"But... but... I've written the Next Great Canadian Pandemic Novel™!"

A selection of the books I’ve worked on in various ways over the years. If you don’t see yours, it’s because I don’t have a physical copy, or I’ve loaned it to my mom.

You may well have written that novel.

Lots of people have written successful pandemic books (Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven) and some that may not be as successful (Mary Shelley’s The Last Man), and there’s no reason the topic can’t be taken up by any writer who finds it interesting.

I like post-apocalyptic literature as much as the next guy. Just not… now.

You might have seen that I’ve added a note to a couple of my pages here saying that I’m not taking on any pandemic- or COVID-19-related work at least until we’re on the other side of this.

Never in a gajillion years would I say that people can’t write about certain things or events or pandemics. Everyone should write whatever the hell they want. I believe that with my whole heart. However, having the freedom to write about the pandemic is one thing. Getting readers on board is another.

Imagine it: if a large quantity of people spent the last ten months or so writing pandemic novels, that’s a lot of manuscripts at a lot of publishing houses in a couple of years. Which then translates into a lot of pandemic books on shelves in three or four years. There’s a greater chance of a pandemic book being written now getting lost in the shuffle of all the pandemic books that I predict are going to arrive at bookstores by the truckload in a few years.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t see this pandemic. We’re in the middle of it and we have no clarity. No objectivity. No one can look at it from any kind of distance.

This is why I’m not looking to read any of it until someone has stabbed me in the arm a couple of times, and I know that everyone I love will be safe.

My fear, should I try to edit anything pertaining to what we’re going through, is that I won’t be able to do my best work on it. It’s too close, it’s too terrifying, and I can’t see any of it clearly yet.

Everyone is free to write anything they want. Go for it! If you have a pandemic novel in you right now, get it down on paper. If you have a collection of poetry or a memoir about what you’ve been going through and how you’re managing, write it.

I just can’t edit it. Not yet, anyway. Send me your everything else!