by Arin V. Jagtap, Grade 10
Everyone has told a story aloud or in front of an audience at least once in their life. But it’s the way that one may do it that can make the story truly captivating. We all have our unique voices, a theme that Adam Gidwitz explored in his masterclass titled “Understanding A Writer’s Craft.” Upon entering the room, I was quite nervous about arriving late, as it was already filled with a lively crowd and all the chairs were taken. To my surprise, I was still early by 2 minutes; it was just that there was a pretty high demand to be in that room. A pretty good start for this masterclass, I thought, and that impression would stay throughout.
Adam first started by telling a bit about how he became an author and entered writing. Turns out he was just an ordinary teacher, facing ordinary classroom issues. The issue? Getting kids to be quiet and focused in class. Talking about his students, he spoke about how they would “try and hit others with blocks” or “keep sticking cotton balls to their face”. However, the few well-behaved kids would sit around him, and one day he decided to just tell them a story. Much to his surprise, telling a story that day would unlock the secret to making all the kids in his class focus and listen. As days went by and this became a ritual, one of his students gave him the idea of writing his book. He would later listen to the student, quit his job, and go to a publishing agent… who would just scrap his book. Adam’s modulation in narrating this first half of his story had built up such hype in the room that hearing this was highly anti-climatic, a moment that stunned us all into silence.
We were curious to know how he moved past that setback to become the acclaimed author that he is today. He explained that he went back and wrote a new idea with his unique voice, fleshing out his personal storytelling style and inaugurating his career with the “Grimm Tales” series.
Afterwards, the participants of the Masterclass were asked to share their own story with a partner and narrate it as though they were explaining it. It was pretty clear Adam enjoyed it as he was constantly engaged in conversation and encouraged people to share their stories with the others in the room after discussion time. This made the masterclass extremely engaging and productive for everyone present. Adam also made everyone write their story down exactly how they explained it, showing how finding your voice can be done by literally using your voice.
One moment that stood out for me was when Adam was asked how one remains a writer. He said something pretty simple: “Keep imagining.” It struck a chord with me because, as we grow up, we tend to lose our vivid powers of imagination, and I believe keeping that imagination alive truly allows us to keep enjoying stories. So we just have to remember that our voice is all we have, and our imagination is all we need to be able to write.
