Why I Write Climate Fiction

Climate fiction is a genre term used for writing and other forms of art that are based on themes of climate change. Stories in the climate fiction genre, commonly referred to as cli-fi, can take place in past, present or future, although they most commonly take place in the near future. As such, cli-fi stories are places where our minds can easily take us. Change in climate may be a bold or a subtle theme, but in most cases they challenge us to consider the implications of climate change for ourselves and future generations.

Climate fiction often crosses other genres. Cli-fi novels frequently have a place in the science fiction genre due to the role technology can play in future changes. Other common genres are fantasy, mystery, and romance.

I find myself quite clearly choosing climate fiction as my genre. I am passionate about our earth. I was writing about our connection to the earth before I ever heard of cli-fi. I wrote very pointedly about climate change last November but didn’t learn about cli-fi until I’d written well over 50,000 words. It’s definitely my passion!

I thought it might be helpful to explore why I have this passion. The two main reasons are that writing is my passion and having a healthy earth to live in is my passion. I grew up in rural southern Ontario where it was normal to spend the day outside as a kid. I had the freedom to explore the hills and valleys and streams of my neighbourhoods. To this day, I need to garden with bare hands so that I can feel the soil and the plants. Even living in the city, I need to spend time outside every day, to find some way to connect with the air, the sky, the trees, the plants.

Writing cli-fi gives the opportunity to ask and try to answer a host of questions. How did we get here? What will the future look like in 30 or 50 or 100 years? Is there hope for us? It’s an opportunity to explore who people are, what makes them do what they do, what it takes to make changes.

We are all living the reality of climate change right now, but our reactions to it differ greatly. Some of us deny it, some of us fight back, some of us tune it out, and some of us groan in depression. The possibilities for story ideas are endless and even overwhelming. There are the many imagined futures depending on what the changes for our planet might look like. There are the many ideas for solving the problems that will result, like flooding and drought. And all of these details and possibilities are interwoven with the great varieties of characters that will populate these stories.

In the end, I write cli-fi and work at making my art something that others can read because that is my contribution to our fight for the survival of our planet. Perhaps my imaginings and efforts will encourage other people to find their own part to play.

This is the night before November. To some it is Halloween, but to me it is the night before National Novel Writing Month. November is the month I devote to my passion of writing. Every spare moment is spent writing. No distractions tolerated (well, very few). It’s my month to give my creativity free reign.

I have a cli-fi novel that needs lots of revision work, so I am not writing a novel this November. But I will be writing. I am writing short stories in the cli-fi genre. I find that idea exciting and a little scary, on the night before November.

The Beginnings of Revision

I have a full-length novel completed. But does it really say what I want it to say? Would you actually find it interesting if you picked it up right now to read? How much information is only in my head and not in the story like I thought it was?

In my last post, I wrote that it was time to edit my novel. Editing is not the correct word to use for the work I am doing on my story right now. Some of that happens along the way, like correcting a typo or changing a word. I am revising my novel. I would like to share what I have been doing.

Even using the word “revise” makes it seem much simpler than it is. Before I began to make changes, I needed to set up my story to facilitate revision. I started by making a synopsis of each section in my story. I use Scrivener, which has a built-in place to enter a synopsis. Currently, I have three story arcs. Each section, which may be considered a chapter, alternates from one arc to the next.

My next step was to take each significant action and input it into a timeline program. I use Aeon Timeline for this. This program accommodates for the three arcs in my story. By the end of the story, characters from the three arcs come together. I was very pleased to reach the end of my timeline and discover that the timing of each arc meshes just as I needed it to!

It was tempting to jump right in and start re-writing parts to improve how I said them. In fact, I started to do that but I stopped myself. I had to have all the parts right before I did that. It would be a shame to put effort into re-writing paragraphs that might not end up in my novel anyway.

Secure in the timing of events, I decided that my next step was to address the many questions I had come up with, listed in my Project Notes in Scrivener. You see, whenever I thought of something that I could add to my story or something that needed double-checking or anything like that, I made a note of it.

I ended up with quite a list! I am in the process now of working my way through it. Some of the things were really easy, so I attended to them first. My list is now a little shorter. Some of them will take more time, like making sure I have created a picture for the reader of what is happening or what a character looks like.

And then there are always the story elements that “seemed like a good idea a the time”, but when you look at them more carefully with the distance of time, you realize that they do not fit as well as you thought. I have one element in particular that I am not ready to solve. Some of the characters in my story have made significant technological advances in a future that is beyond the lifetime of most of you who read this. I need to determine what kind of food they would eat that takes advantage of technology and no longer requires the kind of intensive farming that we expect. This does not need to actually be “real food”, but it needs to contain enough to sustain them. The idea I used when writing my first draft was successful at moving the story forward, but it does not really work. I have set that problem aside, while seeking advice from some sci-fi writer friends. There are many other things to work on in the meantime.

And all of this is now on hold. I have spent much of October preparing for National Novel Writing Month. Soon I’ll be focused on a month of writing. November is my favourite month.