April in Southern Ontario

That April
She makes fools of us
Long blades of grass poking through heavy white snow
Daffodil buds hanging low, forlorn and bedraggled

Many harried minutes
Donning heavy winter attire
Applying winter’s schedule
To bright spring sunshine

The sun mocks us
Lighting our way when dinner is done
Glinting off the white
February in May

Burdens hang on us, heavy as the snow
Our heads hang down, forlorn, lost
In this neverland of cold and wet

At night in our warm homes
Heat turned up against the damp
We wonder what we’ll shed
When finally spring’s warmth finds us

We will straighten our backs
As the heat from the sun soaks into us
Let slip our heavy load
And smile with the daffodils

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.

Introducing a Novel

I’ve spent the last many months finishing my novel. I had hoped to blog about it as I went along, but I discovered I couldn’t do both. So in the interest of finishing my story, I let any other writing go by the wayside.

I now consider my first draft to be finished! It currently stands at 80,400 words. That is an impressive number of words to write in nine months when you consider how busy my life is! That’s a big accomplishment for me; there, I’ve given myself a pat on the back.

Let me introduce my story.

Working title: Beyond a Remnant

Genre: climate fiction, also known as cli-fi. When I started writing, I didn’t know there was such a category, but this novel fits perfectly.

Synopsis: Somewhere around the turn of the next century, this story follows the lives of three main characters and the people around them who are surviving the ravages of climate change. From the north of Ontario, known for its fresh water lakes, to the metropolitan areas of western Lake Ontario, only a tiny fraction of today’s population numbers remain. Will the few that are left follow the many and disappear, or is there a way for life to continue? Can this ravaged earth possibly support life when even the few remaining upper class have lost access to its resources?

Before I began this novel, I seemed to be much more aware of climate change than a lot of the people around me. Since writing this novel, my concerns have intensified. There is a whole other story of the people in my novel’s setting that didn’t make it to the year 2100. It’s a story I was forced to think about in general to write my novel, but I hope none of us have to live it out. My novel is almost a worst-case scenario, except that some people have survived. Humanity has not been wiped out. There is hope.

I invite you to join me on my journey towards publication. This is a new step for me. I have never published a book before, but I believe this one needs to be read. I cannot keep it to myself. I expect it will yet be a long journey, as the hard work of editing begins now. I intend to do my own first edit. It is now the story I want others to read, but it is not yet the writing I want others to read. I’m looking forward to editing!

By inviting you to join me, I pledge to increase my communication. As an introvert, I am most comfortable when I keep my thoughts to myself and work things out in my own head. A novel won’t get published if it stays inside someone’s head, and we won’t affect climate change much if we each hide in our own corner. I will never be shouting from the rooftops, but at the very least, I need to post to this blogspot more often.

I’ll be back.

Scared and Excited!

I love the summer season, with it’s warmth and the freedom of bare feet upon the earth. I need to take the time to appreciate it, and every season my writing suffers. Maybe it doesn’t suffer, but not much gets written.

I’m learning to accept that as a part of my life right now. Life needs to be lived in all of its facets. All of life contributes to who I am as a writer, even if I wish that I had more time for the actual craft of writing.

As I write this, it is almost November. I am poised to write a brand new story. I’ve been preparing for this most of the past year, in one way or another. My previous blog posts reflect some of this preparation.

I’ve changed my story plan somewhat. It will still take place in Canada, with its indigenous peoples and its settlers, but what I’ve changed is the time frame. I’ve moved it well into the future. At this point, the year I have imagined is 2099, although that may well change.

I think I have set myself an incredible challenge, one for which I could never prepare enough. And yet, it’s the story I need to write. At the beginning of the month, I said to someone that I am “scared and excited” about NaNoWriMo this year, and that hasn’t changed. I am much more ready now than I was then, and still I am scared and excited.

The world at the turn of the next century is mine to create, but I’d like it to fall within the realm of possiblity. I am not intending this story to be a fantasy, or even science fiction, although I expect it'll fit the dystopia label. I’ve read a lot about climate change. I have no problem believing it is happening, but no one knows what it will really look like. I have an even harder time envisioning what kind of technological changes there will be. Somehow, imagining political types of change isn’t so hard. There is a lot of history to help with that. Regardless, it is all up to me to create this future world.

This is my fifth year doing NaNoWriMo. I achieved the 50,000 word goal the last two years. In the process, I’ve learned to trust my inner writer. This year is going to be a big test of that, but I have a lot of faith. Excited and scared! I’ll see you on the other side of November!