The Wilderness Between

I think that Environmental and Nature Writing has been terribly important and constructive toward my writing. Already in my fiction and other work, I find a deeper sensitivity and connection between landscape and mood and character. I let myself linger a little longer in those moments of setting and description, allowing for a moment of reflection and detail before moving on to action and character.

This class also reminded me of the importance of specifics. Specific plants and animals and textures and colors. Knowing the name of a thing gives it power. It lends this power to the writing as well. I think this also has to do with metaphor. Metaphor is so incredibly effective and creates its own type of specificity. Nature Writing has really allowed me to work on the craft of metaphor.

Metaphor allows for the imprecision of language and communication to become more precise. It creates certain subconscious connections that convey so much more than just the subject itself. Some of the most memorable ones that I’ve written for me have been in my essay. Like the thunderheads over the prairie. I described them in my midterm as “convening like bullfrogs, swelling their chests to claim their territory.” And then in a draft of my final as “bullying thunderheads that flashed as they jostled one another like jocks before a big game.” The bullfrogs convey a much different image than the jocks, and the second description also gives a better sense of imminent threat. Or at least some ill will. I am really glad that I got this chance to hone my language.

I also feel that nonfiction writing has allowed reflection in my pieces that I don’t normally get to take. While I realize that I may not be quite reflective enough to succeed at nonfiction, I feel that this freedom to linger creates some very powerful moments. Moments that I would not have found if I had simply rushed on to the next scene.

Of course, I also learned a lot about the environment that I didn’t know about. Again, specifics. And a lot of the discussions we had (what is nature? Etc) really challenged what I thought about certain topics. I really enjoyed the class trips that we took as well. It was nice to get into nature. For similar reasons, even though it got to be a little much at times, I really enjoyed the nature blogs. I liked being forced to stop and really look at the nature around me. I liked watching autumn happen. I liked the few moments of quiet introspection that made me think, but didn’t feed into my neuroses like worry.

Overall, I thought this course was well put together. It had a nice balance of writing and reading, talking and doing. While I wasn’t crazy about all of the readings, I think that there was something for everyone in the wide spread of nature writing. I’m even recommending Ed Abbey to my father who is a geologist! Most importantly, though I wasn’t converted to nonfiction, I see the important lessons this style of writing can teach me in general. And I enjoy it.