As the World Has Fallen into a Pit

Should I keep writing light-hearted mysteries?

We live in a world that is wrapped in a deadly plague with tens of thousands of deaths, and hundreds of thousands of ill people who may never fully recover.

Our great democracy is sliding into Fascism with storm troopers in the streets, massive cultural changes, and a failed leadership. A bedrock of the United States, free and untainted elections, is in grave danger of being compromised by subversive influences, both foreign and homegrown.

And I write mysteries based in the 19th Century.

Is there a place for my kind of stories while the news brings me daily reports of worldwide madness?

This was the question that froze my pen.

As much as I love to create complex characters and intricate plots, I found it difficult to write my entertaining tales when the world in which we now live is filled with death, disease, and chicanery.

Yet humorous writings are important and I appreciate those with the talent and outlook to make me smile, and keep me from plummeting into the abyss of despondency .

I also appreciate articles with medical information by writers with knowledge in the healthcare field who present factual evidence, so I have a clearer idea of what some of the numbers and media opinions mean.

Postings with ideas to improve my writing craft and art are greatly needed in a time of global economic collapse and mounting unemployment. I need their input if I’m to survive as an entrepreneur and free-lancer.

Published pieces, including poetry, that shine a light in the darkness currently engulfing our lives, are critical now more than ever. They let those of us in pain know some caring soul is out there, and our hurt is shared, They provide a way of dealing with life in a time of stress.

But that’s not what I write. So I stopped penning my little mystery stories.

For two months, I did nothing but read. And what did I read?

Mysteries, of course.

In the 1930’s, during the depth of the Great Depression, when Europe was gearing up for war, and the world was threatened by a madman, the Golden Age of Mysteries and Detective Fiction was at its height. Authors like Agatha Christie, Edmund Crispin, R. Austin Freeman, Georgette Heyer, Dorothy L. Sayers, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammet, were bringing some respite to troubled readers.

Perhaps, I thought, my stories will have some traction in this current period of gloom.

Somewhere, someone may find a few hours of peace while entangled in a mystery tale I compose.

So, I returned to the keyboard and the first sentence flowed like blood.

Takeaway for me: I need to write what I write.

If, in their pit of darkness, someone reads one of my tales and finds a story that gives them a break from their grim reality, my task will have been of value. And that’s all I ask.