‘Writing is what is in your heart…’ – Rajesh Iyer, Storyteller
By Deblina Das Kolkata : Rajesh M Iyer, an eminent story-teller attended the MediaNext 2020 conclave and was the first speaker on the seventh day of the online webinar that focused on ‘Writing in Digital Times: Fiction and Non-Fiction’. He spoke about whether digital is ushering in a tectonic shift in storytelling. He also focused on
By Deblina Das
Kolkata : Rajesh M Iyer, an eminent story-teller attended the MediaNext 2020 conclave and was the first speaker on the seventh day of the online webinar that focused on ‘Writing in Digital Times: Fiction and Non-Fiction’. He spoke about whether digital is ushering in a tectonic shift in storytelling. He also focused on the traits of being digital all over as well as the need of digital in an evolved world. This writer of the article has also interacted with Iyer personally to immerse in deeper insight of him.
#MediaNext 2020 is being organised by the Kolkata-based Adamas University in association with Sharda University, Birla Global University, DME, AIMEC, Lok SamvadSansthan, exchange4media, ABP Education and IndiReal.in, The mega conclave is being organised over a period of 10 days from June 1, 2020 to June 10, 2020. Each day of the conclave focuses on one specialised domain of the Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry along with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on that specific domain.
Rajesh M Iyer is a media professional for over two decades. He had published 5 novels till now. Evading the Shadows, which has been the #AmazonBestseller, Hari and Friends- The Holy Adventure, Spinner of the Twisted Tale, Karmic Souls and The Mind Whisperer; along with The Valiant Warriors and NanhaNatkhat for children. He has been associated with many media houses like Megna Publications (Editorial Head – Books), Macmillian India (Creative Head, Corporate Division) and Amar Chitra Katha Pvt. Ltd (Vice President – Creative). Rajesh was also the editor of magazines like ‘Great Looks’ (fashion magazine) and ‘Raga to Rock’ (music magazine), apart from being a regular columnist in many publications. Iyer conducts storytelling sessions for a few educational institutions and corporates, prominent among them being Amar Chitra Katha Pvt. Ltd., MATS University (Raipur), Pearl Academy, Krimiga Publications, Stream Edutech, WOW Express, among others.
The Ballad of the Wandering Minstrel
Iyer emphasised on “The Ballad of the Wandering Minstrel” that every storyteller was a wandering minstrel. He focused on the ongoing fact that, what nurtured their minds when they performed around places, narrated stories and how did they adapted to a digital age. He further elaborated that the world has become “the great melting pot” as a historic incident happening somewhere doesn’t affect a person residing somewhere else. This is what the digital age represents. ‘How does a storyteller keep pace with the rapid changes that happen in digital era?’ – a question being thrown by the writer in flow.
He described storytelling as an ‘oral narrative’ and explained about the tectonic shift in storytelling, as printing came much later and the writings got published, and the books got available in mass media, along with emergence of another shifts of television, films and digital. Iyer voiced that ‘digital’ was the most interactive way of engaging with the mass.
The 5 Es
The first was “Emotion”, which he defined as the emotional connection with the audience. Second was “Earthiness” that spoke about the non-plastic sense of a story which has more raw essence to it. Third was “Earnestness”, which a writer must include in his/her writing. Fourth was “Empathy”, where the audience should empathise with the story. Fifth was “Engagement”, which he designated to be ‘the’ most important thing for writing in digital times as it needs to be interactive and not top down.
Local Feel, Global Reach
Iyer further added a coinage of two different words as “Going Local” as a mantra to stand out. He said, “Local means the Local feel and the Global reach”, which would eventually be the core of storytelling in digital age.
Route to Roots
He used the signature tagline of Amar Chitra Katha, “Route to your roots”, where he explained the three ‘tentpoles’ – Social, Cultural and Spiritual. He also spoke about the dangers of ‘The single-story syndrome’ and said, “Every story should have multiple narrators which makes it livelier.” He elucidated that the Indian medieval writers had an excellent usage of Nava Rasa like that of ‘Mahabharata’
Upon being asked about selecting the themes of writing, he replied, “Developing stories is going back to your heart. The theme comes from the core and that what makes it more engaging. The compelling factorof writingis not just bread and butter but you start writing what is in your heart.”
Iyer shared his erudite knowledge during personal Q and A session with this writer of the article.
Digital Storytelling
“With storytelling platform changing, storytellers need to update. It had always been the case. When oral narrative gave way to printing, I’m sure they faced a similar predicament and likewise, with onset of films and later TV. Today’s medium demands storytellers to be on their toes… Always. Since changes are rampant and rapid, no choice for storytellers except be adept and adapt.”
The core of story-telling that remains the same
“Heart and soul. How much of the two you put in your story matters, no matter what the medium is. From the wandering minstrel who went from village to village narrating stories to a storyteller today who caters to the entire world, the core remains the same… As to how much heart and soul she/he puts into the story. It’s ambiguous and hard to define in tangible terms, but any story which has these two elements in place hits bull’s eye.”
Writing for children & Novels
“Both require different temperaments. It’s actually difficult to write for children since you need to get down to their age to match their sensibilities. Since I’ve commissioned hundreds of books for children as editor, I guess I understood the nuances. For novels the canvas and sweep is different. It’s more natural since that matches your thinking pattern. There’s hardly any preference frankly. It’s the story that matters since it’s the propelling factor.”
Scriptwriting for Nilesh Malhotra’s film ‘Monopoly: The Game of Money’
“In fact before writing novels I used to be creative director and writer in TV. So that’s a platform I’m comfortable with too. Compared to novels, writing for films and TV is a collaborative effort. You may have your individual vision, but it must match the larger vision of the project, the director, the TV/ film studio. So, you do lose the individuality that novel affords. But since the scale and reach is humongous one understands that it cannot be an individual effort. Second even while writing a script one has to see from the camera; what the frame will be like.”
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