Newer avenues for Kannada's growing breed of story writers

A Katha Kammata workshop in Bengaluru.

The room had 30 participants. Most of them had come from various corners of Bengaluru, while some had travelled all the way from Mangaluru and Ballari. Their aim: to sharpen their story-writing skills.

That evening, the Katha Kammata saw five teams coming up with five different stories, all with strands of real-life incidents and imagination woven together by the creative minds at work.

In the post-pandemic era, many such initiatives have been influencing the Kannada short story writing scene, by training writers and bringing in new readers.

Vasudhendra, a writer and the publisher of Chanda Pusthaka, who organised Katha Kammata (story workshop), says many young people seek guidance from him on writing short stories. “Writing cannot be taught. But experienced writers can share tips. I had already conducted several story workshops in schools and colleges. I felt it would be beneficial to many if this was opened to the public.”

He was surprised when he saw 250 sign-ups for the workshop that had a fee of Rs 1,000 per head. Thus far, he has conducted eight camps by accommodating 30 people in one batch, and there are more to come.

“I decided to prioritise creative activities without resorting to any theories or academic studies. This worked wonders,” Vasudhendra says. There was no age limit, and participants ranged from 15 to 75 years and included auto drivers, doctors, engineers, theatre persons and cinema artists.

Bharath Babu G, a manager in an insurance company, was one of the attendees. “It was very helpful for me. I got answers to many of my questions on why telling a story is important, and why we should avoid cliches. I also understood how every line becomes important in a story, and how the story is always bigger than the storyteller,” he says. "I enjoyed the interactive nature of the session," he adds.

Vasudhendra aims to dispel the notion that storytelling is a complicated process. “I make them realise that telling stories becomes easier as one develops empathy towards others,” he says.

Virtual groups

In the virtual world, social media has provided an important space for short stories. One such example is the Kannada Katha Guchcha, a Facebook group with more than 58,000 members. The group administrators provide writing prompts, and interested members write stories based on them.

Those who start gaining more followers through this platform then graduate to blogging websites like Pratilipi, an online self-publishing and audiobook portal. Many writers gained an audience through Clubhouse, the social audio app, where reading and discussing stories became popular during the pandemic.

One such Clubhouse group is Katha Parampare, managed by Parampara Cultural Foundation. Founder G P Ramanna says that story writers get a wide audience and critical feedback in story reading sessions. A collection of stories first read on this Clubhouse group is set to be released in December. The group runs reading sessions six days a week on the app, and there have been 410 ‘rooms’ so far.

Another initiative, Kathe Koota is an idea floated by Gopalakrishna Kuntini, a journalist who is passionate about short stories. A WhatsApp group he started in 2016 is today a space where stories are written and discussed by enthusiastic writers.

“One should have three unpublished stories and must have read at least 50 Kannada short stories in order to become a member,” says Kuntini, emphasising that constant participation is a key to remaining a member. The admins share writing prompts, tasks and topics, and keep the group engaged on WhatsApp.

Currently, the group has 57 members from across Karnataka and even abroad, and has conducted four meet-ups so far. It also brought out a compilation of stories based on a prompt given in the group.

“I came to know about them through Clubhouse. Through the group, I learnt how important it was for a writer to read old and new writers, and how to stay focused on topics. The prompts and reading practice helped me a lot,” says Poornima Malagimani, a member. She went on to win many awards and recognitions this year, for her stories.

Audio innovation

After bringing out 1,500 Kannada books in digital format to a Kindle-like platform, MyLang, a language start-up, began publishing audio stories. They aimed at targeting digital natives who want short-form, independent content in audio.

Today, anyone can submit stories to the MyLang platform in audio format. The audio is then packaged with background music and sounds, before being published. Users can listen to these for free using the app.

“Many writers value feedback more than money,” explains Vasanth Shetty, founder of MyLang. The platform has a community of about 300 writers and 300 narrators, plus an additional audience from their social circles.

Now, MyLang has a separate audio website dedicated to this, with author and narrator profiles, and options to follow them — a version of social media for stories. “There will be many more users entering the scene in the next five years. There is a demand for short story content in regional languages,” says Shetty.

MyLang will be foraying into other south Indian languages soon.

Short stories growing

Poornima says that increased publishing options for short stories in the form of text and audio, as well as avenues to share them on social media, have resulted in an increased audience. She feels the demand will only grow in the future.

Vasudhendra points out, “While the short story format is disappearing in English and European languages, in Kannada, it is the most popular of all genres.”

The writer adds, however, that storytellers have to cross the boundaries of language, using translations, in order to reach more readers.

Devu Pattar, editor-in-chief of Book Brahma, a virtual portal dedicated to literature, says Kannada has always had a special place for short stories, with more than 2,500 writers bringing out short story collections since 1914. “The number of writers has only increased,” he says.

Dadapeer Jyman, an award-winning story writer, says that while the avenues for stories have increased, it is a challenge for the writers to wait until the story they have crystallises and comes out organically, amid the pressure to publish.