Maia KB ChowdhuryI’m home recovering after a bug, post-finishing my doctorate, post-finishing-school-vacation-trip, and in that in‑between space where I’m figuring out how to bring my doctoral thesis into the world as a book while preparing to release the third ecofiction novel in my trilogy.
I’ll share the trilogy more on Instagram soon; but of course I’ll talk about it here too.
While I’m resting, I’ve been thinking about two things:
1. How to share what I’ve learned from writing visionary ecofiction; not as formal tutorials, but as small, generous micro‑snippets of thought.
2. How much I enjoy posting Three Good Things here on Mastodon.
This led me to realize that the micro‑tutorials can become Three Good Things. A small, informal, unstructured series about what I’ve learned so far.
Here we go.
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Three Good Things I’ve Learned About Writing Visionary Ecofiction
1. It brings community together; even when people disagree.
Across all three novels, I learned so much from people with different perspectives:
• fracking / hydraulic fracturing (Book 1)
• medical marijuana (Book 2)
• high‑speed rail (Book 3).
Ecofiction is a meeting place; not a consensus.
2. Writing is solitary; but you don’t have to be lonely in it.
Anything that helps you contextualize yourself in your larger community is healthy;
walks, cafés, writing groups, reading groups, sharing drafts.
People’s commentary is subjective but sharing your work is grounding.
Place yourself in your wider spheres; it helps.
3. Take joy in the finishing and sharing stages.
There’s real pleasure in thinking about the special parts of your process and how you want to share them.
I love outlining, first drafting, sculpting, revising, hearing the text read back to me, and working with an editor and designer, but also, imagining the visual vignettes that accompany the trilogy. I’m figuring out a visual narrative to share the trilogy on Instagram.
Finishing is its own creative act.
Working in a genre that’s still emerging (visionary ecology or visionary ecofiction) gives me freedom to genre‑bend fearlessly.
Book 1 is a love story (but not a romance).
Book 2 is a mystery (but not a cozy).
Book 3 is an adventure (but not Indiana Jones).
The elasticity is part of the joy.
These are my three good things today, the first in what I hope will become an informal series of micro‑tutorials on writing visionary ecofiction.
What lights are you up? When you write, how do you define yourself within your genre?
Keep writing and share!
PS, the photo was taken at Giverny, Monet’s Garden in France, on my recent trip.
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