Writing exercise: tomorrow

Warm up: tomorrow

Imagine circumstances where the future is only ever one day ahead. Think about a situation that you can’t plan for, like the life of a refugee or someone on the run. Write a few sentences about the “future” for this person, what they might hope for in the coming day.

Have you ever encountered a situation where you’ve only been able to think one day ahead at a time? Write about that time.

Brainstorm: Language as future

“The past is always tense, the future perfect” – Zadie Smith

Is language something that dates, goes out of fashion, or changes with the times?

Spend some time coming up with examples of how language used in various texts might help you to identify when it was written (Shakespeare, for example, although his use of language was often positively futuristic!). Think of words that have only just begun to be used. How does our language change in response to our experiences?

Think of words or phrases you heard as a child that aren’t widely used any more. Now try to think of words that a younger person might, either now or in the future.

Start Writing

• Come up with a word or a phrase (perhaps one that you don’t hear used any more) that you’d like to bring with you into the future. Write about when you heard it, how it was used, and how you’d like it to be heard or used in the future.
• Choose a word or a phrase to take with you into the future - make a case for why it should keep being used. Does it change its meaning as time goes on? If so, what does it come to mean?
• Alternatively, choose a word from our current vocabulary that you would like to die out. What word would you like never to hear again? What would you like people to think when they hear it used once it’s not in regular conversation?
• Imagine a word from the future. What does it mean and how is it used?