Want to be taught by Dan Brown? Read on

From crowdsourced novels to authoring reads in real time and storytelling sessions by a former First Lady, it's the dawn of a new era in the well-loved world of the written word

As an author, I spent the last few years debating whether or not the world is reading as much as it should. Such an exchange of views in the global writing and reading fraternity is natural. Once it was established that enough words were being consumed, the results gave way to the old and most frequently visited argument, traditional books vs e-books. In short, the world of writing is never in a state of stillness; aberrations are normal. Not surprisingly, the frequency of these aberrations in the new normal writing world has caught my eye. We're no longer writing the way we used to, and hence witnessing the ripple effect on reading and sharing stories too. Let's run through a few highlights, which are carving the path of the future of writing.

The First Lady as a storyteller for your kids
Michelle Obama is a fantastic storyteller, you'd know if you'd read the 400-pager book Becoming, authored by the lawyer and first African-American First Lady of the United States. I consumed it in three days.
Michelle loved reading out loud to herself as a kid, and later found joy in storytelling with her daughters, and with children the world over. Now, she's volunteered to put our kids to sleep with virtual read-along story-time sessions. The kids will also get a chance to practise their reading and hear wonderful stories from books like There's a Dragon in your Book and Miss Maple's Seeds. It is part of a collaboration with PBS Kids and Penguin Random House. Every Monday, until May 11, starting at 12pm ET (8pm, GST) on PBS Kids Facebook and YouTube accounts and the Penguin Random House Facebook page.

A crowd of authors
Indian author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's upcoming historical novel, Lioness: the Last Queen, will be a movie too. But her fans are excited for another reason. Her publisher, Harper Collins India, announced a crowd-sourced novel competition recently. She wrote the first chapter of the novel, and so far, ten chapters are already in by the participants. The competition is open to Indian citizens. How do you like the novel so far? You can change it, if you don't like where it's headed. You can follow it at harpercollins.co.in.

A novel on Google Docs
Ever wondered what are the writing rituals and struggles of big authors? Do they fret over words and dialogues, and delete and re-visit ideas, too? A chance to get into the mind of an author, in real time, is here. American author Jason Wright is working live on his novel, Bus to Gulf Breeze, on Google Docs! While you can't comment on or edit the document, you can leave your remarks in his posts on Facebook and Instagram. Last we checked, he was on Chapter 20. He's writing six days a week, and letting readers follow along as he types. Meanwhile, his daughter is editing the book-in-progress! Wright had earlier mentioned that he was always interested in showing the writing process in a live format, and social distancing just got him to do it. Follow him on facebook.com/jfwbooks.

A story set in the present
Author Mitch Albom is working on a real-time serialised story, Human Touch, set in Michigan during these coronavirus days. He is hopeful that the story will provide a welcome diversion in this shut-in world. If you enjoy the story, you can donate to a relief effort in his hometown of Detroit. He's sharing free-to-read chapters, every Friday. Chapter four is available today! Read on mitchalbom.com, plus audios on Audible.com.

Dan Brown for a teacher?
MasterClass recently launched free live streaming seminars with authors like Dan Brown. They're also running a buy-one-get-one-free offer, which is quite a good deal, considering their fees and the teachers. Authors running the courses on the educational platform include Aaron Sorkin, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, David Mamet, David Sedaris, and more. Join a class at learn.masterclass.com/masterclasslive.
purva@khaleejtimes.com