It might be current, but should we include it?

It's not surprising that I've encountered a decent number of conversations regarding COVID-19 mixed with writing in some fashion. Most have been regarding productivity (and I'm sick of those conversations). A few have been related to whether self-published authors should continue with their publication plans. Others have been related to those seeking traditional roads and querying agents. But a few of them relate to writing contemporary stories and whether we should include COVID-19 into them.

To be blunt, I wouldn't—and here's why put as simply as I can.

Because we're already bored with it.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm soooo over the COVID-19 thing. Yes, it's a big deal. Yes, it's something that is impacting on all of our lives. BUT just because it's happening right now doesn't mean that I need to be reminded of it every second of the day.

When I read for pleasure, it's about escaping my reality and joining in on the reality of the worlds I'm reading about. There will be times when the two realities overlap, but for the most part, the two worlds tend not to meet.

The wounds and horror associated with COVID-19 are still raw. People everywhere are still falling ill and dying, with no real end in sight. No one can say when life will go back to normal or what that new normal will look like. There is so much uncertainty that still exists, and there are no answers forthcoming.

There is nothing wrong with writing something that plays on themes associated with the impacts of COVID-19. Writing is a form of therapy for many people, myself included, so writing out your feelings about our current situation is a good thing. If you have a burning need to include the current pandemic, or any pandemic, into your manuscript, by all means do so. Your brain wants you to write that story for a reason. Stop fighting it.

BUT unleashing ANY story that contains COVID-19 into the wild will be a matter of timing.

Timing is everything in storytelling.

Janet Reid, literary agent, said it best on her personal blog when she compared the events of today with those surrounding 9/11, suggesting that there was a minimum amount of time required between the event and when books were published, to give people time to process their emotions and feelings.

She wrote, "I remember reading a novel about 9/11 that was published in 2004, and thinking it was too soon then. It's too soon because there hasn't been enough time to reflect deeply, and that's what you have to do with novels about cataclysmic events. And this sure qualifies."

Because there is so much uncertainty about where the world is heading, it creates other issues with the complete arcs necessary for good storytelling.

Janet Reid continued her reasoning regarding this using a movie from WWII. "If you want an example of something written in the midst of a world-changing event, take a look at the movie Mrs. Miniver released in 1942. You can see how the story telling suffers for lack of an ending."

(You can read her full post on this topic here.)

Technology has changed the publishing landscape.

Yes, the likes of Shakespeare wrote while the world around him suffered from a pandemic. Other writers did the same. And in many ways, our stories imitate life. But if you look at the technological advances between then and now, we are talking light-years apart.

Because of the internet and the technologies associated with self-publication, writers can now see their books out in the public within days of completion if that is what they want to do. (I call it rushing the process, but there are some writers who do publish within days of writing the last sentence.)

We are only just beginning to see the changes that the current pandemic is bringing into our lives, and already books have been published with topics relating to COVID-19. Most will be nonfiction, true, but there will be a few fiction ones in the mix.

That new contemporary story doesn't need to include COVID-19.

I have seen writers ask if they should rewrite portions of their current works-in-progress to accommodate the societal changes brought on by COVID-19. My answer: What changes? We don't know what the societal changes are. None of us can predict the future.

So, here's my advice. If you need to write something surrounding how you feel about the current pandemic, then write it. Take advantage of that form of therapy. Then put it in the drawer and leave it there for a long time. If you ever do pull it out of the drawer again, be prepared for that piece of writing to never see the light of day, because it was something you wrote when you just needed to get things straight in your head. But if you like what you wrote and wish to pursue that project, then by all means do so. Just not now.

As for your current contemporary stories… Don't stress yourself about trying to include the pandemic into that manuscript. It's not worth it.

Remember why people read fiction in the first place: to escape reality.