Writing the Future #5: Back to the Future

This is the #5 post in blog series on writing speculative science fiction.  It’s from a workshop I conducted at Writers & Books in February 2020.

So, now that I’ve covered scientific speculation, on to the softer kind of predictive writing, based on social trends. Social speculation is less of a projection of where we think science could take us and more of a commentary on our current culture. For example, some people think that the internet makes us narcissistic – so what would a future look like where everyone is a raging narcissist; maybe we’re already there.

The science aspect in world-building and social or trend speculations help to flesh out the characters. The tech may be the “why” of their lives, but the social consequences are the “how.” How your future society functions isn’t necessarily based around an emerging tech either. Just like with tech, you can take any social trend that’s happening now and project it into the future.
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Social speculation is often a way for the author to discuss the status quo without direct commentary. Worried about the looming Vietnam War in the wake of the Second World War, Kurt Vonnegut used a man’s encounter with the humorous alien Tralfamadorians in his novel Slaughterhouse-Five.  With the alien’s ability to alter time and he wrote harrowing account of the horrors of modern warfare amid comic interactions with the creatures.
Whether you’re imagining the cultural implications of a specific tech – like Gibson’s cyberspace addicted society, or commenting on the direction of trends, akin to Atwood’s commentary on the religious subjugation of women, your characters are uniquely shaped by the futuristic world they inhabit. Just like we’re shaped by the world.  

Thought Activity: Back to the Future

Part One: The Past

​There’s a two-part activity I call “Back to the Future,” It plays with time and helps me think about how much society and changes in a few decades. We are somewhat of experts in the community we live in – so imagine describing your current 2020 day, and all the nebulous social constructs and interwoven technologies to someone living in the 1980s. I might say something like – “my phone also has a television and a camera, and I carry it in my hand.” 

Part Two: The Future

Now reverse it. How might somebody 40 years in the future describe their day and their technology? Maybe they’d say – “it’s like your smartphone, but implanted in your visual cortex. It blurs other people’s faces in public to protect privacy.” So, it’s 2060 – walk us through a day, or a character’s day. What tech or trend has advanced, what’s obsolete, what’s brand new?

​The farther back in history you get, the more you have to explain. How would you describe your smartphone to someone from the Victorian Era? Maybe you’d just say it’s “voices and pictures from someone very far away.” And on the other side – how would someone 200 years in the future describe their world to you? – Probably with similar vagueness and logical leaps. When speculating, it’s important to remember that you’re an expert on the present and near future, but the farther you get away from current society, the more unfamiliar your constructed world will become. 

Other Blogs in this Series:

• Blog 1: Writing the Future
• Blog #2: Squint at Tomorrow
• Blog #3: The Future is Never Here
• Blog #4: Sci-Fi as Philosophy
• Blog #6: Foresight