One first glance, a rather stark chapter meets the eye for people who log onto Sriram Ayer’s web novel, TheStory of a Suicide . A suicide note from a person who wants to ‘give up’ states that they are sad, helpless, disillusioned and paranoid.
This multimedia creative project anchored by Nalandaway Foundation aims to raise awareness about mental health among young people and address issues, which lead to suicidal thoughts, is primarily in the format of a web novel of 31 chapters. They deal with various concerns faced by people from the age of 15 to 30 years.
“There is a complete lack of space to have a conversation without someone being judged or ridiculed with regard to their sexuality, body image issues or depression. Many young people are not aware of the avenues available where they can discuss their problems and actually seek help,” Mr. Sriram said. Stating that while youngsters do interact a lot on social media platforms, he observed that interaction hardly went beyond that when the time came for them to approach someone for help.
“Every chapter of the web novel seeks to verbalise some of the struggles that people face — be it cyber bullying, sexual concerns, body image issues or disillusionment. If we need to approach the topic of mental health, we should make it interesting and provoke conversation which is how this project was conceived,” he explained.
Every chapter in the book, which deals with a specific issue, is followed by a set of questions and answers on how to cope with suicidal thoughts, break-ups, depression and other concerns which are dealt with in the novel.
While the novel already has a trailer which was filmed based on the content on YouTube, the team behind the multimedia project is also planning to release a music video about the same.
“We have considered a movie based on the novel as well in the future. As a part of the campaign to raise awareness, we are hoping to have regular social media interactions on Facebook and Twitter, as well as collating articles by bloggers on the subject of mental health,” Mr Sriram said.
A web novel, complete with a trailer and video, speaks about issues plaguing youngsters
