In my last post, I shared my experience of meeting and interviewing the artist, Himmat Shah for the purpose of documenting one of his projects. To create the content for the High Relief book, we needed to understand Himmat’s high relief work, and Himmat the person. Sometimes, it is hard to separate these two aspects. The work of the artist stems directly and indirectly from his beliefs, childhood experiences, and personality.

When Himmat talks, his work and life seem inextricably entwined. It is the work of a writer to separate these two strands, tell two distinct stories, and yet connect them as and when needed. Art that he creates today, is often inspired from something he saw or heard decades back.

How does one decide the tone and voice of a book? In such cases, the text must reflect the spirit and personality of the artist. In this case, it was a deeply philosophical, creative, yet young at heart and thoroughly modern personality. The text has to explain the work and build an image of Himmat in the reader’s mind.

If the writer’s individual style dominates too much, it dilutes a reader’s understanding of the artist. It is the writer’s responsibility to make sure that the book allows Himmat’s voice to come through clearly. Writing involves expressing your own thoughts in words. In this book, we were expressing another person’s thoughts in words. Himmat has a unique and whimsical way of putting things across, and we used some of his statements as quotations to support the text.

How does one want to tell the story of a person’s life? Are we looking at his life through the lens of his work, or the lens of his personal life, or the lens of a philosophy? To answer this question one has to first answer these primary questions:

1)   Why are we creating this book?
2)   Who is going to read this book?

Once you have a clear answer to both these questions, you’ll know how you want to tell the story.

Then again, there is the all-important question of time. Do you want to start in the present day and move to the past? Do you want to tell the story chronologically, as it happened? Do you want to ignore time, and narrate events in the order of their importance?

Finally, are you going to tell this story in the first, or third person? We experimented with both these narratives before we settled on the third person. The first person narrative narrowed the point-of-view, and gave too much importance to Himmat the person, which he did not want. The third person narrative allows for better work descriptions.

All these decisions are influenced by the answers to the two primary questions I mentioned earlier. Before writing, one has to have the structure of the book in place. This includes the chapter, sub-chapters and any other sections. The structure is the skeleton, which lends support to the entire body. Embarking on a book without this is like heading into the Amazon alone without a compass, map or tent. You aren’t likely to come out of there alive. It is essential to have this structure at the back of your mind at all times.

The structure also guides the graphic designer, and keeps the designer and writer on the same page (quite literarily). In this case, the book was visual in nature. A rough sequence of the photographs was decided first, and the text was written later. Sometimes, the text is written first, and photographs are plugged in later. It all depends on the nature of the book.

Once you’ve got some clarity, you simply have to put your fears behind you, the paper in front of you, and start writing!

In my next post, I’ll talk about the process of writing, and the final proofreading and signing off on the content.

There are a million or more brands out there. What makes one more heart-warming than the rest? It tells you a story.

We humans are genetically coded to love stories. Our ancestors sat around the fire, telling stories of gods and devils, good and evil, animals on the hunt, and so on. Many of us have grown up listening to stories. These could be the countless Indian mythological / historical tales, Aesop’s fables, fairy tales, or any other example. Every culture on earth has a trove of stories. The simplest nursery rhymes are stories. Even Jack and Jill went up the hill, filled their pail of water and came back down.

Why do stories work so well? 

• They make dry, uninteresting facts interesting. 
  
• They make boring, moral lessons fun. 
  
• By telling us about something, they reveal a deeper truth about something else. 
  
• By describing someone’s experience, they lead us to introspect and sometimes, a realisation about ourselves occurs. 
  
• Stories can inspire us, gladden our hearts, or challenge our belief systems.
  

Brand stories are a great way to get close to customers/users. When we were asked to write something about bread, we decided that bread should get the love it deserves. Few have given bread a chance to tell its own story.

Stories also spread faster than mundane statements like ‘our bread is amazing’. Customers of The Bakers’ Dozen read our story, and invariably left the store chuckling. They carried the story home with them on the bag, and also in their heads. Once in a while somebody would tell someone else, “Hey. I went to this new bakery. Yummy stuff. And they’re pretty funny too. Wait, you should read it. Let me show you the bag.” And so, the story spreads by the most powerful medium there is, good ol’ word of mouth.

Stories, whether in a novel, a paragraph, a tweet or a comic strip, capture our imagination.

I am in the business of solving problems. Each day, there is a new problem.

• I want to build a website that is young, attractive, and happening. It should engage with the local people and build a sense of community, sort of create a buzz.
• I have to make this very important presentation. I need to convince the audience to give up their homes for 9 months so that I can redevelop their property. They are simply unwilling!
• We may be into mathematical modeling and algorithms, but we don’t want our website to appear complex. We want a right mix of professionalism and humor. It has to talk to young professionals and engage them in a dialog such that they try out our service.
• I want to make the walls of my pub interesting and funny. Sober and not-so-sober should be able to stare at the wall, (read), and giggle. 
• My website should be simple, poetic, and engaging. I want my work to be available to everyone through my website. They should be able to see my work and buy it, if they want to. 
• Our brand story should be warm, like freshly baked bread. It should tell the client that we are serious about our breads. You have 150 words. 
  

As I said, I am in the business of solving problems. I solve problems with words. It is interesting to note that no matter who the client is, what their business is, who their audience is – as long as I understand their problem, I can provide a solution. A solution with writing, a solution with words.

It would seem to me that the same thought holds good for any kind of writing. Know what your business is, know whom you are writing for, and seek to address the problem at hand. With as few words as possible. Happy problem solving!