How do you start a story that takes place in the future?
Do you jump right into it and potentially confuse the reader? Or do you bring someone from our time into the future so they can ask all the same questions we’d be asking?
There is another choice, and book that shows it off very well is Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson.
During the last stream, we took a look at the opening few pages to Steelheart and examined it paragraph by paragraph.
Often, writers like to create stories that take place in the future, or on different worlds. But doing so runs the risk of overwhelming or confusing the reader.
But Steelheart does a great job of grounding the reader in the world right from the start, by hinting at bigger things, and by giving something relatable right off the bat.
Here’s a sample of the annotating we did to the beginning.
Hinting at changes with “Annexation” and phrases like “back then” do a lot of work.
Here’s a quick summary of how to start a story in the future/a different world:
You have to start with something RELATABLE:
- Hunger Games: Katniss goes to hunt to feed her family.
- Leviathan Wakes: Julie Mao hides from invaders on her spaceship.
- Steelheart: David and his father are attacked by an Epic.
Each of these immediately grounds us in the story because we can relate to the character on an emotional, instinctual, and/or human level.
For a futuristic story, starting us at the point where something big changes is a good option because:
- It’s exciting, not an info dump.
- It grounds us in the world by showing us what changed.
- It makes us care about the main character and want to see what happens next
We go into a lot more detail during the video, so if you’re interested in leveling up your own writing, and seeing how to write a beginning to a story that takes place in the future or a different world, then be sure to watch the full video below.
After that the chat voted that we write this prompt: Mirror, Mirror: What if your mirror started talking to you? What might the mirror say?
Here’s what we wrote:
As I was rinsing my mouth before bed, I spat in the sink, wiped my lips with a towel, and looked back up to the mirror.
Behind me stood a shadowy figure.
Before I could even react, the silvery surface of the mirror rippled, transforming into two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. The lips pressed together and spoke in a reflective, echoed whisper.
“Don’t move if you want to survive.”
With the talking mirror in front of me, and the smoky form behind me, I was too shocked to move even if I wanted to. All I could do was stare into the mirror, its concerned face staring back. The blackness stood in the bathtub, almost mocking with how human it was acting, until it phased through the ceramic tub and slowly hovered closer to me.
“You need to stand perfectly still and look away from it,” the mirror said. “Whatever you do, don’t touch it.”
Even though I was being given orders by my mirror, it sounded like solid advice. I forced myself to avert my eyes from the encroaching blackness to the tile floor, only a sliver of the mirror’s face still in my vision. I saw its lips move again.
“You need to listen to what it’s saying,” it spoke.
Suddenly I was acutely aware of a sound coming from behind, where the blackness was. It crackled and fizzed like TV static, though there was a distinctly human voice caught up in it somewhere in the background.
“… ug … f … nev … bett …”
Its voice sounded like it was caught up in the interference of another world, yet the human sounds pierced my ears like hot needles. There was something about them horribly familiar, yet nauseating at the same time.
“It speaks the truth,” the mirror said. “You have to listen to it, but don’t touch it. The only way to make it go away is to hate it.”
I didn’t know what to do. My goddamn mirror was giving me advice to hate this thing behind me! My breaths started coming out in painful, heavy bursts. My stomach churned. I was going to be sick. The static behind me boiled louder, sharper.
“… ugl … fa … nev acc… bett tha me …”
“Quick!” the mirror said. “Say something terrible!”
I racked my brain for the worst thing that I could say. I never said anything mean to anyone, though! But then I thought about all the horrible thing I said to myself in the mirror every morning. How ugly I was. How fat I was. How I’d never accomplish anything in life. How everyone was better than me and I was worthless! I could yell one of those!
The blackness laid its cold, smoky hand on my shoulder.
I screamed and flew from the bathroom, tripping over the tile floor, not looking back at the horrible things I had left behind.
The blackness brought its hand back to its side and looked to the mirror. It stepped closer, and as it did, its body molded to a shadowy version of the woman who had just fled the room. It opened its mouth to finally speak clearly.
“I’m so ugly. And fat. I’ll never accomplish anything in life. Everyone is better than me and I’m worthless.”
The mirror looked up to the shadowy figure and sighed.
“I didn’t try my hardest,” it said. “I didn’t want her to embrace you. People remember that mirrors always speak in reverse.”
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you. We stream on Twitch every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 7:30pm-10:30pm (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Scott Wilson is the author of the novel Metl: The ANGEL Weapon,
forthcoming March 2019.
Featured image: Amazon