writer known for his beautiful stories set along the Himalayan foothills, has till date written more than 500 books across fiction and non-fiction categories spanning across a 7 decade long writing career. Need I say anything more?

Little heartwarming stories, majorly set in the picturesque hilly areas are a treat for readers across the country and abroad. Precise, clear and descriptive, his writing style is fairly simple yet impactful, or maybe it ends up creating an impact because of its simplicity. Words and emotions stay with you, making a tiny home in your heart as you go on reading one Bond book after the other. It would be an understatement to call it an equivalent of a beautiful magical piece unfolding right in front of your wide open eyes.

Writing has never been a chore for the master, as he spoke about it at length in one of his recent interviews. The thing which mattered the most for him was (and still is) to be able to enjoy his writing, may it be fiction, memoirs or poetry. A basic yet highly significant point to be noted.

Born on May 19, 1934 in Kasauli, Punjab States Agency in British India, Bond developed a fascination for the artform from a very young age. He lost his father at the age of 10 and lived with his stepfather thereafter, which gave him many life lessons. He wrote extensively while still being a kid and won several writing competitions at his school.

Post schooling he went abroad to his aunt’s place in the UK, where he wrote his very first novel named ‘The room on the roof’. It was influenced by his experiences and stories of the time he spent back in Dehradun and his small rented room on the roof. Thereafter Bond returned to India. He continued doing freelance writing for newspapers, magazines, etc. He shifted his base to Mussoorie. Post 1980s Penguin got set up in India and by the next decade Bond published his 2 novels through the publishing house (his very first work ‘The room on the roof’ and its sequel ‘Vagrants in the Valley’ which was also penned by him decades back). Eventually he went on to write more than 500 books spanning across formats but bound together by his maddening passion and love for the art of writing.

Nooks and corners of Himalayas where he spent his childhood and growing up years are visible in his writings. His text is characterized with pure optimism, solitude, beauty and a sweet childlike innocence. His books are vastly popular amongst children. On the same, Bond had once commented “I had a pretty lonely childhood and it helps me to understand a child better.” He also went on to say that he tries to strike a positive note when writing for children and feels a certain responsibility as an author. “In India, not enough importance is given to writing for children. And what could be more important than the enrichment of young minds with great literature? This is when we discover ourselves, our own potential, and, more often than not, we’ll do it through what we read and write”, he added. His first children’s book named ‘Angry river’ was published in the 1970s. And then opened the floodgates.

‘Our trees still grow in Dehra’, ‘Roads to Mussoorie’, ‘The Night train at Deoli’, ‘Rusty, the boy from hills’, ‘Rain in the mountains’, ‘Delhi is not far’, ‘Time stops at Shamli’, ‘Tales of Fosterganj’, ‘The Cherry tree’, ‘The tree lover’, ‘A book of simple living’, the list goes on and on and on. His novels ‘A flight of pigeons’ and ‘The blue umbrella’, both got adapted into films. Bond’s favourite genres (formats) happen to be essays and short stories.

Other than the countless number of laurels and accolades received in India and abroad, he has been bestowed with the highly prestigious Sahitya Akademi award, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. The Indian Council for Child Education has also recognised his role for the growth of children’s literature in India.

His vast endless body of work is a must read for children and adults alike. It teaches you the importance of love, warmth, beauty and everything that you need to live a quiet, contented, happy life. The world seems to be a better place to reside while holding a Ruskin Bond book in hand and smiling innocently as you turn one page after the other.

Let the 80 something little boy give you a few words of wisdom. “Book readers are special people, and they will always turn to books as the ultimate pleasure. Those who do not read are the unfortunate ones. There’s nothing wrong with them; but they are missing out on one of life’s compensations and rewards. A great book is a friend that never lets you down. You can return to it again and again and the joy first derived from it will still be there.”

So when are you picking up that one little bundle of happiness, to begin with?