strates, good nature writing is not just about nature. Black bears, bluebirds, red sunsets, and purple prose all create a colorful setting, but the true story lies in how humans respond to that setting. How does nature affect us and change us? Without change, there is no story. Bears change things. They change our emotions. If we see playful cubs, our coos of “Aw, look how cute they are!” may turn into shrieks of alarm moments later when mama bear roars and charges at us because we’re too close to her kids. Without bears, we’d have no Winnie-the-Pooh, no “exit, pursued by a bear” in Shakespeare, and just think how much more often high school kids would yawn at William Faulkner if his famous story were called “The Squirrel” instead of “The Bear.” I ask the class, “What are some other good reasons for putting a bear in your writing?” It’s a rhetorical question. The average male North American black bear weighs as much as six hundred pounds, has ten claws capable of gouging out a tree trunk, and four
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razor-sharp canine teeth the size of your thumb. That’s six hundred and fourteen good reasons right there. Grizzlies are bigger and therefore even more effective at eliciting screams and turning the pages. People who encounter a half-ton of snarling fur, fang, and claw are going to act differently from how they normally behave. And that’s what every good story is about: change. Get startled by a bear, and it will change your heart rate in a hurry. A few years ago, the governor of Vermont learned that lesson when he tried to scare away some bear cubs from his backyard birdfeeders. Bad decision, Governor. Polls show that mama bears unanimously oppose such a measure. When the governor ran outside, barefoot, to bring in the birdfeeders, mama bear charged. He got back to his porch just in time. The attempted theft of a politician’s birdseed soon spread from the local Lebanon Valley News to news outlets and Twitter feeds across the nation, and is it any wonder why?
Everyone likes a good bear story. Another bear suspect sneaked into a house in New Hampshire around the same time. She allegedly gobbled down some fruit, drank from the goldfish bowl, left a fish flopping on the kitchen counter, and ran off with a teddy bear. Thousands of home burglaries get reported in the US each year, but guess which one made the national news, and made people smile? We like to feel the emotions, good and bad, scary and heartwarming, that bears inspire. A world without bears would be boring. So would a book without bears. That’s why I encourage the class not to stay cooped up indoors or take the road more traveled. New Hampshire is full of off-thebeaten-path places that are sure to provide inspiration, whether a bear shows up or not. The important thing is to go looking. Shakespeare almost had the right idea. To create a truly compelling story, here’s what we writers need to do: Exit, pursuing a bear.
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