When life becomes more threatening than what I may write in a Murder Mystery book, I have to admit I’m finding it extremely difficult to get any words of my Cosy Murder Mystery book happening.
Today is a new day, and still there are no new words written for my Cosy Murder Mystery … I’ve toyed with and then dumped any idea of putting details of a mystery virus causing havoc in the town of Talloola, where my Cosy Murder Mysteries are set. Although, hmm, maybe? Or no?
Any thoughts about this would be welcome, is it too soon to use Covid 19? Or simply nowhere near a ‘cosy’ thing to put into such a novel?
I might have a go at writing a piece of flash fiction, set in the town of Talloola, where my cosy murder mysteries are all going to be set. I was thinking about what is happening in Mallala, the small town closest to where I live, as I was there, catching up with a friend, and visiting the Op Shop and Cafe there.
Things are not quite as usual, the cafe has moved outside, and we were all sitting further away from each other than is usual. These are certainly challenging times, and while we’re all washing our hands often, and definitely not hugging, ‘to keep safe’, we can only hope that scientists will come up soon with a solution to this killer virus.
Thinking about lots of things, and pondering the mindset of some people, whose reaction to potential disaster is to buy up toilet paper in an effort to make their fortune off the misfortunes of others. The price of toilet paper is going through the roof, as supplies are quickly snapped up in supermarkets, and the government tries to keep it all under control …
And in the midst of this kind of toxic capitalism, there are many beautiful acts of kindness happening, where neighbourhoods join together to help each other, and needed goods shared, where they can be spared. This is the kind of world I wish to live in, not the nasty ‘snatch it up, it’s mine!’ kind of world. These kinds of ideas are suitable to think on for me, whatever kind of writing I’m doing.
One of my writing-related roles is as the Editor of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, and I was certainly thinking about these kinds of thoughts, as I was writing the front page of the March issue, which is due to be published before the end of March. Mallala is very much like Talloola, and who knows how much of this current challenging situation might one day leach out into fiction?
One of my writing group members is writing a novel, set slightly in the future, and her current work is eerily putting out story lines that are now coming true … Can she see into the future, I wonder? She certainly makes no such claims, but I wonder … Or is she an intelligent listener and reader, who thinks a lot, and makes conclusions based on the evidence presented …
All of these thoughts are bouncing around in my head, and I wonder when, or if, things will ever feel ‘normal’ again? But writing,in various forms, will go on being written, and as performances of many kinds are being cancelled, due to this coronavirus, books will be written and bought, perhaps online though, rather than in shops. Time, as they say, will tell. What do you think?
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 