Host by Embodied Earth on April 4th, 2026.
#1
Set the scene for your alternate cli-fi world. Where are we and what are the stakes? How does the setting reflect positive climate outcome?
In this forest far away from the ocean, various species co-live together. You can hear the chirping from day to night and the sound of trees whispering. They are communicating the secrets of the earth. Colorful, vibrant and tranquil.
#2
Write a scene in which your protagonist communicates their motives and faces an obstacle either from another character or their environment. How do they use their resources, mobilize their community and/or rely on their built and natural surroundings to overcome those obstacles?
On this island where sun never sets, the native people invented a way of sleeping without closing their eyes. The Goons formed a community where most of their population fall in love with sleeping or napping, even though they have a 24-hour sun, they would take a break from laboring and farming to take a nap. They usually find a shady spot under this Thousand-Years-Old God Tree where they worship and host rituals. They grow more trees so they can sleep better. They are determined to nap as it is essential to the community and even more effective than eating when when they have low energy. Instead of running north or leaving the island, the Goons work together on finding the best nap spots and share those spots among the communities. It is not about gatekeeping. They understand the beauty of naps. Their resentments toward the sun has drastically decreased because now they are able to nap peacefully with their eyes open.
Sometimes their eyes get dry, the ocean surrounds this island is actually pretty effective in getting eyes washed if they put water on their faces. The sun would dry them up quickly. They jump into water for that sense of coolness and feeling refreshed. They pull ocean water to the pond and children would float in it while they nap. Yes, naps are essential to the Goons.
#3
Free writing
The neighborhood is close to an airport where you can hear airplane zooming every 10 or 15 minutes. The government decided that this neighborhood has the most noise-tolerating gene, based on their national statistics, which is not in fact, truthful. People in Brooklyn decide to take back their sky and some peace for their ears. They do have some genes that serve as noise-cancelling earpods in their inner ears and outer brains. However, this level of noise are unbearable. They can barely hear one another, and they cannot play more music as the noise don’t really mash up well with the music. Brooklynites start to gather and assemble. They collect weapon that can shoot down the noisiest plane and airplane corporates start to get scared. They decide to work with Brooklynite to negotiate a new schedule, and they buy planes that are quieter and use less fuels. After all, the louder one consumes more gas and energy. Smaller and quieter ones are sustainable but not up to the KPI of corporates. Eventually, all planes are downsized and Brooklynites start to hear each other again.
Thoughts
I attended the Climate Writing Workshop yesterday and it was my first time attending a creative writing workshop. I have spent lot of my time painting and drawing for the past few years but I didn’t dive into writing (in English). I suddenly remembered I have this blog where I wrote in majority Mandarin. The workshop was really great and there were like 15-20 people in the backyard of this cool bookstore/cafe/bar. The weather was perfect like 20C and sunny.
For my #1, I didn’t know what to expect so I wrote a small paragraph and some bullets for ideas. After hearing people share their writing, I wrote full paragraphs like #2 and #3. I put some humor into my writing and that was super fun. For #2, I was feeling a bit sleepy and wanted to nap. The weather was perfect for napping. For #3, it was actually inspired by the workshop. When people shared their writing pieces, they were constantly disrupted by the loud noice of airplanes. I think that bookstore is under the path of airplanes that are descending into JFK. I thought it was funny to write about it so I did. Overall, I really enjoy the writing workshop and I am going to start writing more (in English)! Let this creative writing journey begins.
