Flora and Fauna in Fiction

Goddesses and Nature

Flora and fauna are two of my best friends. The two categories have always amused me because they sound like women’s names, and, in fact, are. Flora was originally the name of the Greek goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility. The internet lists about 75 famous (or notorious) women named Flora. The biological meaning refers to the types of plants found in a particular geographic region. Thus, the flora of Madagascar is so rare that more than 80 percent of the plants are found only on the island, including species of orchids, palms, and baobabs. The flora of Colorado includes native species as well, some of my favorite are kinnikinnick, blue columbines, and wood roses.

“Fauna” is much less popular as a name even though it too was the name of a goddess of fertility. When I checked naming sites for feminine names, Fauna was very unpopular. In fact, in 2017 it ranked a low 20,000 (with number one being most popular). It has moved up a bit, perhaps due to Fauna Hodel, the mystery writer. In Madagascar, the fauna is also unique—lemurs with their long tails, sometimes ringed in black and white, and their cousins the soft white sifakas—definitely evoke one’s curiosity. In Colorado, while most of our wild animals are common to the west, we do have a unique squirrel, a species of Abert, which looks like a little pointed ear black devil when it peers down from a pine tree.

Plants and Animals in Colorado

Despite my digression into the names of goddesses and the flora and fauna of Madagascar, my concern with plants and animals is how to depict them in my novels which take place in Colorado. Naturally, they can make a story resonate with an authentic sense of place, creating familiarity or exoticism, or even, in the case of fauns creating an imaginary world. Needless to say, to create verisimilitude, authors must be careful to represent flora and fauna accurately when necessary to describe a region. Even with the spread of species to new habitats, one must be careful because some plants and animals simply don’t occur in some regions. Moreover, the number and variety of plants and animals differ depending on the era one is describing.

I am currently writing about two very different areas of Colorado which keeps me on my toes. Fortunately, I have spent time in both. Having grown up in the mountains, I always feel slightly uneasy when I am in a geographically flat area such as Oklahoma. I feel as though I might fall off the earth. Both landscapes I am writing about are dramatic but in different ways. One is in the Foothills of the Front Range where the Rockies tumble down to crash in waves on the Great Plains. The other is more than 300 miles away in Northwestern Colorado near Dinosaur National Monument.

Flora of the Front Range

The Front Range flora tempers the harshness of the mountains. The winds that drop over the mountains ruffle the trees and grasses as they descend. I could simply describe Front Range Flora with color terms because they vary so much depending on the season of the year. But I could also focus on sound. Most importantly, for accuracy, I need to learn the names, at least the common names, of the plants that paint the canvas my characters inhabit.

Fauna of the Front Range

As for the fauna, I know most of the common names of the animals on the Front Range, although specific species elude me. The most visible wild animals on the Front Range have always been the hawks, vultures, and bats as they circle high in the sky at different times of the day. While walking or riding horses in the Foothills, I have often seen coyotes, bears, or deer, and on occasion a bobcat. At times I have seen foxes, raccoons, and rabbits play in my yard. And, most amusingly, a very large bear left a huge pile of “fertilizer” in my flower garden last summer which resulted in my flowers developing extraordinarily large blossoms. Moose and cougars are common nowadays in this area, they even occasionally walk right down our street, while during the time period I am writing about they simply were not around. In the past, I used to hike and jog on the trails alone and was never surprised by anything but a chipmunk.

North Western Colorado

The other landscape I am writing about is in the northwestern part of the state. During the early part of the twentieth century, it had meadows with tall grasses in the bottoms below the low dry mesas. But since the Great Depression, it has been an arid and rocky desert. The light there is so bright it hurts your eyes. Most of the mesas are light-colored—shifting only from white to grey to a pale yellow—and very dry. Even the bushes are dry and light grey with a hint of lavender most of the year. Dry creeks beds, surprisingly, are scattered with very colorful stones that have been washed down from the mountains in the distance. The parched surface is dotted with bits of skeletons—mostly sheep and other small critters. If I take a walk, I have to watch out for rattlers. Only after the springtime rains do the flowers appear.

These different landscapes with their different flora and fauna definitely call for different kinds of stories. As D.H. Lawrence wrote: “All creative art must rise out of a specific soil and flicker with a spirit of place.” Writing—like the flora and fauna it describes—grows and flourishes in a distinctive environment.

Writing Goals for 2019

This year my goals are to:

1. Edit my first novel into a coherent manuscript by December 7, 2019. During the month of February, I have been reading about point of view and paying closer attention to the POV used in novels I have been reading.  I am finding that “editing” involves rewriting and experimenting. Thus, I have tried rewriting from a different point of view, just to see if the story flows better.
2. Complete a draft of my second novel by December 7, 2019. I worked on the outline and characters for my second novel and discussed it with a kindred spirit. I reread my notes and began to sketch in some scenes.
3. Document my progress through a blog to be posted on the seventh day of each month, writing 12 blogs in 2019. Today is March 7, 2019. This is my third blog of 2019. Blogging about my writing process approximates having someone to talk to as I proceed. It helps me to think about different approaches and what I need to focus on to write solidly.
4. Continue to develop a network of kindred spirits in the world of writing and publishing. This month I read a blog that is written by editors who edit for writers and others who serve as ghostwriters, as well as several blogs by members of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers group. Fortunately for me, the Boulder Writers Alliance offered a workshop, led by Caitlin Berve of Ignited Ink Writing, on point of view this month. During the workshop, Caitlin asked us to write. I took the opportunity to rethink a scene from a completely different point of view. It was a good exercise. It helped me see the scene better. My BWA writers’ groups have also developed into social groups during happy hours which is a very nice way to relax after a hard day of writing.