Crossing into the Ecotone to Write Meaningful Eco-Fiction

 “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”—George Bernard Shaw

At Calgary’s When Words Collide this past August, I moderated a panel on Eco-Fiction with publisher/writer Hayden Trenholm, and writers Michael J. Martineck, Sarah Kades, and Susan Forest. The panel was well attended; panelists and audience discussed and argued what eco-fiction was, its role in literature and storytelling generally, and even some of the risks of identifying a work as eco-fiction.

Someone in the audience brought up the notion that “awareness-guided perception” may suggest an increase of ecological awareness in literature when it is more that readers are just noticing what was always there. Authors agreed and pointed out that environmental fiction has been written for years and it is only now—partly with the genesis of the term eco-fiction—that the “character” and significance of environment is being acknowledged beyond its metaphor; for its actual value. It may also be that the metaphoric symbols of environment in certain classics are being “retooled” through our current awareness much in the same way that Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World or George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four are being re-interpreted—and newly appreciated— in today’s world of pervasive surveillance and bio-engineering.

I would submit that if we are noticing it more, we are also writing it more. Artists are cultural leaders and reporters, after all. I shared my own experience in the science fiction classes I teach at UofT and George Brown College, in which I have noted a trend of increasing “eco-fiction” in the works in progress that students are bringing in to workshop in class. Students were not aware that they were writing eco-fiction, but they were indeed writing it.

I started branding my writing as eco-fiction a few years ago. Prior to that—even though my stories were strongly driven by an ecological premise and strong environmental setting—I described them as science fiction and many as technological thrillers. Environment’s role remained subtle and—at times—insidious. Climate change. Water shortage. Environmental disease. A city’s collapse. War. I’ve used these as backdrops to explore relationships, values (such as honour and loyalty), philosophies, moralities, ethics, and agencies of action. The stuff of storytelling.

Environment, and ecological characteristics were less “theme” than “character,” with which the protagonist and major characters related in important ways.

Just as Bong Joon-Ho’s 2014 science fiction movie Snowpiercer wasn’t so much about climate change as it was about exploring class struggle, the capitalist decadence of entitlement, disrespect and prejudice through the premise of climate catastrophe. Though, one could argue that these form a closed loop of cause and effect (and responsibility).

The self-contained closed ecosystem of the Snowpiercer train is maintained by an ordered social system, imposed by a stony militia. Those at the front of the train enjoy privileges and luxurious living conditions, though most drown in a debauched drug stupor; those at the back live on next to nothing and must resort to savage means to survive. Revolution brews from the back, lead by Curtis Everett (Chris Evans), a man whose two intact arms suggest he hasn’t done his part to serve the community yet.

Minister Mason (Tilda Swinton), an imperious yet simpering figure who serves the ruling class without quite being part of it, reminds the lower class that: 

“We must all of us on this train of life remain in our allotted station. We must each of us occupy our preordained particular position. Would you wear a shoe on your head? Of course you wouldn’t wear a shoe on your head. A shoe doesn’t belong on your head. A shoe belongs on your foot. A hat belongs on your head. I am a hat. You are a shoe. I belong on the head. You belong on the foot. Yes? So it is.  In the beginning, order was prescribed by your ticket: First Class, Economy, and freeloaders like you…Now, as in the beginning, I belong to the front. You belong to the tail. When the foot seeks the place of the head, the sacred line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.”

Ecotones are places where “lines are crossed,” where barriers are breached, where “words collide” and new opportunities arise. Sometimes from calamity. Sometimes from tragedy. Sometimes from serendipity.

When environment shapes a story as archetype—hero, victim, trickster, shadow or shape shifter—we get strong eco-fiction. Good eco-fiction, like any good story, explores the choices we make and the consequences of those choices. Good eco-fiction ventures into the ecotone of overlap, collision, exchange and ultimate change.

In my latest book Water Is… I define an ecotone as the transition zone between two overlapping systems. It is essentially where two communities exchange information and integrate. Ecotones typically support varied and rich communities, representing a boiling pot of two colliding worlds. An estuary—where fresh water meets salt water. The edge of a forest with a meadow. The shoreline of a lake or pond.

For me, this is a fitting metaphor for life, given that the big choices we must face usually involve a collision of ideas, beliefs, lifestyles or worldviews: these often prove to enrich our lives the most for having gone through them. Evolution (any significant change) doesn’t happen within a stable system; adaptation and growth occur only when stable systems come together, disturb the equilibrium, and create opportunity. Good social examples include a close friendship or a marriage in which the process of “I” and “you” becomes a dynamic “we” (the ecotone) through exchange and reciprocation. Another version of Bernard Shaw’s quote, above, by the Missouri Pacific Agriculture Development Bulletin reads: “You have an idea. I have an idea. We swap. Now, you have two ideas and so do I. Both are richer. What you gave you have. What you got I did not lose. This is cooperation.” This is ecotone.

I think we are seeing more eco-fiction out there because ecosystems, ecology and environment are becoming more integral to story: as characters in their own right. I think we are seeing more eco-fiction out there because we are ready to see it. Just as quantum physics emerged when it did and not sooner, an idea—a thought—crystalizes when we are ready for it.

Don’t stay a shoe … go find an ecotone. Then write about it.


Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of award-nominated speculative novels, short stories and non-fiction. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s recent book is the bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” (Mincione Edizioni, Rome). Her latest “Water Is…” is currently an Amazon Bestseller and NY Times ‘year in reading’ choice of Margaret Atwood.

What is NaNoWriMo and Why Should I Care?

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Professional and amateur writers from all over the world come together every November to write a designated amount over a 30 day period. “National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.” Anything over 40,000 words is a novel according to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. “Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved,” says the site.

Why do it? If you’re a writer—well, if you’re human—then you know about procrastination. NaNoWriMo is all about the magical power of deadlines, to help writers achieve their goal of completing a work. Their rationale for participating in this whirlwind month-long marathon is sound:

NEA Expo in the San Diego Convention Centre

Toulouse and I recently attended the NEA Expo in San Diego, California, where my book, The Fiction Writer, was being showcased. It had just been showcased at Book Expo America in New York and was one of the first books to be available through Lightning’s Espresso Book Machine.

Over a hundred exhibitors participated in the NEA expo, attended by over 15,000 delegates from as far away as Georgia and New York. Highlights (for delegates, anyway) were the steel water bottle giveaway by Target, which generated snaking lines all the way to the Starbucks outside the Exhibit Hall and the NEA Expo tote bags, whose line up I unintentionally stumbled into and emerged with a blue bag. I must confess that my very own Fiction Writer pens became a hot item with teachers, eager to take notes with their new green pen that sported the Pixl Alien logo of the Alien Guidebook series.

During the three day drive from Vancouver to San Diego with friend, Margaret, Toulouse and I weathered 105 degree heat and Interstate 5 boredom through frequent Starbuck’s stops (for wireless, sustenance and to cool off), chowing down cool meals at Applebee’s (they are everywhere!) and bedding down at Motel 6s.

Or What’s a Heaven For? Writer’s Contracts and More Elusive Things…(than Higgs boson)

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?— Robert Browning, Andrea del Sarto (1855)
I recently signed a contract for the publication of my prequel to Darwin’s Paradox—Angel of Chaos—and mailed it off to my publisher at Dragon Moon Press. As I walked home from the post office in the brisk winter wind, I reflected that this very act was something I’d dreamt about as a beginning writer: signing and mailing off that elusive contract between publisher and writer for a novel. It had so long exceeded my grasp, and here I was, having done it a few times without a second thought. Well, my thoughts were of the movie rights and foreign rights and… yes, soaring ambitions…

Funny, how the reality of a dream invariably translates into a new dream to attain. We are such strange creatures, always reaching for heaven (“or what’s a heaven for?” said Browning above), never completely satisfied, always yearning, dreaming for more. But we are all on a journey, aren’t we? So, perhaps that is a fitting sentiment. Else we should stagnate into complacency…get fat and comfortable and settle for the mediocrity of an ordinary life…not grow…not evolve…not fulfill our destiny to “be more”… Heaven forbid that we should sink to becoming boring!

But, I digress. This post is really about manuscript contracts and I want to tell you a little about them…what a standard novel contract looks like and all the mysterious details that come with it that you need to look for—especially if you are looking at your first contract. Here’s the scoop.

“The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now!” By Nina Munteanu

The ABC's of Good Writing, One Letter at a Time

The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now! soft-launched today at Pixl Press in Canada (with subsequent print launch scheduled later in the United States and the world through Starfire World Syndicate).

At a Pixl Press party today, attended by family and friends, and in which copious amounts of sushi and green tea were consumed, not to mention a huge Tuxedo Cake, Nina Munteanu—that’s me—was overheard saying: “I borrowed from the wisdom of many authorities on the subject of writing and publishing, notably Robert J. Sawyer, Elizabeth Lyon, Ansen Dibell, Crawford Killian, Elsa Neal, Sol Stein, Margot Finke, Jack Bickham, and Marg Gilks.”

The book is written in a casual, often humorous, style that aims to educate beginning and (even) established writers in the craft and mechanics of successful writing. It is aimed at helping the writer who is serious about publishing his or her fiction, whether it is a short story or epic novel. With this in mind, I provide real examples (e.g., fiction excerpts, query letters, rejection letters, etc.); I also take the writer through practical exercises and give a comprehensive reference list, together with an index for easy navigation.

The Fiction Writer covers a range of topics important to all writers, particularly those starting out with the serious intention of getting published. The guide is arranged in a series of chapters from A to Z, with Chapter titles ranging from “Blazing Beginnings” to “The Zen of Passionate Writing” (see below for a complete Table of Contents).

When submitting your work to editors and agents of fiction, you typically need to provide three things:

• A query (Chapter Q in The Fiction Writer);
• A synopsis (Chapter O in The Fiction Writer); and,
• Sample chapters (the remaining chapters).

Editors of fiction look for stunning writing and great story-telling. They seek originality, genuineness and passion in your writing (Chapter Z in The Fiction Writer). While it’s a given that mechanics of writing can be learned, contrary to what you might think, the art of story-telling can also be taught.
If you apply what you’ve learned in this guide and write from the heart, I guarantee that you will publish. The guide will help you improve your writing. It does not include things like how to market your book, or how to promote your book once it gets published (that’s a whole other guidebook!). What it does include, however, are the key things to do with the writing side of getting published. So, read, learn and go get published!

The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now!

Table of Contents

A. Alien Architecture: Building from Scenes to Worlds
B. Blazing Beginnings
C. Charismatic Characters
D. Get the Dope on Dialogue
E. Exposition & Endless Endings
F. Finding Your Muses & Keeping It
G. Defining Your Genre & Going Beyond It
H. House or Home…Creating Memorable Settings

I. Interviews & Other Weird Interactions
J. The Hero’s Journey
K. Write What You Know
L. Long Form, Short Form
M. Master the Metaphor
N. Now It’s Time for Revision
O. Outlines & Synopses
P. Plotting with Purpose
Q. Queries and Other Quests
R. How to Reject Rejection Letters
S. Get Sensual…And What About SEX
T. Don’t Tell; Show
U. Unclutter Your Writing: Less is More
V. Voices in Your Head
W. Who, When, Where and Why of Doing Research
X. Use eXceptional Language…But Don’t Overdo It
Y. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Z. The Zen of Passionate Writing

This 264-page reference book is the first of several I’m writing and co-writing in The Alien’s Guidebook Series put out by Pixl Press in Canada and Starfire World Syndicate in the United States.

Photo Captions:

1. Anne Voute, copy-editor and associate of Pixl Press, takes a dare from Nina Munteanu and gets ready to take a HUGE bite of a "budong dropping".

2. A wonderful spread that even served escargots (memories of Paris).

3. And there was much dancing.

4. ...the challenge is on...

5. Virginia O'Dine, cover designer and typologist.

Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.

A Hero’s Journey: Part 1, the Journey

Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost—Dante Allighieri (Divine Comedy)

Summoned or not, the god will come—motto over the door of Carl Jung’s house

According to Christopher Vogler (author of The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers) “all stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and movies. They are known collectively as The Hero’s Journey.” The Hero’s Journey is essentially the three-act structure of the ancient Greek play, handed down to us thousands of years ago and consisting of Beginning, Middle, and End (otherwise known as Opening, Development, Conclusion or “the decision to act”, “the action”, and “the consequences of the action”).