ABOUT
Described by The Straits Times as “undoubtedly one of the most whimsical, creative and unpretentious young voices in Singapore literature”, Suffian Hakim is the author of the parody Harris bin Potter and the Stoned Philosopher and comedic bildungsroman The Minorities. His books are sold in Singapore, Malaysia and the United Kingdom. He has given talks and creative writing workshops at events such as Campus Party Singapore, Singapore Writers Festival, Cairo Literary Festival, Makassar International Writers Festival, Asian Festival of Children's Content, and Pecha Kucha Singapore. Outside of his career as an author, Suffian is a screenwriter for a local production company.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2018 – The Minorities (Singapore: Epigram Books, 2018)
2015 – Harris Bin Potter and the Stoned Philosopher (Singapore: Publishizer, 2018)
TESTIMONIALS
FROM CAMP LIT ALUMNI
“The workshop was great, and they saved the best for last. The summarised powerpoint and the activity helped us in our writing very much.”
WORKSHOPS
“AND NOW WE FIGHT TO THE DEATH!”: WRITING ACTION
For: all students; 5–25 pax
Availability: 2/3 hours per session, single session
Description: How do you capture the energy and tension of a lightsaber duel, a car chase, an epic game of quidditch or a high-stakes void deck football match? In this workshop, aspiring writers will unlearn the tedious “And-then” approach to writing action sequences and instead learn to focus on the narrative, character and emotion to write scenes that are exciting but also transcendent and organic to the text. We will study a series of action sequences from famous texts and dissect them to their most basic components. There will also be a hands-on component for participants, in which they will write out action scenes and perform it for their fellow workshop attendees.
Learning Outcomes: how to spot good action scenes in books, how to craft dynamic, compelling action scenes, how to build tension and build anticipation ahead of an action scene, and how to use such scenes to drive a narrative forward.
LET’S TALK ABOUT DIALOGUE
For: all students; 5–25 pax
Availability: 3 hours per session, single session
Description: This workshop comes in three parts: basic (writing dialogue correctly), intermediate (writing good dialogue) and AWESOME (writing great dialogue). Participants will learn to use dialogue to elevate character and plot. There will also be a hands-on component, where participants will have to craft a page of dialogue based on scenarios provided by facilitator Suffian Hakim himself.
Learning outcomes: how to write dialogue correctly, how to write great dialogue, and how to use dialogue to elevate character and plot.
FINDING DRAMA IN CURRENT AFFAIRS
For: upper sec., junior college; 5–25 pax
Availability: 3 hours per session, single session; 2 hours per session, 2 sessions
Description: Some of the best films and books are based off actual events that happened in recent memory. Participants will learn to look at current affairs from different perspectives and find dramatic and narrative value within such events. In the second session, will then pick a recent news story and convert it to prose, breathing transcendent life and colour into events and characters that would have otherwise dissolved into newspaper gray. These will then be presented to the group, and open to discussion and critique.
Learning outcomes: dramatizing current affairs, character formation based on news reporting, crafting compelling stories and prose from newspaper articles
ABOUT OUR PROGRAMME / OUR WRITERS / OUR WORKSHOPS / OUR CAMP / F.A.Q.
Book A Writer is Sing Lit Station's workshop-for-schools programme, featuring a roster of Singapore's most important writers at work today. *Do you want to Book A Writer? For enquiries on Suffian Hakim's availability and workshop rates in Sing Lit Station's Book A Writer programme, do fill in the form below.