Reflection on Writing Advice

They always say "write what you know", something I as a writer of fiction with sometimes outlandish / otherwordly elements find annoying. More recently though, as quarantine progresses and I realize I can be a completely different person at home / depending on who I'm interacting with, I have come to the conclusion they're not wrong. Now is the perfect time to write about things we wouldn't normally know from personal experience:

Vampires -

They eat erratically by normal standards, keep more or less nocturnal hours, and require explicit permission before entering someone else's space. You're ready to write vampires if you have been experimenting with:

- most productive hours are between 10pm and 5am local time

- midnight snacking

- not texting people too frequently without express permission in case you might conceivably be bothering them

Dragons -

Known for generally being hoarders, whether of gold or wisdom, dragons are frequently portrayed in literature as the antagonist. Now's the perfect time to get a view from the other side of the cave, as it were:

- You're just trying to mind your own business but people refuse to keep their distance

- It's a good thing the libraries are closed, you're going to need at least another month to finish all the books you currently have

- Your work-from-home spot is more or less a nest - look, there's no such thing as too comfortable, all right?

Elves -

Typically sylvian beings, graceful, and incredibly skilled. You would, too, if you had spent several lifetimes on your hobbies. Consider:

- It's not like there's much else to do, so now is the perfect time to perfect you [hobby here] skills. By the time the stay at home restrictions are lifted, you'll be a pro

- You've been dressing up despite the fact nobody would know if you wore PJ's all day... come to think of it, you may be fancier now than most normal days. Whatever, you've always wanted to wear that shirt to work but never quite been certain how well it would be received. Here there's no-one to stop you

- You're not allowed in public, but there's plenty of space in forest preserves with the option to duck into the shrubs to maintain proper social distance

Brownie -

Traditional folklore tells of a variety of faerie that cleans house for those who leave a dish of milk in the pantry. Whatever you do, though, don't anger these helpers: they can turn into boggarts and inflict mayhem and misery. Maybe brownies are your next writing project if:

- You've cleaned your house at least twice, and there's not really anything left to clean

- You have been strangely productive lately

- So help whoever gets between you and your cleaning or other projects

Demons -

There are several tomes out there discussing the various appearances and armies of particular denizens of the underworld; some varieties are more closely associated with a particular religion but all cause trouble. Maybe it's time to write a demon if you:

- Have been involved in creating small armies, be they plastic minifigures or origami penguins

- Are running out of pranks to play on your household before a member thereof seriously considers murder

- Consider 'malicious glee' and 'schadenfreude' both to be legitimate sources of entertainment

Zombies -

Mindless, if beige had an embodiement zombies would be the stumbling manifestation. Maybe it's time for zombies if:

- You no longer have a sense of time, it all seems to go somewhere without much getting done in the interim

- Self-care has slipped, and you'd much rather just stay in bed

- All you want to do is chew somebody's head off, whether it's to get some sense into them so they wear a mask / wash hands or because they won't stop singing when you're on a conference call

So I guess when you get down to it, right now is like any other time: it is what you make of it. When school's over and I'm no longer doing homework constantly, I plan to make some pretty great things, and I hope you do too whenever you have time