A BRAVE man suffered with his mental health after an accident in which a computer monitor fell onto his head, but has re-discovered himself through story telling.

Ritesh Nigam of Earley, used to work as an IT analyst.

The 41-year-old used to write motivational quotes, but after the incident suffered from nightmares and hearing voices, which led to ongoing depression.

After the accident, he couldn't get any motivation to write or do anything. But on 17th March 2017 he read Ernest Hemingway's flash fiction 'For sale: baby shoes, never worn.', and something triggered inside Ritesh who then wrote 50 six word stories in a night.

Mr Nigham said: “The ideas just kept coming, I used to do creative writing before so it came quite naturally to me.

“It kept me busy and gave me a sense of hope. The title to my book 'six words is all i needed' perfectly describes my life.

“It was initially going to be one of the six word stories but then me and my cousin decided it would make a better title. Six word stories helped me to get my feet off the ground.”

Ritesh's friends and family immediately fell in love with his ideas and urged him to write more and make it into a book.

He added: “I wasn't sure about it at first because I knew my family and friends had to say they liked it. It wasn't until my wife posted it to facebook and people I didn't know were interested that I was keen to publish it.

“After publishing the E-book we set up a crowdfunding page to try and raise the £3600 needed to publish the hard copy of the book, we don't have the funds to pay for it ourself but I really want the messages to get out there. “ 

To donate to his online fundraising page to raise money for mental health, visit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1559756202/six-word-illustrated-thought-provoking-stories-boo