Escaping reality through fiction

The Arts helping to get through lockdown

If there's one thing that having to stay at home for most of the day every day during the coronavirus pandemic seems to be achieving is a resurgence of popular interest in the arts. While we are all avidly using technology to  substitute our usual habits of socialising, it is the arts that so many of us have turned to. Whether we have tuned in to streaming of music concerts, theatrical performances, the ballet, or virtual tours of museums and galleries, it is the arts that are offering some form of solace, that are helping us to reach inside ourselves as individuals and find ways of both escapism and explanation. 

We need to include literature and writing in this. There has been a surge in book sales across the world as one country after another went into lockdown, with stores reporting a sudden increase in the numbers of sales of physical books while shops remained open. After the lockdown, booksellers that are able to deliver or post books are doing so at a surprisingly high rate, while it is expected that the sale of e-books will also surge. The more intrepid book clubs have set up Zoom meetings so that book lovers can continue their exchanges on their 'book of the month'. Literature is one of the arts that is helping people get through this.

The joy of reading

Reading, of course, is a great way of keeping the mind active and distracted from the worries of what is an extremely difficult situation, one where we are each united with the rest of the world in our anxieties about sickness, survival, our families, our personal finances, the unsettling nature of change and not knowing when all this will end. 

That list goes nowhere to scratch the surface of those whose personal situations are extremely difficult: those with mental illnesses who cannot access easily their usual support systems; those in abusive relationships; those who simply have not got the money to feed their families; those with mobility difficulties who cannot get about their own home without help...the list could go on and on. What about those in war situations? What about those in refugee camps? What about those who live in poverty with no access to washing facilities - so much for those 20 seconds humming 'happy birthday'! And those who live in overcrowded conditions - no social distancing for them even if sick with the virus! 

Anxiety is rife, and reading is one way of freeing the mind from its grip, if only for short periods. Reading allows the mind to roam widely and freely - across the world, across time and space. Reading also keeps us away from the virtual reality that is social media with all its pressures, doom, gloom and 'fake news'.

In particular, reading fiction helps us to withdraw from the prison that our four walls have become and, where we are surrounded at close quarters by the rest of the family, gives as an opportunity for solitary thinking, a break where we can recharge our mental batteries. Equally, if we live alone, fiction introduces us and brings us into intimate contact with others in the safe space that is the mind. We can select books that take us to places we are unlikely ever to visit - outer space, for example, or 20,000 leagues under the sea - or that are light and bright and can transport us to a happier place than perhaps we find ourselves in at the moment. 

Writing in lockdown

So what about writing? It's not as if overnight any of us is going to write that novel that speaks of the themes of the deadly coronavirus, quarantine, isolation, death and suffering in all the various incarnations of these. Writing a novel takes time and, hopefully, we will long be out of this situation by the time our novels are ready to head for the printing press. If any of us writes one.

I guess that is why I have taken to short stories. Not that these are particularly easy to write - a good short story is its own literary masterpiece, and I am nowhere near skilled enough to write one of those. But at least with a short story I get a chance to delve into the world of a fictional character that I have created. I can let out whatever anxiety is lurking about at the time. I can let my mind work out sticky problems by relating these to fictional characters. I can exercise my imagination and simply ask, what if? The short story, like the poem, can take one theme, one person, add the question 'what if' and create a brief moment of escape for my readers. 

For me, it allows me to escape my own reality for a while, and then leaves me a sense of satisfaction that I think you only get when you've created something new, something that has never existed before, but because it is written, has a greater degree of permanence than any of us mere  humans might have. And if I get it right, with any luck, it connects with others. 

There are many themes that are arising for us during this lockdown. Isolation is one. Imprisonment is another. Loss of control of our lives is a third. Unexpected change is yet another. I am coming to really understand just how important a role in helping prisoners tap into their feelings and their creativity that writing has, and how great a contribution creative writing classes in prisons can make to help prisoners avoid re-offending in future. I think this is a theme I might come back to in another post.

Simply Stories

Today's Simply Stories contribution came from me asking the usual 'what if' and applying it to trying to see life from someone else's perspective. What if you loved music but because of a life-changing event, you were disengaged from making music and thought you'd never ever be yourself because you could not make music again? What if someone unexpected turned up and changed your mind? Quite a simple idea and a useful exercise in drafting a story. Find the link on the right hand side to 'All that Jazz' and see what you think. Then, have a go, write your own lockdown story and please, share it here by sending it through to me at my email address: 

jackiegirl@hotmail.co.uk

Why write at all?

And, as the follow up question might be? Does anyone actually read these days?

Well perhaps these days we might be forgiven for thinking that YouTube and TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and all those other platforms based on visual content may have sounded the death knell for reading anything longer than a hashtag. But this is not at all so.

Reading still rules...

In 2019, the UK book industry alone was worth some £6 billion. While sales of print books fell somewhat, sales of digital and audiobooks increased. Let's not forget that books are not the only form of reading material. Much of what we read includes news and opinion reports - and stories, creative fiction, creative non-fiction and more - in newspapers and magazines, both in print and online. Whether it's from paper or from their  phone or tablets or computer screens, people read and they read a lot. 

When you add to that the fact that to make a film or documentary, or video report, there often has to be a script first (social media and TikTok dancing excepted!), the need for writing, and good writing in particular, is clearly as important as ever.

Human beings also have an innate drive to communicate with each other, and this has never been more starkly highlighted than in this period of almost global 'lockdown', where we have been forced by the spread of this deadly contagion to isolate ourselves from each other. Many of us will be spending our lockdown periods within small family units and many others will be completely alone.

Being alone for long periods is not a natural human state. We may like to enjoy periods of solitude for reflection or simply 'me' time, but prolonged periods immersed in an enforced solitary state can be detrimental to our mental health. Simply put, we get lonely.

...But technology can help

Technology has opened up a way for us to get through periods of isolation in a way many of us had simply not given thought to: WhatsApp group video chats, Zoom online board meetings, group musical collaborations, the streaming of live theatre productions for those who can't attend. I even have a friend who is continuing to give dance classes on Zoom in a way which means all her 'couples' can continue to practise their steps every week to their favourite music and still feel they are doing it as  a group! And technology enables us to research, find inspiration, learn, practise our craft and continue to write our stories for an ever-growing audience.

During this particular intense time of crisis, our senses tend to be heightened; we are acutely aware of danger and yet we are obliged to stay calm. We have to do exactly the opposite of what our 'fight or flight' instincts are screaming at us to do and stay still, stay home. The internal conflict this arouses in us can cause us problems, that is true, but it can also be the source of tremendous creativity. 

The short story is an ideal medium for expressing that creativity. You can blurt out what you want to say in a short space of time, polish it up, make sure that the plot is coherent and the characters believable and there you have it. Or almost. A good short story will have to be revised and polished until it communicates what the writer wants to say as effectively as possible in beautiful words, and leave the reader with the sense of having uncovered a universal truth.

If you love writing, as I said in a previous post, this is the ideal time to just do it, especially as there are a tremendous amount of online resources to help. Just Google 'How to write a short story' and you'll pull up thousands of articles devoted to give you ideas.

For my part, I can't say I have suddenly taken to penning my magnum opus during this period. Besides having to dedicate some time to working from home, I simply haven't been able to focus for very long at a time. It's a common response to times of crisis apparently.

But again, technology has come to my rescue as a writer. I have been co-writing a non-fiction book and technology has been perfect for sharing research notes and working together on the manuscript, and in these past few weeks we have come to almost finish the first draft.

I have also finally begun proper work on a collection of short stories. It suits me to write these now. Time seems to have both lengthened and compressed at the same time. I get up in the morning wondering if lockdown will be extended or called off. Uncertainty as to health or whether there will be any work or any money to be earned when the pandemic recedes means it is difficult to plan ahead. Short stories can be dreamed up and drafted in a relatively short space of time while novels can occupy you for years. And once again, technology has helped me find inspiration, ideas and sources of learning.

Here are links to some sites I found useful recently, to help motivate  me and keep me writing:

Margaret Atwood's writing tips

Ray Bradbury's writing advice

Stephen King on writing short stories

John Dufresne on writing a short story

Google Docs for Writers

Travel Writers read for Inspiration when on lockdown

There are so many resources online, but there are also many sources of inspiration even just leaning out of your window to observe the calm that has suddenly descended on us. It is when it is quiet that you start to really notice the world immediately about you. It is by noticing those everyday things that normally you overlook, that you start to find the stories on your very doorstep.

This week, in my series 'Simply Stories' I have shared a story kindly contributed by young actress and writer, Carmen Anderson. "Berry Bliss for Breakfast" won her a prize in the Gibraltar Short Story Competition in 2018. It is a shot read with big impact. Check out the link in the right hand bar. I know you'll enjoy it!

Telling and listening to stories

Stories for the telling

Today's story is Trouble for Tea. 

Again, as on Thursday when I was thinking about how this COVID-19 pandemic might be effecting those people huddled together in the world's refugee camps, today I got to thinking about how families with children with particular conditions, such as ASD or Aspergers, might be struggling with lockdown. It's all too easy to take the ivory tower approach and disapprove of anyone who might dare to move around outdoors at the moment, but in Gibraltar, most of us live in tiny apartments and a daily trip outdoors is a must for the rest of our health, not to mention our sanity. I'm happy as anything stuck indoors and lockdown means a good rest to me. But for others, it must feel like a punishment. 

Trouble for Tea is a story I wrote some years ago after witnessing a particular exchange between a parent struggling with her young child, and some disapproving ladies who, given their shrivelled frowns, had no experience of a child on the autism spectrum. It's set on the bus. I use the bus frequently to get out and about. Bus rides are a wonderful resource for story ideas and inspiration. Overheard snippets of conversations, observed exchanges, noticing what people wear, their mannerisms, the items they carry that tell of where they've been or where they're going - all provides great material for the writer.

This is the first time I've tried to publish a recording on this blog. I hope it works.

Just Write It

What's your story during this difficult time? Image courtesy of Pixaby

Just Write it!

That's all you need to do. You're a writer with a story to tell, or words bursting to emerge and characters that are chattering in your mind clamouring to be let out. Or you might not have thought of yourself as a writer before but with a bit of time on your hands in this coronavirus pandemic lockdown situation we're in, you might want to give writing stories - or poems - a go. And if you do, I'm more than happy to share them on this blog!

So, if we have a bit more time on our hands for writing, let's just do it. Don't worry about whether you have a writing degree or an English GCSE. You don't need these - if you can speak, you can tell a story. It doesn't matter what you've every learned at school - there are online tools and perhaps friends who will help you with correcting your script. And if you get stuck with the writing down of it, then voice record it and see if a  helpful friend will type it up for you. Just get the story out there.

But where to start?

Here are some of the ways that I use to get a story going:

1. Who? The characters are really important. Who is the story about? What are they like? Where do they come from? What makes them individuals? What do they look like / sound like / smell like? What problems are they facing that your story is going to try to resolve? What adventures are they going to have? What are their strengths and what are their flaws? Understand your character and you've already gone a long way into getting your story going.
2. What? What is going to happen? Where does the story start? How are the different events sequenced so that they take you to the end? And what will happen in the end? It's quite useful to set out a list of events and then number them in the order they will take place. Or write each one out on a post-it note and stick to the wall and move them around until you are happy with the order of events. Whatever works for you.
3. Where? The locations for the events that take place in your story are really important. Places have a way of affecting people and influencing their actions. One of the joys of writing is that your stories can take you anywhere you like. Perhaps you want to write a story set in Gibraltar in the present, or about the Australian outback in the nineteenth century, or on the moon. But visualise the settings, and find ways to describe them so that the reader gets the sense that they are real - even if they're not.
4. When? Is your story set in the past or present or future? Is it going to happen over the course of a year, a lifetime or an hour? It's up to you - another joy of writing is the freedom you have to unleash your imagination. When your story takes place might affect how your character acts, or speaks or dresses.
5. Why? This is linked to your theme. What is your story really about? Is it about love, or joy, or grief, or death, or war or anger, or jealousy, or fear? Is it about bullying, or racism, or addiction, or depression, or disability, or courage, or hope, or struggle, or success....there are so  many themes. What is at the heart of your story?

And by the time you've spent a half hour or so jotting down your thoughts on the Who, What, Where, When and Why of your story, you're eager to get writing.

This is where we often brake to a screeching halt and find ourselves with no words that we feel are adequate for starting a story. So, what do we do about that?

The dreaded blank page of writer's block! Image courtesy of Pixabay

Just write. It doesn't matter that it doesn't sound great at first, once you get those first couple of sentences out of the way, the rest of the story will come. And once it's written, it can be revised and rewritten and you can write better starting sentences. You will work away at that story, changing this and improving that, until it's ready to read.

And when you think it is ready to read, read it out loud. To yourself, or the dog or your plants. If the words you have written sit comfortably in your  mouth, then they will be happily listened to or read by your audience. 

Read him your story to test it out! Image courtesy of Pixabay

And then you've got your story.

Simply Stories

At which point, I'd love to read it! I am going to post a story each day for a week in a series called "Simply Stories" which I hope my readers will enjoy and that I hope will trigger them into writing their own. And I will publish stories sent in to me by you as guest writers on this blog.

Please send in your stories - I'm looking forward to reading them.