WEBVTT 00:00:11.365 --> 00:00:14.068 First of all, I really want to thank you 00:00:14.068 --> 00:00:19.925 for letting me speak to TEDxGateway in India about superheroes. 00:00:20.275 --> 00:00:24.865 I wish I could be there in person, but this is the next best thing. 00:00:25.035 --> 00:00:26.818 I would really love to share 00:00:26.818 --> 00:00:29.975 some of the things I've learned over the years 00:00:29.975 --> 00:00:34.865 and share them with any artists and writers in India 00:00:34.865 --> 00:00:38.215 who might be wanting to create new superheroes 00:00:38.215 --> 00:00:40.765 and new superhero adventures. 00:00:41.360 --> 00:00:45.990 India has been on my mind a lot lately because I've been working 00:00:45.990 --> 00:00:50.660 with my good friend Sharad Devarajan and with Graphic India 00:00:50.660 --> 00:00:56.420 to create a new Indian superhero named Chakra The Invincible, 00:00:56.450 --> 00:00:57.970 who lives in Mumbai. 00:00:58.070 --> 00:01:00.770 My goal with Chakra was really simple. 00:01:01.350 --> 00:01:05.490 I wanted to bring an Eastern concept, like the chakras, 00:01:05.530 --> 00:01:08.760 to the Western world of superheroes. 00:01:09.468 --> 00:01:14.775 And for me, superheroes will always spark the imagination 00:01:14.775 --> 00:01:18.615 of people around the world regardless of their background, 00:01:18.635 --> 00:01:23.255 because I think that people are always looking for something 00:01:23.275 --> 00:01:28.675 that represents the ideal person or the ideal situation. 00:01:31.196 --> 00:01:35.586 Almost all of us have loved fairy tales when we were young. 00:01:35.908 --> 00:01:40.198 Just remember stories of giants and witches 00:01:40.198 --> 00:01:42.368 and wizards and monsters 00:01:42.368 --> 00:01:46.758 and things that were so colorful and bigger than life. 00:01:47.218 --> 00:01:52.238 But then, you get a little older and you're too old to read fairy tales. 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:57.959 But you never outgrow your love of that type of story. 00:01:58.864 --> 00:02:00.684 And if you think about it, 00:02:00.684 --> 00:02:06.504 superheroes stories today are really like fairy tales for grown-ups. 00:02:06.814 --> 00:02:10.984 The characters are bigger than life, just like in fairy tales. 00:02:11.217 --> 00:02:14.517 They have the same type of superpowers: 00:02:14.797 --> 00:02:19.487 some can fly, some are extra-strong, some can be invisible. 00:02:19.744 --> 00:02:23.344 It gives the viewer and the reader 00:02:23.344 --> 00:02:29.444 a chance to relive the excitement he or she had when they were young. 00:02:29.574 --> 00:02:33.268 They're really reading fairy tales for grown-ups 00:02:33.288 --> 00:02:38.008 when they read or when they see superhero stories today, 00:02:38.018 --> 00:02:40.648 and that's why I love them so. 00:02:41.571 --> 00:02:45.036 To me, the human aspect of superheroes 00:02:45.036 --> 00:02:48.601 has always been, perhaps, the most important part. 00:02:48.601 --> 00:02:55.393 By that, I mean: OK, we assume your superhero might be extra-strong, 00:02:55.393 --> 00:02:59.733 or might be able to fly or run as fast as a comet, 00:02:59.733 --> 00:03:04.383 but unless you care about the superhero's personal life, 00:03:04.383 --> 00:03:07.243 you're just reading a shallow story. 00:03:07.267 --> 00:03:10.647 Just because a person has a superpower 00:03:10.647 --> 00:03:15.457 doesn't mean he might not have the same personal problems 00:03:15.457 --> 00:03:17.317 that you or I might have. 00:03:17.367 --> 00:03:19.547 Maybe he doesn't have enough money, 00:03:19.547 --> 00:03:21.507 maybe he has a family problem, 00:03:21.507 --> 00:03:23.907 maybe the girl he loves doesn't love him. 00:03:23.966 --> 00:03:28.200 Or maybe the girl he loves doesn't want to be involved with a superhero. 00:03:28.200 --> 00:03:31.090 There are so many things you can think of 00:03:31.090 --> 00:03:35.550 that round out the character and the personality, 00:03:35.590 --> 00:03:40.010 so the superhero isn't just one or two dimensional. 00:03:40.029 --> 00:03:43.200 You want a three-dimensional superhero 00:03:43.200 --> 00:03:46.690 who lives and breathes and worries 00:03:46.690 --> 00:03:50.655 and experiences things just the way you and I do 00:03:50.655 --> 00:03:54.725 except for the fact that she or he has a superpower. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:54.875 --> 00:03:58.035 One thing I might mention, most writers - 00:03:58.035 --> 00:04:00.705 and I think it's an unfortunate thing - 00:04:00.705 --> 00:04:02.871 they try to write something 00:04:02.874 --> 00:04:06.785 that they think a certain audience might enjoy. 00:04:06.995 --> 00:04:08.975 I've never been able to do that 00:04:08.975 --> 00:04:13.515 because I can't put myself in the mind of other people. 00:04:13.965 --> 00:04:16.715 I only know what I enjoy, 00:04:16.715 --> 00:04:19.635 so every time I've written a story, 00:04:19.635 --> 00:04:23.005 I've always tried to write the sort of story 00:04:23.005 --> 00:04:26.265 that I, myself would enjoy reading, 00:04:26.265 --> 00:04:29.905 a story that would interest me while I'm writing it 00:04:29.925 --> 00:04:32.985 as I'm waiting to find out what happens next. 00:04:33.345 --> 00:04:37.952 And I can't know what other people think, 00:04:37.952 --> 00:04:40.672 but I can know what I think, 00:04:40.672 --> 00:04:43.206 and I feel I'm not that unusual; 00:04:43.206 --> 00:04:46.226 if there's a type of story I like, 00:04:46.226 --> 00:04:50.806 there must be lots of people who like the same type of stories. 00:04:51.047 --> 00:04:56.283 Therefore, I have always written to please myself, 00:04:56.283 --> 00:04:59.703 not to please a certain type of audience, 00:04:59.979 --> 00:05:06.009 because you can't know the audience as well as you know yourself. 00:05:06.158 --> 00:05:10.668 And if I write a story that I'm enjoying while I'm writing it 00:05:10.668 --> 00:05:13.651 and I can't wait to see what happens next, 00:05:13.651 --> 00:05:18.371 then I'm hoping that a large proportion of the public 00:05:18.371 --> 00:05:21.321 will feel the same way, and they'll enjoy it too. 00:05:21.321 --> 00:05:22.691 So to sum it up, 00:05:22.691 --> 00:05:28.071 I have always tried to please myself, not other people, 00:05:28.071 --> 00:05:31.041 and somehow, it seems to have worked 00:05:31.041 --> 00:05:35.081 because I guess I'm not that different than other people. 00:05:35.617 --> 00:05:37.687 So, to wrap it up, 00:05:37.687 --> 00:05:41.664 what I suggest is, use your imagination, 00:05:41.664 --> 00:05:46.534 don't be afraid to come up with the wildest thought in the world 00:05:46.534 --> 00:05:51.056 if what you create is truly different and colorful, 00:05:51.076 --> 00:05:54.656 and if it's written well, people will enjoy it. 00:05:54.656 --> 00:05:56.156 Now when I say "written well," 00:05:56.156 --> 00:06:01.306 what I mean is you might have the most fantastic notion in the world, 00:06:01.306 --> 00:06:05.926 suddenly you have a man who can fly faster than the speed of light. 00:06:05.929 --> 00:06:07.679 That could be interesting, 00:06:07.679 --> 00:06:10.109 but you have to make him believable, 00:06:10.109 --> 00:06:12.799 you have to give the reader or the audience 00:06:12.799 --> 00:06:17.669 some reason to think he really has the ability to do that. 00:06:17.849 --> 00:06:19.949 How did he get that power? 00:06:19.949 --> 00:06:23.941 Origins of superpowers are always very interesting. 00:06:24.021 --> 00:06:26.611 If you get the right origin, 00:06:26.611 --> 00:06:31.831 like, for example, Spiderman being bitten by a radioactive spider, 00:06:31.831 --> 00:06:36.071 at least, then the viewer has something to hold on to 00:06:36.071 --> 00:06:40.202 and to say, "Well, it might have happened, now I'll enjoy it." 00:06:40.202 --> 00:06:42.373 So even though you're writing 00:06:42.373 --> 00:06:45.752 what amounts to a fairy tale for grown-ups, 00:06:45.752 --> 00:06:49.092 try to keep enough facts 00:06:49.092 --> 00:06:54.772 and try to give enough detail that the reader or the audience will say, 00:06:54.772 --> 00:06:56.897 "Well, it could have happened," 00:06:56.897 --> 00:07:01.287 and then your public goes along with the fun. 00:07:01.587 --> 00:07:03.827 But if you make it too wild, 00:07:03.827 --> 00:07:09.407 and you don't give any reason why it is as wild as it is, 00:07:09.407 --> 00:07:12.387 then sometimes it can be overkill. 00:07:12.597 --> 00:07:17.887 So what I'm trying to say is, let your imagination flow freely, 00:07:17.887 --> 00:07:23.337 but always base what happens on some sort of provable fact 00:07:23.337 --> 00:07:27.047 so that the reader or the viewer will go along with it 00:07:27.047 --> 00:07:30.577 and enjoy it as much as you enjoy writing it. 00:07:30.627 --> 00:07:32.297 So good luck to you! 00:07:32.327 --> 00:07:36.467 Thanks for listening and I really enjoyed talking to you. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:36.507 --> 00:07:38.636 Excelsior!