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!