Map or Compass in the midst of the current crisis?

     I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts again the other day.   BBC's World Book Club.   

     This podcast is a must-listen for anyone loves reading literature and especially for those of us who are striving to write.  (Come to think of it...my preference on podcasts is definitely centered around those programmes with awesome writers teaching or sharing story-telling secrets... I'm not proud!)  

     This particular episode which I listened so many times is with Colombia's highly celebrated author,  Juan Gabriel Vasquez talking about his novel "The Sound Of Things Falling".  

    

     The book explores the violent drug wars in 1990s Bogata and their long-affecting influence to this day.  

    

     In this episode when he was asked on how he writes, he mentioned a quote from Spanish writer Javier Marías.  

    

     "There are two kinds of novelists.  Those who work with a map or those who work with a compass.  It means that if you work with a map, you'd know exactly what you will find at each step of the journey.  But with a compass you know that you have to go North but you have absolutely no idea what you will find."    

    "Are you a compass writer?"  Interviewer asked.  He replied, 

    "I'm a compass writer.  I have a very vague idea of the next step must be but I have discovered that writing without a plan enriches the novel."  

     Mr. Vasquez goes on to explain that we should write in order to discover what we are really wanting to write about.   

    There bears the secret of creative writing. 

     Wonderful piece of advice which I hold on to personally, on how to write a story from one of the best writers of South America today. 

    I've been thinking about this concept of "Map or Compass" and trying to apply to current situations that surround us with the Covid-19 issue. 

     Literally there is no knowing of exactly what to do and where to go as society, for each country is acting on its methods with no world common understanding of how to cure or stop it from further spreading. 

     There sadly is no map to guide us through to the North, a goal to the current crisis.  

    It is not by choice we are travelling this era only with a compass and it is fair we fear the process of reaching the North for there is no map displayed before us.  

    The only good thing that could come out of this, one can only hope, that is when we look back in years to come, is that as Mr. Vasquez mentioned, travelling with a compass would enrich our stories, however the form of stories they would turn out to be.  

    So, with only a compass in our hands, however the road ahead of us may seem long and winding, let us stay strong and unite in spirit. 

     For at least, we know that all of us are heading North, together.