The Lockdown has shaken up the economy in unforeseen ways. Migrants have been desolately displaced, salaried employees are striving towards attaining job security, and entrepreneurs are struggling to achieve stability. People are getting through day after day with a sense of helplessness. But amid all this misery and strife, there’s a silver lining for writers. Life has presented them with an opportunity to hear their inner voice. Here’s a deeper analysis of Covid-19 and its effect on writers.
1. Time for Knowledge Acquisition
The pre-requisite for a writer is to be an avid reader. Wouldn’t you agree? At the beginning of every New Year have you determinedly taken up a reading challenge that you’ve been unsuccessful in finishing? The Lockdown has given writers a chance to complete those long-pending reading lists. This time devoted to reading and introspecting is setting the foundation for new stories. A new genre of literature called ‘Lockdown Literature’ is taking shape. The few published works born out of this time include Love in the Time of Quarantine, The Day before Today: Lockdown Stories, and Lockdown Liaisons: Leaving and other Stories
2. Pending Planning Done Now
In today’s digitized world, pre-planning, editorial calendars, and ideation are the need of the hour. But in our rush to meet the crushing deadlines, this element is somewhere ignored in the process. The Lockdown has given writers the time to research, catalog ideas, forecast, and draw out plans for their brands, books, or blogs.
3. More people turned to write
Many people with a flair for creative writing have done nothing about it because of the pressing demands that daily life poses. The Lockdown has spurred up these writers. The deadliness of Covid-19 and the heart-wrenching situation of everyone around us has resulted in many resorting to writing and venting out their pent-up emotions. Celebrities have turned into poets, bloggers are constantly churning pieces to intrigue their readers, authors are creating compelling stories and scriptwriters are coming up with innovative plots. Empathy is easily expressed through writing.
4. Establishment of Writing Communities
Publishing houses, writers, and content creators are engaging their followers with various initiatives. There are a growing number of online literature festivals, live storytelling sessions, and writing workshops. Writing cues, writing challenges and poetry contests have a higher level of participation. All of a sudden there is an ever-growing community of writers who are honing their skills in the course of this pandemic. More and more people are making use of the digitized forms of writing like Wattapad, Your Quote, and Mirakee.
5. More Meaningful Writing
With everyone abiding by the norms of social distancing, communicating through words is the only way for one to establish connections. Writers are now forced out of their comfort zone to write content that makes a difference. Today, brand strategies are more conscious and stories are more humane.
6. Reading goes Digital
As a result of the Lockdown restrictions, E-books, Kindles, and AudioBooks have gained prominence among the readers. While many people weren’t used to this form of reading it has caught on in India.
All in all, words are a source of comfort. They are therapeutic to a writer and they heal a reader. It’s a source of comfort in these troubled times. Read and write through the pandemic, it will leave behind a sensitive population in its wake.
am a budding poet from kerala..trying to write poems but no one to encourage as I was very poor and can’t afford anything….man, can u tell some writing tips for me….really inspired by ur novel cut like wounds