Writing Exercise 21: Imagining Change
In a speech in 2014, the writer Ursula K Le Guin praised writers who could imagine a way in which the world could be different. Last week, at the end of an article in the Financial Times, Arundhati Roy wrote of the need to “imagine another world.” So let’s begin.
Stage 1.
Think of something in the world today that troubles you and that you wish could be changed. You don’t have to know how the change could be achieved. It could be something little like getting rid of self-service tills or something bigger like abolishing homelessness. Write down the change you want to see.
Stage 2.
Now start to imagine a society or world in which that change has been achieved and a return to the current state of affairs is appalling or unimaginable. Start with someone in the new society and describe their reaction to whatever you have abolished (self-service tills, homelessness) as though its existence or introduction had been suggested as a new idea. Write it down.
Stage 3.
Begin to consider how differently that new society has to be arranged. What changes of attitude and values are there? What other changes have been made? Make a list.
Stage 4.
Now start to think of different problems that might arise in this new society. Would there be different conflicts in human relationships or new abuses of power? Make a list of some of these possible conflicts and abuses.
Stage 5.
Imagine a character faced with one or more of these conflicts or abuses. Does this character have a story to tell? If so, write it down.
There is a lot more you can do to imagine this new world and eventually you may wish to imagine how this society with different values has come into being.
Stage 1.
Think of something in the world today that troubles you and that you wish could be changed. You don’t have to know how the change could be achieved. It could be something little like getting rid of self-service tills or something bigger like abolishing homelessness. Write down the change you want to see.
Stage 2.
Now start to imagine a society or world in which that change has been achieved and a return to the current state of affairs is appalling or unimaginable. Start with someone in the new society and describe their reaction to whatever you have abolished (self-service tills, homelessness) as though its existence or introduction had been suggested as a new idea. Write it down.
Stage 3.
Begin to consider how differently that new society has to be arranged. What changes of attitude and values are there? What other changes have been made? Make a list.
Stage 4.
Now start to think of different problems that might arise in this new society. Would there be different conflicts in human relationships or new abuses of power? Make a list of some of these possible conflicts and abuses.
Stage 5.
Imagine a character faced with one or more of these conflicts or abuses. Does this character have a story to tell? If so, write it down.
There is a lot more you can do to imagine this new world and eventually you may wish to imagine how this society with different values has come into being.
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