What Is #StoryCollective And What Does It Aim To Do?
#StoryCollective is an Indiatimes and Wattpad initiative to encourage people, help them find each other in a story and help our readers discover some of these wonderful stories and the people who wrote them.
If you think about it for a minute, so much of what we know, how we live, and what we do has been upended over the last 15 months. Everywhere in the world, and especially here in India, we've all struggled to come to terms with constantly working from home, dealing with a collapsing health care system, our own anxiety, and feeling of helplessness, bombarded by a never-ending stream of distressing news.
Photo by Mikey Harris on Unsplash
We all had to adjust to a no-handshakes world, where hugs disappeared into the background, as life as we know it changed so much that even a coffee outside became aspirational.
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A lot of us have ended up feeling overwhelmed, craving real connections beyond the hearts and likes on throwback travel pictures. It¡¯s been much worse for marginalised communities, like the LGBTQIA who have found it impossible to connect with others in the absence of physical safe spaces, viciously trapped inside the boundaries set by their families and societies.
In all the doom and gloom, however, an entire generation has found comfort in reading and telling their stories, away from the toxicity that usually abounds on many social networks.
Photo by Aliis Sinisalu on Unsplash
#StoryCollective is an Indiatimes and Wattpad initiative to encourage people to read stories that inspire, excite and entertain; help them find each other in a story and help our readers discover some of these wonderful stories and the people who wrote them.
Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash
Echoing the sentiment, Wattpad Country Head, India, Devashish Sharma says, ¡°The partnership between Wattpad and Times India has been incredible.¡±
He continued, ¡°With so many of us isolated from our friends and family this past year, reading and writing have become more important than ever ¡ª especially for Gen Z.
The #StoryCollective campaign aims to encourage people to keep reading stories that inspire and excite them, and it wouldn¡¯t be possible without Times India."
Thus, for the period starting 16 July to September, Indiatimes wants to celebrate these unique stories and their writers. Indiatimes.com/Wattpad is built to be a safe space to read, interact and share your stories.
Our teams will constantly bring you content recommendations for something new and refreshing every week, give you the opportunity to discover, interact with new writers, and invite spoken word artists, actors, and celebrities to do visual readings of some specially chosen stories.
You can follow all the action on Indiatimes.com/Wattpad or by following the hashtag on https://www.instagram.com/indiatimesinsta or https://www.facebook.com/indiatimes or https://twitter.com/indiatimes
Do write to me at kabeer.sharma@timesinternet.in on what you think about #StoryCollective. As usual, any and all feedback (even the kitchen sink) is very welcome.
Kabeer is the Editor of Indiatimes. He is two parts writer, five parts bum; perpetually tuned out; born sarcastic, addicted to black humour & club sandwiches. In his spare time he cribs and writes (in that order).
