Writing During COVID-19: How the Pandemic has Boosted this Author’s Creativity
For New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center, the global health crisis has upended her typical writing process. “I’m highly distracted with my whole family in the house all the time,” she says from her Houston residence. “Normally, my husband goes to work, my teenaged kids go to school, and the dog and I hang out at home and write books… now, we’re all jumbled on top of each other.”
Despite the distractions, Center finds inspiration in the stories happening around her—and this unique period in history has become a highly creative time for her. She explains, “I’ve been worried about my family, my city and the country, and the way I’ve soothed myself is by making things: painting, embroidering, sewing masks and gardening.” She’s even been learning to speak Korean.
And, perhaps most importantly, the pandemic has helped Center become a better writer. “I am working hard to get better and better at telling stories that give people ‘all the feels,’” she says. “I never get tired of studying how stories work and trying to figure out how to harness that magic.”
Center’s extended time at home has also offered up opportunities to discover new story ideas. “It’s about noticing elements from all different places—a news story, a dream, something that happened to a friend, a memory your mom shares from 20 years ago—and then finding ways to combine those elements in a new way that comes to life in a story,” she says.
Publishing a novel involves the synthesis of many elements, according to Center. “You need the right characters and the right structure before you can have a hope of creating something,” she advises. “Once you’ve got the idea, developing it into a novel is about patience and diligence and staying excited about what’s happening.” She also notes that books—even fiction ones—involve lots of research, because the details have to be authentic for the story to resonate with readers.
Writing is also about savoring the process. “You have to love words and stories and sentences,” she says. “You have to be endlessly fascinated with figuring out what kinds of stories you love and how you can tell those stories for other people.” She cautions anyone who chooses writing to get rich or famous or make their high school boyfriend jealous that they are guaranteed disappointment. “You have to do it for the love of doing it. You have to do it in the spirit of service for others. That’s the only thing that can possibly sustain you.”
Although the pandemic and accompanying stay-at-home-orders have changed Center’s daily writing process, publishing eight novels and achieving the title “best-selling author” has not. She says her husband and kids just see her “usual goofy self” and are fascinated when fans hug her in the grocery store or ask to take a selfie with her at a restaurant (before the pandemic, of course). “Sometimes people will tell me that they feel shy to meet me, but more often I get hugs and people saying they know we’d be best friends if we knew each other in real life … which I love.”
From Novel to Big Screen
Recently, even more people have discovered Center’s writing talent through the movie version of her book “The Lost Husband,” which became the No. 1 independent movie in America this spring. Watch the trailer.
The process of transforming the story from a novel to a movie was a thrilling one for Center. She was able to be on-set, meet the lead actors—Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb—and even serve as an extra in the farmer’s market scene. “It was trippy to see my characters alive in the flesh,” she says. “Honestly, it was unexpectedly profound to witness that.”
While disappointed that the pandemic foiled plans to release the film in theaters, Center believes it was for the best. “I was so glad we could give folks something fun and hopeful to do during quarantine,” she says. “And, then it hit the No. 1 spot on Netflix in August and was the second-most downloaded movie that month.”
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“The only compass you can follow as a writer is to tell the story that you yourself long to hear.”