Pandemic in a Pandemic

Hi!

I’m Coray Seifert and I’m writing a book about dinosaurs, augmented reality and a virulent global pandemic.

Today is July 4th, 2020, and I’ve been hard at work on my first novel - currently titled Time Augmented: Roanoke - since last November. I’ve been meaning to set up an author page/John Scalzi fan club, so here we are.

When I started the book in November 2019, the pandemic I dreamed up was little more than a plot device to get the characters into an apocalypse and give them a reason to go find a cure and save the world. I had no idea that a month later, we would experience the first global pandemic in a century.

Before I go into details, I wanted to write a bit about what this feels like, both for my future self to reflect up on when he’s riding his Shark Yacht (what?) to hang out with Ryan Reynolds on his Aviator Gin blimp (are you sure you’re a writer?), and for folks who maybe need a little bit of a step back from everything.

We rented a pandemic hideaway for a month and pretended to be fancy people. It was glorious.

I’ve found the act of writing about a pandemic during a pandemic to be wonderful.

It provides a few things that I know I’m really missing right now - distance, escapism and control.

Having been trapped in a small Jersey ranch-style house for most of the year, I’m honestly impressed my family hasn’t murdered me. It’s a testament to OH GOD SORRY JUST ALMOST GOT HIT BY A TOASTER. Thinking about a different time or place has really felt amazing and gave me a breath of fresh air.

Similarly, stepping into the minds and bodies of these characters has been a gift, because my head is a busy place. I don’t know about you all, but having your mind loop back on itself because of that concerning Times article for 447th time that day for the 200th day in a row is exhausting.

Finally, exhibiting a modicum of control over a pandemic - even a completely fictional one - gives you a sense of agency that is sorely lacking for a lot of us these days. While I doubt any of us are going to gear up and travel the world on a desperate last-ditch attempt to save humanity, writing about going on an adventure to fix a similar problem feels great.

If you derive any enjoyment from writing or creative work, I’d highly recommend starting a new project set in a pandemic and exerting your control over it. Looking at the broader picture, I’m excited to experience the art that comes out of this time in our collective existence.

[Spoiler Alert: If you want to read my book and be surprised by the reveals therein, perhaps you should stop reading here]

Okay, now then.

Lots of quiet nights on the boulevard

Interestingly, I got a few things right with Roanoke (riots, pseudoscience, finding love in all the wrong places, etc.), but missed the big picture of what a pandemic really is.

In my imagination, a pandemic was this “world on fire and about to explode” moment (though to be fair, I was exploring the idea of a disease that exhibited extreme mania). Driving a flaming car through a zombie apocalypse in downtown NYC while being chased by Russian special forces and also dinosaurs and the dinosaurs are also on fire sort of thing.

In reality, NYC is quiet and traffic free, the only zombies are the ones attending Trump rallies, and the dinosaurs are exclusively streaming on demand.

To be fair, for some people these times are apocalyptic; fires starting in their neighborhoods, protests every night and life and death on every corner. For those folks, we should support them in any way we can and vote for leaders in the upcoming election who will provide a safety net for the vulnerable among us.

For a lot of us though, it’s an oppressively quiet existence. The crushing weight of a daily routine that can never change combined with a lack of human contact has left many of us uneasy and tense in ways that are hard to define. We’re not in immediate danger from a T-Rex chasing down our 1992 Jeep Wrangler, but we’re in mortal peril from an invisible, silent killer.

I’m mid-way through my reader edit for Roanoke and I don’t think I’ll fundamentally change the mechanics in which the virus in my novel operates. That seems like it would be disingenuous and a cheap money grab (“HEY LOOK I WROTE A BOOK ABOUT GESTURES BROADLY”).

That said, this time in our lives has been informative for describing the tension and uncertainty of these times. I’ve massaged a few details about how the characters feel about the pandemic and hopefully this can be an anchor point for anyone living through this right now. Hopefully this whole book can be a nice escape or a little chunk of agency as well.

I hope you get a chance to read it and I look forward to your feedback.

Thanks for reading.