I start writing, I stop, and then start again. That’s how I am with non-fiction; extreme vacillation. I’ve had the idea for this blog post for months, maybe I’ll finish it this time.
Basically it’s about the pandemic and how much I’ll include it in my works of fiction. I already did it with my Union Station short story anthology in ‘Mask’. But should I do more? I’ve already decided that I won’t add it to any of the works I had in progress before the pandemic; it just doesn’t feel right or natural to my storytelling.
I use the word “Organic” a lot; that’s because I have to be truly inspired to tell a story. Mask came to me naturally because of all the political outrage over wearing them. When we first started wearing them, I was coming from work one evening, walking along north Broadway, a car pulled up to the curb beside me and a woman with wild, crazed eyes yelled out at me, “You’re scaring the children! Die! Die!”
That incident unnerved me.
More specifically, my Girl’s Night series or other short stories I had in development before the pandemic will remain Corona Virus free.
Dick Wolf’s One Chicago Franchise:
I love my TV dramas which has a lot to do with my inspiration to write short stories; they’re the closest form of written entertainment that’s similar to television shows. But we all know, written entertainment came way before TV. Don’t get it twisted. Last fall when the new season premiered it was all about the pandemic. Most of all the shows returned with fresh storylines involving the Corona Virus. All of my favorite characters were wearing masks.
Let’s start with my absolute favorites: Dick Wolf’s One Chicago Franchise: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Chicago Med. No pun intended, but even before the pandemic these shows had me on lockdown Wednesday nights.
As I watched familiar characters running around all masked up, it made me think about my fiction. First, I strive to entertain. I try not to obsess about being some literary genius, but I do like to write quality fiction that deals somewhat in reality. Art imitates life, right? It started to gnaw at me whether I should include the pandemic in my fiction. At first I got so wound up I was about to rewrite everything and throw in the Corona Virus; it was causing me anxiety. I had to stop and take a breath. After thinking about it, I have choices as a creator of fiction. I don’t have to include the virus in my work unless it feels absolutely natural. I refuse to jump on the catastrophe bandwagon just because it’s the latest global tragedy. Whether it be books, movies or TV, I personally feel it’s in bad taste to exploit a worldwide pandemic that has cost us so many lives.
Now in the case of One Chicago, this is first responder fiction; firefighters, cops and doctors. It would be weird to completely ignore the pandemic. A global health crisis fits easily into their world of saving lives. Interestingly, I recently read a review of the One Chicago shows. A fan was tired of all the focus on the virus. Me personally, I thought they did a very responsible job without shoving it down our throats, but on the other hand, from that fan’s perspective, that person wanted to escape into a world of entertainment and leave the virus where it was, in the real world. I get it. At the very least, fiction can allow us a small break from the frightening world in which we really live.
Shout out to another favorite TV show of mine, NBC’s impeccably written and acted This Is Us. They delved not only into the pandemic, but also the racial unrest, not absent, but further exacerbated by another world tragedy: The brutal murder of George Floyd.
Never say never: Will I write about the pandemic again? It remains to be seen. Today I’ll say no, but if something hits me-the way ‘Mask’ did it might just happen. I’ll repeat, any fiction I was working on before the pandemic will remain pandemic free; that’s my way and my readers way to escape. We need that. Some authors may need to express their frustrations and fears in their work; it’s nothing wrong with that, but as we approach the 20th anniversary of another world tragedy, I have stop and take another breath.
Lastly:
In my opinion nothing has been exploited more than the gun violence in my beloved city of Chicago; my hometown. Hollywood loves it, but wouldn’t step foot in one of those neighborhoods. Just ask director Spike Lee of the exploitive ‘Chiraq’. Unfortunately no city is exempt from this horror. From New York City to Los Angeles gun violence itself is a world pandemic.