Change
I peer outside my window and I see the green hues of the trees living around my house and I wonder: what will it look like in a year? A decade? Or even a century? Would the wilderness that I so love bow down to a greater master - climate change, perhaps? Would a stranger decide to cut it down to build their stronghold?
In time, I would change, even if my world does not. I am human: an ever wandering, exploring, pondering, and evolving creation. My perspectives, aspects of my personality, what I hate, what I love: all would change. I would form new memories and replace old feelings with new ones.
In this past month alone, I have been blown by the changes happening in my life. This summer I am overwhelmed with the amount of seeds I should plant and the dead trees I must cut down, even with a heavy heart.
Growing up is difficult. I must continuously rip down all that does not serve me anymore. I must plant new flowers in the garden of my mind, remember to water the trees that give me fruit, and, most importantly, I must learn to accept the wild I cannot tame inside me.
Every day in our lives brings change: that is the miracle of life. We often do not realise it, but everything around us is the product of change. We call it various names: seasons, growth, self-development, mould and rust, death and disease, political unrest, and so much more.
We have been taught to fear change when it stares us in the face, to lash out when it does not appeal to us, or even to try escaping it, but when change arrives knocking at our door, there is nowhere to run, because it is inside us. When we do not accept it, we turn into worse versions of ourselves - we become stagnant and stale.
Change will always come, so we must cherish our happy moments and live and love to the fullest. It will be both good and bad and we must learn to trust ourselves to deal with both.
Thus, in this post, I would like to talk about change in stories and the environment and I will end with some prompts we hope will inspire you to write.
Just as change is integral to life, it is the foundation of stories.
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
Stories: The Realm
of Change
What makes stories so exciting? Change.
All stories are born from change: at first, we are introduced to the protagonist and their stasis - their usual everyday life as they know it. Then comes the inciting incident that pushes the protagonist to make a choice that changes their life. A series of causative plot points follow, changing the protagonist, the other characters, and potentially their world.
As writers, we know that we must create realistic and logical arcs for our characters; we decide how they should change and what changes them. Often, we also decide that the world must change too as a result of the protagonist’s actions, as what happens in fantasy or dystopia.
As readers, we want satisfying arcs for the characters we are rooting for and most of us get disappointed if that arc falls flat and all the time we had spent attaching our souls to the story is for naught.
The journey of change the characters undertake is what makes stories so invigorating. A lot of the time, the change might be for the worse, but readers stick around nevertheless, because even if it seems impossible, they still have that tiny sliver of hope that things will take a turn for the better. Occasionally, we get tragic endings, but the reader stays hooked to the story because of that negative change which, if done realistically, can also be satisfying.
The final and most important change is that in the audience. As readers, we discover new truths and perspectives, and learn to look at the world differently. Just as stories are realms of change, we leave them essentially changed, because long after the story ends, we carry with us a piece of it, even subconsciously. Stories are adventures from which both the characters and the readers learn a great deal about life and themselves.
In short, change is the heart of a story.
Some Sub-Themes
of Change
Change might just be the broadest theme; it’s like a mother-of-all. That’s why I want to point out some of the themes that fall under the umbrella of change.
Redemption
This theme involves a character who undergoes a moral arc from bad to good. It is about acknowledging and accepting one’s flaws and mistakes and working on evolving into someone better. If done well, it is satisfactory for the writer and the readers.
Coming-of-age
A popular theme, coming-of-age stories - also known as bildungsroman - follow a character that goes through a revelatory experience or eventually reaches self-awareness, maturity, or an epiphany. It involves much change in the character’s perspectives and map of the world.
Recovery
Whether healing from a physical injury or disease or improving one’s mental health, the journey of recovery requires many modifications in one’s lifestyle and mindset.
New life
What would it be like to start a new life? To turn the page and not look back? Would the past come back to haunt us? What new people would we meet and what new experiences would we live?
Travel or Journey
What new worlds and environments might the protagonist happen upon? What would a change of scenery inspire in them?
Power and corruption
As we acknowledged, not all change is good. What consequences would occur if a person is attached to power? If greed overthrew the ruling authority? How much change is caused by corruption and how much change is needed to root it out?
Environmental change
To incorporate the theme, use conflicts, character actions, and conversations that build towards it. Remember to use literary devices such as motifs and symbols.
Environmental Change
One of the most fundamental changes in our lives is environmental change. It can be caused by human activity, natural ecological processes, natural disasters, etc..
In recent times, the most infamous change going on is climate change. News headlines are screaming about the negative impact it is leaving everywhere. Every now and then, we read news stories and videos of suffering animals as their habitats change to become inhabitable. Ice is melting, sea levels are rising, and more and more natural disasters are occurring with greater intensity: floods and hailstorms, droughts and fires, hurricanes and tornadoes…
We have altered the environment with our misuse of it and we will have to face the consequences.
It is an invitation to collectively change our perspective of the environment, to change our methods so we protect the Earth instead of harming it, and to change our relationship with our home.
Protestors have raised their voices and more effort is being put into being eco-friendly, but the ruling powers still remain ineffective even though a lot of governments have modified their laws and policies.
Environmental change will continue to take place, with or without us. It can be negative, like climate change and global warming, and it can be positive. In the end, it does not matter what type of change it is, because it does not affect the type of results. Sometimes, what we consider bad change can give way to good.
A Few Prompts for Inspiration
Since change is a broad theme, my fellow editor, Amalou Ouassou, came up with a few prompts to inspire you to write your next amazing piece. We hope you submit it to Ripple so we get a chance to read and appreciate it and so you get a chance to be published in our third issue. Remember to incorporate the environment in your submission!
Without further ado, here are the prompts.
Amalou’s Prompts:
Change of seasons
Give us your meditations on the seasons, the wild, and the passage of time.
Change for the better
Write about your environmental utopia - or a more personal positive change.
Change for the worse
What does a dystopia look like to you in regards to the environment? Like change for the better, this prompt can also be used for personal changes.
Change of course
What should be done in the face of a climate crisis?
Change of scenery
Write of landscapes vastly different from your own; make the reader travel.
Change of heart
Write introspective poetry and fiction using the environment as the central motif.
Submit to Ripple here.