Writing About the Pandemic

 

When is it too soon to start writing stories about the pandemic? And should we?

When people are panicking, it’s not a good idea to feed into their fears. And if a writer is having a hard time handling it, maybe that person should wait until he or she can see it more objectively.

On the other hand, I’ve seen several good examples of how it can be done right. Since the comic strip Rex Morgan is written several months in advance, it took a while before its series on the Covid -19 quarantine began publication. But now I’m enjoying all those panels that show the characters living through what everyone else is dealing with.

Then there is humor. I bought a book from Audible called Inside Jobs: Tales from a Time of Quarantine, by Ben H. Winters. It is three short stories about crime during the pandemic and, since I purchased it on May 1, it must have been written quickly. The stories vary in style but all are interesting, and the first is hilarious as three gangsters working from home try to figure out how to steal a priceless postage stamp after the pandemic foils their first plan.

But what if someone is trying to write a contemporary novel? Will the writer date it by setting it during the pandemic? If he or she wants that specific setting, great. But the mystery I’m currently writing has nothing to do with the pandemic, and I don’t want to get sidetracked by it. So my “contemporary” murder mystery is written as if it was 2019 (without any reference to dates, however). Hopefully it will still be “contemporary” when life returns to normal.

Another option is to use the pandemic as inspiration for a historical novel with a similar theme but set at a different time. I recently read Pharmacy Girl, a middle-grade historical about the Spanish Influenza. Except for the historical markers, it could have been written about this pandemic. The book was published last year, before most people in the U.S. were even aware of Covid-19, so it wasn’t inspired by the current crisis. But it is eerily similar.

So if you want to write about the pandemic, go ahead.

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The photo was taken during the Spanish Influenza pandemic and is in the public domain because of its age.

The Pandemic Kidnapped my Beta Readers

 

My middle-grade historical fiction is aimed at girls in the 4^th to 6^th grades and at 3^rd grade girls who read above their grade level, so I use students from a local school as beta readers. I ask the school for volunteers—preferably two girls from each of those four grades—and rely on the principal and the teachers to select the right individuals. I was almost ready to send out the manuscript for my Erie Canal novel when everything stopped. With schools scrambling to change their format from in-person to online, it was clearly the wrong time to ask for their help finding beta readers.

So I put the book on hold waiting for a better time. Originally, I assumed that things would be back to normal by September and I could return to my customary practice.

Wrong.

Schools are still adjusting to new ways of doing things. Although the one I use is holding in-person classes now, the staff is facing different challenges trying to implement the protections that come with that system. I’m just not sure this is the right time to ask for their help identifying the next group of beta readers.

Even when I do, the process may change. In the past, I have dropped off hardcopy manuscripts, questionnaires, and parent permission letters and the school has distributed them for me. That way, the girls didn’t have to use their own printers and supplies to make a copy or to use the less effective method of reading the book on a computer screen. But now they may prefer PDF copies sent by email. That’s actually easier—and cheaper—for me but harder on them. And they would still have to print out the questionnaire and the parent consent letter to complete and return to me.

The principal has told me that the girls enjoy being beta readers, and I’ve gotten that comment from several of them, as well. So they may welcome the oppoutunity. But more importantly, their feedback is extremely valuable and has resulted in significant changes to each of my manuscripts. Beta readers are crucial to the quality of the completed book, and I don’t want to continue without them.

But I’ll have to let the principal tell me when the timing is right.

The Lighter Side of the Pandemic

The pandemic isn’t anything to laugh about. Still, it helps to look at the lighter side sometimes.

Who thought up the name of this pandemic? The Black Death, Spanish Influenza, and Bird Flu have a romantic sound. Even AIDS and EBOLA have a bit of a ring to them. But Covid-19?

My nomination is Rose Burr. If you look at the photo from the CDC, it looks a bit like one of those burrs you get in your socks and pants when walking across an uncultivated field, except that the stickers in Covid-19 are rose-red.

Here are some changes that have resulted from Rose Burr:

·       Observing “Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day/Week/Month/Year”—this is not me, though; I’ve been working from home for years and discovered early on that I take it more seriously if I dress as I used to when I went to my office in Chicago;

·       Losing track of the days and wondering if it is Facemask Friday yet;

·       Buying masks as fashion accessories—if I have to wear one in public, it should coordinate with my outfit;

·       Wondering what people are afraid of when they wear masks while driving alone in a car;

·       Using quarantine and social distancing as an excuse to stay away from people we don’t like;

·       Justifying the money spent on take-out and delivery as a way to support the restaurant industry—I’m in favor of this, by the way;

·       Getting up at a ridiculously early hour to do grocery shopping with the “at risk” segment of society before the store has a chance to get contaminated after its deep cleaning—and then fearing that I will get the virus from those employees who seem to believe that a face mask can be effective if it covers the mouth but not the nose;

·       Standing in line in the rain because there are too many people in the store already;

·       Learning that “one way” applies to grocery store aisles as well as streets;

·       Experimenting with tried and true dishes because the tried and true ingredients aren’t available;

·       Marveling that we and our non-techie friends have learned how to “attend” livestreamed church services and Zoom Bible studies;

·       Celebrating when we can finally get a haircut—and mourning for friends in states where that hasn’t happened yet.

The first time I saw a picture of the virus I thought, “How pretty.” But I have used my photo software to come up with some that are even more interesting. Here they are:

So hang in there, but don’t forget to look at the lighter side.

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The image at the top of this page is from the CDC and is in the public domain because it is a document produced by the government. The other images are my creative adjustments to the CDC image.