This is interesting because i’ve been talking about this a lot recently. I manage a novel prize, and for the past three years I’ve noticed a *wealth* of climate change fiction. When I’ve been asked a few times what trends I see in fiction generally, I’ve often said that climate change fiction is on the rise. And while a lot of it is necessarily dystopian, much of it has this dystopia in the background in an unremarkable way. It is really about the people and relationships in daily life *beyond* climate change/disaster.
So my take on it is that, because fiction takes a long time to produce (in trad publishing), it’s simply in the pipeline. And it’s increased in volume because it can no longer be ignored, unlike 20 years ago when everything still felt like it might be fixable.
This is super interesting and I'd really love to talk to you more about it. I understand that novels take longer but films also take about 3 years from writing to production to release. A novel is 2 years from purchase and anywhere from 1 to a million years to write. So I still think this lag is valid and fascinating.
I also think that for deep thinkers like writers the problems that are obvious to everyone now we're also obvious then and the way we censor ourselves or can't quite view the problem is an important narrative.
I've heard people saying that climate fiction is upcoming for at least a decade but never actually seen the results. It's starting to feel like nuclear fusion - constantly chasing this promised land! 🤣
It’s a big job, reading what feels like countless submissions and then trying to grapple with longlist criteria, which always end up feeling personal and arbitrary. This year was *especially* hard because there was so much good work.
Re climate fic: yes, it’s very possible there was always a lot. It may be that the uptick I’ve noticed has in fact come from my own mindset! But I do genuinely believe we’ll see more ... soon. Hehe.
I'm so happy to have found you, via Sarah's workshop. I've been saying much the same for years now, e.g. this old post from 2014 https://gabriellidesign.com/2014/04/zombies-r-us/ (clip: My calling is to join in and participate in this fascination with myths for our era – from a different angle. To turn a light on the good. On what’s working, what we want to aim for, and who we must understand ourselves to be in order to create the future we want.)
Are you familiar with Grist and its sister publication, Fix? They report positive news about the climate crisis, both nonfiction and fiction. https://grist.org/fix/
I look forward to reading your work! Thanks for being here.
I think there are maybe more climate novels than you might think but not necessarily packaged as climate fiction. For example, people like James Smythe where a changed climate is essentially a lurking character in all of his novels in exactly the way @ABelsey has described. But now (as a person who has read a LOT of old and new climate fiction in the last five years or so) I am wondering for what a climate novel that wasn't essentially about adaptation might look like. Really looking forward to reading part two!
Oh I know there's a lot of sci fi and fantasy. I'm wondering where the lit fic and realist novels are - why is our imagination so limited in that regard. Part 2 goes into more detail about books and my very particular criteria!
Btw would love your reading list/faves
Yeah! Let’s trade lists!
This is interesting because i’ve been talking about this a lot recently. I manage a novel prize, and for the past three years I’ve noticed a *wealth* of climate change fiction. When I’ve been asked a few times what trends I see in fiction generally, I’ve often said that climate change fiction is on the rise. And while a lot of it is necessarily dystopian, much of it has this dystopia in the background in an unremarkable way. It is really about the people and relationships in daily life *beyond* climate change/disaster.
So my take on it is that, because fiction takes a long time to produce (in trad publishing), it’s simply in the pipeline. And it’s increased in volume because it can no longer be ignored, unlike 20 years ago when everything still felt like it might be fixable.
I should add that the prize I manage is one for authors who have never been published before. So these are potential debut novels, from new writers.
This is super interesting and I'd really love to talk to you more about it. I understand that novels take longer but films also take about 3 years from writing to production to release. A novel is 2 years from purchase and anywhere from 1 to a million years to write. So I still think this lag is valid and fascinating.
I also think that for deep thinkers like writers the problems that are obvious to everyone now we're also obvious then and the way we censor ourselves or can't quite view the problem is an important narrative.
I've heard people saying that climate fiction is upcoming for at least a decade but never actually seen the results. It's starting to feel like nuclear fusion - constantly chasing this promised land! 🤣
What prize do you run?
I look after submissions for the Daniel Goldsmith Associates First Novel Prize https://www.firstnovel.co.uk/about-the-prize/
It’s a big job, reading what feels like countless submissions and then trying to grapple with longlist criteria, which always end up feeling personal and arbitrary. This year was *especially* hard because there was so much good work.
Re climate fic: yes, it’s very possible there was always a lot. It may be that the uptick I’ve noticed has in fact come from my own mindset! But I do genuinely believe we’ll see more ... soon. Hehe.
I really hope your right! And I don't envy you having to navigate all those manuscripts. I've read for flash comps before and wow it's a whole thing
I'm so happy to have found you, via Sarah's workshop. I've been saying much the same for years now, e.g. this old post from 2014 https://gabriellidesign.com/2014/04/zombies-r-us/ (clip: My calling is to join in and participate in this fascination with myths for our era – from a different angle. To turn a light on the good. On what’s working, what we want to aim for, and who we must understand ourselves to be in order to create the future we want.)
Are you familiar with Grist and its sister publication, Fix? They report positive news about the climate crisis, both nonfiction and fiction. https://grist.org/fix/
I look forward to reading your work! Thanks for being here.
Thanks Julie! Can't wait to read your post. Grist do such great work - love them!
Caveat: that's an old one! I still stand by it (mostly).
Haha I'll take nearly a decade of human growth and experience into account when u read it 🙂
Just ran across this - looks amazing. https://thenewpress.com/books/afterglow
Oh love it. Thanks!
Read this entire article waiting for a picture of your cat(s). Disappointed.
Try here https://open.substack.com/pub/fictionalsarah/p/the-rabbit-hole-1?r=9ged5&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Or here https://open.substack.com/pub/fictionalsarah/p/13-short-stories-about-climate-change?r=9ged5&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
I think there are maybe more climate novels than you might think but not necessarily packaged as climate fiction. For example, people like James Smythe where a changed climate is essentially a lurking character in all of his novels in exactly the way @ABelsey has described. But now (as a person who has read a LOT of old and new climate fiction in the last five years or so) I am wondering for what a climate novel that wasn't essentially about adaptation might look like. Really looking forward to reading part two!
Oh I know there's a lot of sci fi and fantasy. I'm wondering where the lit fic and realist novels are - why is our imagination so limited in that regard. Part 2 goes into more detail about books and my very particular criteria!