Fantastic article, Claudia. You tie together so many threads I’ve been following. I appreciate your emphasis on the emotional content of these stories. I lean toward hopeful CliFi as well, because — why not?! If I’m going to employ my imagination, and stories create worlds, I prefer to spend my precious human life creating the world I want to live in. Thanks for the reminder of Ghosh’s point about nature as protagonist. You just jarred something loose in my evolving story idea. 💚
Thank you. 🙏🏼 it’s wild to me how ‘irrelevant’ and ‘low brow’ some people believe cli-fi to be, since we are living within this atmosphere— how could anyone take its changes for granted?
My elevator pitch is:
A young girl takes refuge in an enchanted rhododendron grove, that allows her to traverse time throughout or climate change driven apocalypse. Sheltered from the extremes of climate change, and even war, she embodies the individual strands of human collective wisdom, towards solution. Influenced by internal family systems and intergenerational, anti-carceral, indigenous growth paradigms, disability justice’s press to do what we can with who we are, and ‘weedy’ species everywhere, this piece is a mediation calling us to connect with the larger web towards a salvageable future.
his is an incredibly insightful and inspiring breakdown of cli-fi and worldbuilding.
Your novel There Is Hope sounds fascinating, especially the way it explores transhumanism and our evolving relationship with nature. I'd love to chat more about it if you are open to it.
Also I cant find the group chat, can you send a link inbox.
Yes, I've read all three Maddaddam books. They helped me learn to write fiction. Although, I felt the explanations given in the third about events in the first were a bit forced, as if only fleshed out after publication of the first (and maybe the publishers were keen she moved on after the third, or perhaps boredom set in... 🤔). The theme, animals and Snowman character were the most memorable (and certain blue appendages 😳). The setting and ideas didn't do so much for me.
But I'm a big Atwood fan and appreciate how she wilfully carves 'SF' from 'speculative'. I also aspire to her precise writing, with her style set as my author comparator in ProWritingAid. I've even used a word play on 'Maddaddam' within a later scene in my first novel!
I love Atwood! Oryx and Crake is to this day one of my favorite sci-fi books. I loved everything about it, even when I re-read it years later. Agree about the rest of the series. In part two there were still fascinating elements: the brothel with the nanotech skin outfits. The eco organization—what were they, the gardeners? The characters were also engaging. The third part was interesting because of the interaction between humans and the children of Crake. Crazy setup but so imaginative!
I had a similar experience with it. The first book was the best. I haven’t read many trilogies, but that’s usually my experience. It’s like the writer runs out of steam by the end.
Great piece Claudia! Really good info and reflections on the works that have influenced you in the past 20 years. And really amazing to think back just 20 years and contemplate how modalities of content creation and consumption have evolved through global connectivity, smartphones, streaming, and digital mediums. Things have changed!!! Not sure if better or worse…or some non-binary, multiplicity of thought that allows for a more nuanced and complex vision of the impact of technology for those with access and those without. Awesome work!
Wow, just realized it’s been indeed 20 years since I read Oryx and Crake for the first time. The world feels messier, that’s the first word that comes to mind. Cluttered with attention-grabbing devices, platforms etc. It also feels smaller, more accessible and more fragile.
Fantastic article, Claudia. You tie together so many threads I’ve been following. I appreciate your emphasis on the emotional content of these stories. I lean toward hopeful CliFi as well, because — why not?! If I’m going to employ my imagination, and stories create worlds, I prefer to spend my precious human life creating the world I want to live in. Thanks for the reminder of Ghosh’s point about nature as protagonist. You just jarred something loose in my evolving story idea. 💚
Thank you, Julie. I’m glad that it helped. Hopeful cli-fi is very needed to spark the imagination and give a glimpse of possible futures.
awesome... working on it right now!
Great, Nick!
Thank you. 🙏🏼 it’s wild to me how ‘irrelevant’ and ‘low brow’ some people believe cli-fi to be, since we are living within this atmosphere— how could anyone take its changes for granted?
My elevator pitch is:
A young girl takes refuge in an enchanted rhododendron grove, that allows her to traverse time throughout or climate change driven apocalypse. Sheltered from the extremes of climate change, and even war, she embodies the individual strands of human collective wisdom, towards solution. Influenced by internal family systems and intergenerational, anti-carceral, indigenous growth paradigms, disability justice’s press to do what we can with who we are, and ‘weedy’ species everywhere, this piece is a mediation calling us to connect with the larger web towards a salvageable future.
Thanks Claudia, I had never seen it broken down like this before. Very helpful!
Thanks, Shoni! Happy it helped.
his is an incredibly insightful and inspiring breakdown of cli-fi and worldbuilding.
Your novel There Is Hope sounds fascinating, especially the way it explores transhumanism and our evolving relationship with nature. I'd love to chat more about it if you are open to it.
Also I cant find the group chat, can you send a link inbox.
Thank you so much. You can find an overview of the Future of Nature chats here: https://juliegabrielli.substack.com/p/the-future-of-nature-4e0?utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true
Oryx & Crake was the novel I read after I decided to write my own.
Did you finish the trilogy?
Yes, I've read all three Maddaddam books. They helped me learn to write fiction. Although, I felt the explanations given in the third about events in the first were a bit forced, as if only fleshed out after publication of the first (and maybe the publishers were keen she moved on after the third, or perhaps boredom set in... 🤔). The theme, animals and Snowman character were the most memorable (and certain blue appendages 😳). The setting and ideas didn't do so much for me.
But I'm a big Atwood fan and appreciate how she wilfully carves 'SF' from 'speculative'. I also aspire to her precise writing, with her style set as my author comparator in ProWritingAid. I've even used a word play on 'Maddaddam' within a later scene in my first novel!
I love Atwood! Oryx and Crake is to this day one of my favorite sci-fi books. I loved everything about it, even when I re-read it years later. Agree about the rest of the series. In part two there were still fascinating elements: the brothel with the nanotech skin outfits. The eco organization—what were they, the gardeners? The characters were also engaging. The third part was interesting because of the interaction between humans and the children of Crake. Crazy setup but so imaginative!
I had a similar experience with it. The first book was the best. I haven’t read many trilogies, but that’s usually my experience. It’s like the writer runs out of steam by the end.
The Broken Earth trilogy gets better as the series advances. The third book is the best. Otherwise it’s like you wrote, the first one is the best.
Great piece Claudia! Really good info and reflections on the works that have influenced you in the past 20 years. And really amazing to think back just 20 years and contemplate how modalities of content creation and consumption have evolved through global connectivity, smartphones, streaming, and digital mediums. Things have changed!!! Not sure if better or worse…or some non-binary, multiplicity of thought that allows for a more nuanced and complex vision of the impact of technology for those with access and those without. Awesome work!
Wow, just realized it’s been indeed 20 years since I read Oryx and Crake for the first time. The world feels messier, that’s the first word that comes to mind. Cluttered with attention-grabbing devices, platforms etc. It also feels smaller, more accessible and more fragile.