My decision to study Narrative Futures was fueled predominantly by passion and intuition. My aims are, first and foremost, to get creative and have fun. I trust in the process and that any academic or professional benefits will arise from that – and only that.
Back in 2022, I chose the programme with a clearer ambition: I finished my bachelor’s by exploring the intersections between storytelling and climate action; specifically, I looked at the theme of ecosystem restoration as a potential way to “fix” the genre of climate fiction (present in literature, films and games) and its constant doom-mongering. My premise can be summarised Iike this: If stories focus on the acts of restoring and conserving ecosystems, they can portray a realistic future of climate change that will inspire hope in audiences, not the opposite. I wanted (and still do) to be the trailblazer of this approach, and thought: Narrative Futures at Edinburgh is the place to build that expertise, as well as the confidence to take the first steps on this path.
Since then, however, my ambitions of stewarding such a transition got perhaps a bit tired – working in the field of ecosystem restoration for 10 years does take one’s momentum away, I suppose. I realised that the goal of changing the genre will require me to first get confident and comfortable as a creator. I need to embrace that creator identity, which I had as a child, and has since been pushed down by the more rAtiONaL endeavours and expectations.
So, while the theme of ecosystem restoration will likely also stay with me throughout this programme and in my final project, I am putting saving the world on hold (hoping that it would, naturally, be a side-effect of my efforts). Instead, at the forefront of my conscious goals, is to have fun doing whatever I will be doing. In a community of other creators where inspiration and playfulness fill the air between us. Turning from a dreaming writer and creator into an active one. Establishing writing as a daily habit I am comfortable with, as a foremost activity, rather than something I currently find time for once a week for half an hour late in the evening.
Maybe, I will get back to my original ambitions and still end up creating an interactive story-based online toolset to be pitched for the UN’s ecosystem restoration campaign. But right now, I am more excited by the prospect of writing a couple of ecosystem-focused short stories for children, that, if lucky, a couple of kids somewhere might read and find fun. Or designing a tabletop game that, in the end, some people on the programme might find fun playing. Or working on a collaborative project with more people, maybe a video game, and contributing my small part to a larger whole. Planting the seeds of themes and values I find important, but not necessarily forcing them to become a forest yet.
What am I hoping to get out of the programme?
Fun. Confidence. Community.
