Telling Science Through Story

By Dana D'Amico

I’ll begin my first post by introducing what it is that I do. Like most of you, I’m a trained plant biologist and an ASPB follower. But I’m also a writer. Throughout my career I have studied technical and journalistic writing, both as ways of increasing public interest in and awareness of the plant sciences. Most recently, however, I’ve decided to approach science communication from a less conventional angle: as a candidate for a Masters of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction at the University of Minnesota.

What I aim to do in a 3-year program dedicated to the craft of literary writing is to learn how to engage the public about science through story. In all my reading I have found an abundance of nature and environmental writing, but a real absence of literature that uses attractive prose to promote plant science from a molecular or genetic angle. I want to move beyond the rote translation of technical information and into the less-explored territory of explaining plants as living machines, as complex systems, as rich mosaic organisms rather than superficial ecological backdrop. In my experience, people connect most strongly to stories; this is what makes them care deeply about things –not the translation of unfamiliar jargon into simplified language, or the telling of fact alone.

Consider the following opening passage from Amy Harmon’s NYT feature profile on GM orange farmers from July 2013:

“The call Ricke Kress and every other citrus grower in Florida dreaded came while he was driving.

‘It’s here’ was all his grove manager needed to say to force him over to the side of the road.

The disease that sours oranges and leaves them half green, already ravaging citrus crops across the world, had reached the state’s storied groves. Mr. Kress, the president of Southern Gardens Citrus, in charge of two and half million orange trees and a factory that squeezes juice for Tropicana and Florida’s Natural, sat in silence for several long moments.

Harmon’s piece is an excellent example of a writer opening up a highly technical topic for the lay reader by developing characters and their stories. Her lead conveys the tension of the situation, and by its end the profile has artfully contested certain popular anti-GM narratives with a new perspective, a narrative of its own.

Likewise, I hope to challenge plant scientists to experiment with things like the use of the first person perspective; the incorporation of character, scene, and metaphor into tightly crafted prose; the creation of a narrative that serves as a gratifying entryway into any technical information that might lie at the piece’s heart. At the very least I want to introduce scientists to the possibility of creative writing and art as science outreach –to emphasize simply that such a pursuit exists and that it wants to bloom forth into something much larger. How can you begin to help it grow? A few ways:

•  I often find myself wishing that there were more resources and funding for others like myself–a science writer with a B.S. (non-Ph.D.) level of understanding of plant biology and additional professional training in writing and communication. Unlike working scientists, these types of specialized communicators can dedicate their time specifically to conducting science outreach. They could use more of our professional support. If you’re excited about the idea of your research reaching the public, consider collaborating closely with a science writer for a feature, or an artist for a public event. Depending on your respective levels of interest, you might also look into applying for mutual grants and funding opportunities for longer or more elaborate interdisciplinary projects. The University of Minnesota, for example, has begun to offer internal funding of up to $12,000 for interdisciplinary projects. Or, if you can’t spare the time for collaboration yourself but occupy a position of academic power, consider advocating for new resources and funding that will provide younger members of the field with stronger communications career development. A great example of a successfully funded initiative working along interdisciplinary lines is the “Think Write Publish,” program sponsored by the NSF and implemented in part by the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes at Arizona State University. So far the program has paired early-career scientists with creative nonfiction writers to generate essays, which have been published in major media outlets for a general audience. Programs like this, however, are few and far between. Together we can change the outlook of plant biology by investing in outreach in new, thoughtful ways.

•  Use your influence to get more people involved in science communication! Encourage students early in their careers to focus on science communication as a specialty if they express interest, rather than promoting it as a late-career secondary pursuit beside labwork. If resources allow, consider trying a creative writing exercise in your undergraduate plant science classroom. At the start of an advanced plant physiology course in college, my instructor asked us to recall and share childhood memories of plants as a way of orienting ourselves within the material. The experience clarified my emotional connection to the subject and revealed to me some of my unconscious motivations for pursuing the course, and it was an exercise that I found myself returning to more than once.

•  Familiarize yourself with examples of science not only in journalism, but in wider forms of art and literature. Learn what types of writers are out there engaging with science, and the emotional effect that literary writing can have on the reader. Notice what kind of techniques these authors are using, and how those techniques can then culminate in an emotional argument for a scientific understanding of the world. Read, subscribe to, and share with colleagues your favorite science stories in publications like Orion, Ecotone, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Wired, National Geographic, Aeon, etc. These are the sources that the public is reading every day, and the contributing writers are at the top of their craft.

In future, I’ll be writing blog posts that cover the intersection of the humanities and the sciences –in particular, I’ll investigate the places within that overlap where successful outreach and communication can be done. I’d love to hear your voice in the comments section. Please share your thoughts, ideas, and questions!

Here are a few more examples of literary writing about plants to check out:

• Plants as Place: Wild Trees, Richard Preston
• Plants as Childhood/Memory: The Florist’s Daughter, Patricia Hampl
• Plants as Cultural Identity: Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Plants as Pop Culture: The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart
• Plants as Obsession: The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean
• Plants as Politics: “A Race to Save the Orange By Altering its DNA”, Amy Harmon, NYT July 27, 2013

Dana D’Amico is an MFA candidate in creative nonfiction at the University of Minnesota. She earned her B.S. at Allegheny College studying plant biology and genetics, and her writing blends scientific research with cultural, historical, and personal narratives. Her newest work is forthcoming in The Pinch Journal online. Find her on Twitter @damico_dana.