We Were In It:
Very Short Stories About Energy

We Were In It: Very Short Stories About Energy is a 180-page book of creative fiction written by Speculative Energy Futures team members during a series of writing workshops hosted by award-winning Canadian novelist and SEF team member Lisa Moore. Following writing prompts that supported non-fiction writers in finding new voices to explore anxieties, hopes, and fears surrounding energy transition, 14 members of the team came together to write 43 speculative stories about energy and energy transition, these were then illustrated by the artist Kamei Lim. The book ends with 4 prompts to inspire you to share your stories.

We wanted what we wrote to touch people. Lasso the cables of connectivity.

We asked: what makes a character? Some said a character is forged under the pressure of societal chaos, all the small hurts, and inconveniences, the lost bus pass that might mean arriving to work late and losing a job.

We thought about plot, and found that it was easier to see cause and effect the closer our characters edged toward precarity.

Everyone had something they wanted to say. We read stories to each other. We learned to believe each other, even though we were writing fiction. We suspended disbelief.

We were in it. We were taking notes about the present and the past because we recognized it as a portal to something better. We wanted to do better. And we acknowledged the ghosts. Our carbon sinks were full of them.

We kept going, and we are writing still. Are you writing? Join us. You are in it too.

Write your own story, or draw one, on one of the postcards in SQUARE. Then you can take a photo and email it to justpowers@ualberta.ca to share it with us.