On Creative Writing, Ardashir Vakil and The Kite Runner

Published by simon on January 25, 2010

One of the things i decided to do a few months ago was to take steps to be a better creative writer, in the hopes of being published one day. So, recently I attended Ardashir Vakil’s beginner’s workshop organized by British Council and MPH.

I didn’t really know what to expect in the workshop, but it turned out to be very informative. There were 15 of us, the group was a diversified bunch – from young college students to retirees, from those with no inkling of what creative writing was to published writers.

The workshop was led by Ardashir Vakil, an author who is now lecturing in the UK. He was a very nice and funny guy (in a British sort of way). I learnt a lot from the short one day workshop. Some of it I already knew but probably never applied it intensely to creative writing. There were some very interesting people there, too bad I didn’t have time later to get to know them.

Some of the things that we learnt was how to use dialogue well, poetic justice (learnt about Cordelia in King Lear), yearning in the main character, the two epiphanies in a storyline, and a lot more. I also learnt new appreciation for the short story art form, and for Raymond Carver and Anton Chekhov.

After the workshop i went home to finish up the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, gave a new insight on how famous authors use the same hooks and tools i learnt.

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