Discovering the Story as We Write the Story
How science writer Lisa S. Gardiner combines exploration with explanation
“I feel like I am still learning.” —Lisa S. Gardiner, author of Reefs of Time
Preview: Emerging Form Episode 140 with Lisa S. Gardiner
“I was laying the track while driving the train,” says Lisa S. Gardiner, about the researching and writing of her newest book Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival. In this episode of Emerging Form, we converse with Lisa about the major differences between writing a book of linked essays and a book with its own narrative arc, the art of weaving the self into a non-memoir story (and why you might want to do this), her advice for writing a better book proposal, and the art of unpacking our own curiosity and letting it guide us in our research and writing.
Lisa S. Gardiner is a freelance writer, geoscientist, and educator. She is the author of Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival and Tales from an Uncertain World: What Other Assorted Disasters Can Teach Us About Climate Change. Her writing has appeared in Nautilus Magazine, Scientific American, bioGraphic, and Audubon, among other places.
What We’re Reading and Listening to:
Rosemerry:
I love the way poet Jane Hirshfield brings science into her poems, but in this poem, it’s all embodiment. All sensual. All remembering why we love summer.
Why might we want to slow down? What is at risk if we don’t? I love this poem, “The Risk of Tenderness” shared this week by my friend James Crews, a multiple-time guest on Emerging Form. It’s such an invitation to show up—for ourselves and each other.
Christie:
Rita Bullwinkel’s novel, Headshot, follows the lives of eight teenage boxers as they compete at the Daughters of America Cup at Bob’s Boxing Palace in Reno. Even though the story takes place at a boxing tournament, it’s not really about boxing, it’s about becoming — who these girls aspire to be, who they were before boxing and who the selves they grow into in the future. (The narration switches back and forth between the present and flashbacks to their backstories and flash forwards to the lives they are destined to lead.) It’s a quick read, but it stayed with me. Bullwinkel (can we just pause to admire what an amazing name that is?) uses repetition and short paragraphs to tell this story, much of which of which is internal dialog.
Looking for a summer delight? Go read Evelyn Lamb’s fascinating story about the mathematical properties of synchronous firefly displays. It will remind you that there is still joy and wonder in the world.
https://nautil.us/the-mathematical-mysteries-of-fireflies-1204513/
I love Joshua Rothman’s exploration of what is lost when we start to rely on AI. Can we continue to be creative, curious, thoughtful people if we start offloading learning, trial and error and just trying in general, to AI? “If we’re not careful, then our minds will do less as computers do more, and we will be diminished as a result.”
Haikulings from the Virgin Islands
astonished by waves
turquoise beyond turquoise—
even astonishment deepens
*
with snorkel and mask
the same world seen richer—
so, too, with poems
*
coral reef—
all my ideas of what is possible
swim off
*
before I loved you
there was a world—
wasn’t there a world?
*
after the tsunami
didn’t happen
a rising interest in geology
*
the ship can always slip
into the unpredictable sea—
your hand in my hand
*
scent of plumeria—
how many other surprise sweetnesses
yet to discover
*
holding my breath
beneath the waves just to feel
the rising urge to live
*
watching the white heron
something in me
grows wings
*
not one to knock
the morning dove delivers song
through the open window
*
dinosaurs, too,
heard this at sunset—
wind in the palm leaves
*
billions of white shells—
falling in love
with their differences
—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
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This week, we talk with Lisa about why falling down a rabbit hole is always a good thing, her elaborate “sticky notes in the window plan” for organizing her book, and the importance of engaging in non-verbal activities. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, you can go now to our website, EmergingForm.substack.com, or by clicking the button below. Thank you!
Two Questions:
(share your answers with us here on Substack or in our FB group)
What advice would you give someone working on a book proposal?
What is your favorite part of writing?
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Perhaps my favorite part of writing is that moment when you write into discovery, some thing you didn't know or realizing that you set of in one direction and ended up somewhere else. I feel like I haven't been there in a while, but keep going to see what shows up.