Writing Stories of and from the Future: Fostering Personal and Socio-Political Action

This chapter takes the shape of alternating viewpoints on using stories of and from the future as vehicle for resistance and personal and social change. Clinical psychologist and fiction author Nick Wood focuses on the writing of his debut novel Azanian Bridges and how he weaved in his experiences with an ex-patient (the unfolding ‘Sibusiso’s’ story). Narrative psychologist Anneke Sools draws on examples from her research on how personal narrations from the future (Letters from the Future) guide present thought and action. We share our ideas on: (1) Why Write Science Fictional Differences? (2) What Is the Ground, for the Seeds of Stories? (3) The Story Seeds Are Sharing What You Know-and Learning Too; (4) What’s the Water on the Ground? The Impetus for Developing an Idea; (5) Whose Story Is This? (6) Which Stories Get Heard? (7) Feedback from Our Storying; (8) Just Doing It: Ten Steps for Turning Story Seeds into Trees. All in all, our respective viewpoints and experiences can scaffold ideas about changing the lives of individuals and communities. Together, we propose ways forward for promoting the creation of stories that embrace the struggles of now, but also potential ways of building alternative, hopefully more meaningful and communal futures.