A write-up by: Chloe Pang

I joined LAW’s Book & Writers Club last August. During our weekly meetings, our teacher, Wilson would introduce us short stories which are interesting in different ways. After we finish reading a short story, we will discuss it and do assignment like writing reflection or review. Another thing I have learned in the club is how to write my own short story. I find that quite fun as I enjoy writing too.

From August to the end of 2021, we managed to learn a total of three short stories. The first short story I have read is “Skin” by Roald Dahl. The story was about a tattoo drawn on a man’s back. The writing was quite difficult, and I could not fully understand the story the first time I read it on my own. I could only understand what happened to the character in the end after discussing about it with Teacher Wilson and the other club members, which I later found as both scary and sad.

The second short story I learned in the Club was my favorite. It was called “The Banker” by Chua Kok Yee. It was a crime story that started with a group of robbers wanting to rob a bank. He had the bank manager help him to rob the bank. I was really surprised by the unexpected plot twist at the end of the story because I did not expect the manager to be so evil.

The third short story, “Sinful Saints,” was another crime story published by Fixi Novo in KL Noir Blue. It was an interesting story about a writer who purposely got himself into jail to search for new inspiration. There, he met many prisoners whom he realized were unjustly labelled as criminals and sentenced to prison.

Out of all our club activities, the one I like the most was when I get to write my own short story. The theme that Wilson gave was crime (which is similar with all the three short stories we have learned). It took me a few months to finish my story, because I had to spend a lot of time coming up with ideas to continue the story. I had to also rewrite it a lot of times because I struggled with creating a nice plot twist to end my story. Still, it was a very good experience writing a short story for the first time.

I am quite happy with being part of the Book & Writers Club in LAW every week because there are so many new stuff to learn and discover. I hope I can stay and continue learning with everyone in the club, and I look forward for the opportunity to improve and write a better original story of my own next time.