The Q&A

Questions I sometimes ask myself about The Secret Fictitious Covid Diaries.

1: Why. Just why?

I’m a freelance writer. I make my living out of editing and writing, principally for the B2B market. The pandemic swiftly halted one of my main jobs and with kids at home and nothing on the market to replace that work I decided to start writing this. I’m also a creative writer - writing novels, scripts, songs, etc.etc. I’d just started into developing a YA novel when it basically struck me that I had no idea whether this novel should feature Covid or avoid it entirely or what it should do with it. There seems to be diverse thinking in terms of whether people thought that Covid would be something no one would ever want to think about or read about again, and those who thought it would be central to everything from this point forward. The jury is still out – and I suspect both scenarios will prevail. I still don’t know what it means for the YA book I was writing though. So instead I thought I should just write about it in a fictitious fashion. Just to see what would happen and to write some kind of a response to everything.

2: Why did you call it The Secret Fictitious Covid Diaries?

Because that’s what it is. Apart from the Secret bit maybe. It’s also one of those things where you alight on a title and then that’s it. You have to keep it.

3: Where did the characters come from?

I didn’t really plan these out. They just came to me. I think there was a bit of ‘make them diverse’ in there and probably too many people are working with apps and computers, but they sort of appeared and I just ran with them. There were a couple of other contenders and at one point I thought all the entries were going to be separate people with far fewer continuous stories and no cross-overs. But this is the way it has come out. The diversity question has been interesting though because I’ve not been specific on race, exact age or location. Some of the details have been determined by plot twists and some of it is left blank to keep audiences engaged - imagining these people for themselves.

4: Where is it all going?

Not sure. I was going to try and tie it all up at 80,000 words or so but now I’m thinking it might just run and run. There’s far too much that still needs to happen and a lot still happening around these issues in real life. It’s not going to go away so maybe the diaries have to continue?

Plot-wise the interesting thing has been treading the line between entertaining and believable. A couple of times I’ve been tempted to make something entirely bizarre happen and you always get that classic let’s just throw someone under a car, but ultimately I decided not to do that. Again the intrigue is in story telling and where these people get to. Having come this far I really can’t just suddenly have someone wake up and it was all a dream. Although I suspect there are a few people out there who'd like that to happen...?

5: How would you have done it differently?

Not certain I picked the right blog template for it, but that’s just through wanting to write it and not having time to get the right format. I might have been more selective about the characters, but then it might have been too formulaic and not enough open to chance. The characters have to be able to tell me what they’re going to do and how they want to do it as well, and this way that’s pretty much what’s happening. There’s a discussion going on between me and them. The outcome ends up being a bit surprising and therefore I want to keep writing.

6: What else have you done?

OK. A few links…..

Short films:

The Orange Tree: https://vimeo.com/blatantart/orangetree

Nobody Really Knew Him: https://vimeo.com/114602668

A site specific ukulele rock opera: Four Posters and A Pickle

Full Show: https://vimeo.com/blatantart/ukuleleopera

Edited highlights: https://vimeo.com/42977055

Other Uke songs:

Black Magic Box: https://vimeo.com/390082341

Special FX: https://vimeo.com/387826936

Kid’s Digger song: https://vimeo.com/391468722