I started writing because it was an assignment in English class, something I had to do in order to fulfill a requirement. I kept writing for much the same reason – there was something in me that had to get the stories in my head out.
With everything going on in the world, there was a discussion thread about pandemic stories making it to print and would I read them. Let me be clear: no.
If my favorite author in the world wrote a pandemic story, I wouldn’t read it. We have lived and breathed this insanity for a year now. I’ve experienced all the pandemic I care to experience.
I read and watch tv/movies as a form of escape. My escape is fiction. Now granted, the contemporary fiction I read is “reality” based but I’m going to use the “it’s different” excuse because it is. Most of us are not likely to find ourselves in the situations presented in most contemporary fiction stories, no matter how normal they seem. As for fiction based on historical events, we are removed from by time and distance.
Even if that escapism involves aliens or zombies, the perfect romance, a serial killer, or all of the above, it is not real. Maybe with time and distance I’ll be able to sit down with a book about this historical event. For now, I’ll stick to stories that don’t sound like they are a repeat of the evening news.