Writing is an art, but it is an art which can be acquired and tailored to perfection. That’s exactly what Indira Chandrasekhar tried to inculcate in her session. Indira is the Founding Editor of Out of Print magazine. She started writing fiction with an increasing focus on short story.

The session started with Indira addressing the audience with what their viewpoints are and if they have published or written any short stories. There were around 20 participants in this workshop hailing from different cities and had different views of what writing meant to them.

Indira continued the session by reading narratives of authors who have written short stories. She read a few lines and the workshop participants discussed their views and ideas of those stories.

Later on, Indira gave the participants some time to write down the idea or the start of a short story on the theme of ‘Protest’. The participants could choose between writing in whatever format they desired. After the participants wrote their ideas, they then read it aloud to the entire group. Everyone was simultaneously expressing their views on each other’s short story and was giving them suggestions to make it better.

It was an informative session. Indira ended the session by saying that she wasn’t teaching the participants but they were merely sharing their experiences.

By Tanzila Merchant