I'm officially now on a 14 day lockdown. Thought I'd get more writing done, but I've spent most of the last 3 days procrastinating. Shame shame.
I put over 2000 words on my WIP today. I wasn't keeping count years ago, but I think that's a record for me. This isolation thing is really doing me some good. I've never written so much in a month, and I'm ramping it up every few days. God, I hope I can keep up some of this momentum when the crisis abates.
It's pretty much stopped my writing. Not being able to sip hot chocolate while sitting in a B&N Cafe is killing me.
I mean... you could make your own chocolate and you could put on bad French covers of popular English songs.
Haven't found a way to make good hot chocolate at home (don't have a milk steamer). And it's more about the environment.
I'm writing notes as the pandemic events go by so that I could remember. It's for my future novel if I ever get to finish it.
I'm moving across the country next week. Colorado to Connecticut. The 1,800 miles or so on federal highways during the pandemic should be interesting. It seems like a fascinating opportunity for a short story or something.
I spend upwards of thirty hours a week on conference calls, which pretty much drains my brain of anything that could spark creativity. A couple weeks ago, I knuckled down and forced myself to write for a couple days, and ended up cranking out 5K words of decent material, but that's been all in the five weeks of quarantine. I keep thinking I'll find time to get on it again, but all that sunshine outside is calling me.
So, I just got an email from a different editor that I've worked with asking if I had anything or would soon about the coronavirus. I'm trying to write a short story about it. I could do another nonfiction piece, but I already have another place I want to publish that one. We'll see. I wanted to let you guys know that magazines are looking for this kind of thing with fresh perspective and insight. It's horrible what's going on. Maybe it's essential that it's written about in many ways by many people. Keep this in mind if you're looking to publish essays or short stories. This is what they are looking for at present.
I still haven't written a single word since this nonsense started, but I have come up with two complete new series to add to the giant pile of books that I'll get back to one of these days. At the moment, I have at least 24 books on my plate. Should be fun.
So I started writing a story just as this whole pandemic thing started and I'm just about around the point of finishing it. Its a short story around 17,000 words (may end up being closer to 20,000 words or more) and it involves a terraformed planet that has been quarantined off from the rest of the galaxy. I feel like these current events may have inspired me to go through with this, but the similarities are completely coincidental considering I came up with the initial concept months ago last year. In the case of this story, the quarantine is not put in place to prevent a virus, but rather the spread of an invasive species of doppelgangers.
Not that this will ever likely to be written as in all honesty, i just dont have the will power or patience to do it, and that fact we are week 4 of the lockdown and i've not started anything kinda shows that, however, i've been planning to write a story for some time now, about the last 5 years, and it would be about a serious disease getting loose in europe. Given that the [moderator edit: COVID-19] is now killing hundreds of thousands of people around the world, is it appropriate to try and write a book that is essentially covering the same sort of thing? I personally don't give amonkeys about such things, but its a world of snowflakes, and they probably do.
You'd be up against some formidable competition. https://www.vulture.com/article/best-pandemic-books.html But maybe you have a unique perspective, or inside information that would make it special.
Let's not bring this into the main forum. It's a topic for the Debate Room. There are several TV dramas about coronavirus. I imagine many authors are using it as inspiration. I'm certainly using it as an element in one of my stories.
What are you on about take itto the debate room? No need to debate the Kung Flu, its just a name. Indeed. I was thinking along the lines of they dont make them straight after, there is almost like a grace period, but looking at when filmds have come out, that just isnt true. Thanks.
Mod hat on: If you want your characters to refer to it that way it's fine, but that naming has racist connotations. Corona, coronavirus, COVID-19 are fine.
I don't mean to sound dumb, but why are people calling it Kung Flu? What does that mean/refer to? I knew some people *cough*Trump*cough* call it the Chinese Flu (Which is pretty bad) but not this new word. It would not be any more inappropriate than writing about slavery, sex trafficking, or any other horrible things. They happen, there are real stories and fictional stories to explore, and telling stories about horrors reminds generations of what things were. Just don't write some garbage in a day to make a quick buck XD
Because it has racist connotations. Like all Asians know Kung Fu and talk about ‘chi’ and shit. That stereotype. That said, yeah, it’s no different than writing about literally anything that ever happened in this world. Some might think you’re just using this pandemic as a cash-in, and that’s their right.
Hey there, thanks for asking - we have been in lockdown for the last 5 weeks and i have to say this has done wonders for my writing. It has opened my eyes to the excuses I used to make about not having enough time in the day. Most of the nation are waiting to 'bounce back to how life was' but I have to mention that life going forward for me will not be the same. I will definitely be putting more time aside for writing. I hope no one minds, but I wrote a little something in relation to the current climate and would like people's thoughts on it: The Strange Disease of Modern Life ...content deleted by moderator.... explanation below
