{"id":26824,"date":"2023-02-06T03:43:55","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T11:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=26824"},"modified":"2023-04-04T04:57:33","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T11:57:33","slug":"tips-for-writing-into-the-future-interview-with-foresight-practitioner-melissa-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/tips-for-writing-into-the-future-interview-with-foresight-practitioner-melissa-clark\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for Writing Into The Future: Interview with Foresight Practitioner, Melissa Clark-Reynolds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Tips-for-Writing-Into-the-Future-How-To-Write-the-Future-Episode-31-2.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-26872 size-medium\" title=\"Image of Beth Barany &amp; Melissa Clark - How To Write the Future Episode 31\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Tips-for-Writing-Into-the-Future-How-To-Write-the-Future-Episode-31-2-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Tips-for-Writing-Into-the-Future-How-To-Write-the-Future-Episode-31-2.png 300w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Tips-for-Writing-Into-the-Future-How-To-Write-the-Future-Episode-31-2-80x80.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m fascinated by how futurists and foresight practitioners think about the future.<\/p>\n<p>It is very different than how novelists usually think about their stories set in the future or in an alternative time.<\/p>\n<p>Usually, we are thinking of only one kind of story in one kind of direction.<\/p>\n<p>Whereas futurists and foresight practitioners think about multiple opportunities that might present themselves going forward.<\/p>\n<p>And I find this mental exercise really eye-opening and useful as a science fiction writer.<\/p>\n<p>Feeding my imagination.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe this way of thinking will inspire you too.<\/p>\n<p><em>Awesome<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Then check out the latest episode of How To Write The Future: \u201cTips for Writing Into The Future: Interview with Foresight Practitioner, Melissa Clark-Reynolds.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m kicking off a mini-series featuring futurist and foresight practitioner, Melissa Clark-Reynolds, and my friend.<\/p>\n<p>Together we\u00a0discuss how to solve future problems, including the importance of creating a vision from different possible futures, and what is backcasting.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Platforms<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the podcast is available on include <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/31-tips-for-writing-into-the-future-interview\/id1641025914?i=1000598206036\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apple Podcasts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8yMDEyMDYxLnJzcw\/episode\/QnV6enNwcm91dC0xMjE4ODQ5MA?sa=X&amp;ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiYzsLf2YD9AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Podcasts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/4FM6flctB5abhxZq6yHFAy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spotify<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061\/12188490-31-tips-for-writing-into-the-future-interview-with-foresight-practitioner-melissa-clark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buzzsprout<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/ca590618-5630-4450-aa17-7e2f35359a76\/episodes\/7187e449-10f4-4259-8caf-711de43b4cb9\/how-to-write-the-future-31-tips-for-writing-into-the-future-interview-with-foresight-practitioner-melissa-clark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amazon Music<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/podcastaddict.com\/episode\/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzsprout.com%2F2012061%2F12188490-31-tips-for-writing-into-the-future-interview-with-foresight-practitioner-melissa-clark.mp3&amp;podcastId=4025186\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Podcast Addict<\/span><\/a>| <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Dd3fFwU3OE0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Youtube<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Dd3fFwU3OE0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><script type='text\/javascript' charset='utf-8' src='https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061.js?container_id=buzzsprout-large-player&#038;player=large'><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>RESOURCES<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How To Write the Future:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/howtowritethefuture.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/howtowritethefuture.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Free World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/world-building-resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/world-building-resources\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">School of International Futures<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soif.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/soif.org.uk\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Institute for the Future<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iftf.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.iftf.org<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Interview with Cat Tully, School of International Futures Founder (Episode 15, How To Write the Future podcast)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/17\/15-interview-with-cat-tully-school-of-international-futures-founder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/17\/15-interview-with-cat-tully-school-of-international-futures-founder\/<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SHOW NOTES\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt is very different than how novelists usually think about their stories set in the future or in an alternative time. Usually, we are thinking of only one kind of story in one kind of direction. Whereas futurists and foresight practitioners think about multiple opportunities that might present themselves going forward. And I find this mental exercise really eye-opening as a science fiction writer.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this episode, \u201cTips for Writing Into The Future: Interview with Foresight Practitioner, Melissa Clark-Reynolds,\u201d host Beth Barany, creativity coach, and science fiction and fantasy novelist, kicks off an exciting podcast mini-series featuring futurist and foresight practitioner, Melissa Clark-Reynolds as they discuss how to solve future problems, including the importance of creating a vision from creating different futures and what is backcasting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Content Warning &#8211;<\/strong> briefly mentions abortion<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">About Mellissa Clark-Reynolds<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Melissa Clark Reynolds ONZM, ChMInstD became a Foresight Practitioner and Professional Director after 30 years experience as a technology entrepreneur and CEO of a number of Technology companies. She sits on the Boards of Atkins Ranch, Alpine Energy Network, Daffodil Enterprises Ltd, and the NZ Future Bees Trust.\u00a0 Melissa was previously Chair of Little Yellow Bird, Deputy Chair of Radio NZ, the first independent Director of Beef &amp; Lamb NZ, and a Member of MPI\u2019s Primary Growth Partnership Investment Advisory Panel. Melissa has been part of the Te Hono Primary Sector Bootcamp at Stanford University, twice. She trained as a Foresight Practitioner with The Institute for the Future in Palo Alto and also with Clayton Christiansen in his approach to Disruptive Innovation through Harvard. She has also trained with Futurist Sohail Inayutollah in his approach to corporate narrative and content level analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Melissa works with companies like AsureQuality, Kotahi, Lincoln University, the NZ Screen Sector, and BiosecurityNZ on Strategy and Foresight. Melissa has a particular interest in Platform and Subscription Business Models. She developed and teaches courses in Strategy, Digital Governance, and Disruptive Business Models for the NZ Institute of Directors.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ABOUT THE HOW TO WRITE THE FUTURE PODCAST\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tips for fiction writers!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This podcast is for you if you have questions like:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?<\/span><\/li>\n<li>How do figure what&#8217;s not working if my story feels flat?<\/li>\n<li>How do I make my story more interesting and alive?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This podcast is for readers too if you\u2019re at all curious about the future of humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TRANSCRIPT FOR Tips for Writing Into The Future: Interview with Foresight Practitioner, Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you looking for a way to dig into your world, building for your story? Then I recommend that you check out my World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers. Now available. It&#8217;s at HowToWriteThe Future.com. Just head on over there. Click, sign up. Put your name and email, and there you go. That workbook will be delivered to your inbox straightaway.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hey everyone, Beth. Barany here with How To write the Future podcast.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What is How To Write the Future podcast<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a podcast that offers tips and support for science fiction and fantasy writers, and actually writers of all kinds who want to create positive, optimistic futures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because I believe when we vision what is possible and we put that into our fiction, we actually help make it happen in the world because our readers read them, feel it, and it can change their outlook.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And when your outlook changes, you can change how you operate in the world, how you behave, and how you think.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am a science fiction and fantasy author and writing coach and consultant. I work with individuals and organizations to help bring stories to life.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Intro for this podcast<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In previous episodes of how to write the future. I mostly shared my thoughts on various topics helping fiction writers to build their worlds and edit and market.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now going forward, I will be doing interview episodes where I will be talking to futurists, foresight practitioners, subject matter experts, and other people who can help us as fiction writers build better stories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the first of those interviews.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m very excited today to introduce you to a friend and a futurist and foresight practitioner, Melissa Clark Reynolds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Melissa and I met this past summer at the School of International Futures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And we have been having ongoing conversations over Zoom and Twitter and email.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In today&#8217;s episode, I&#8217;m going to have Melissa introduce herself to you. And we&#8217;re going to talk a little bit about what is it like to build scenarios as a futurist, as a foresight practitioner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And one of the tools that they use to describe the past of the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I hope you enjoy this episode. Thank you so much for listening.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you wanna introduce yourself?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah. Hi. My name&#8217;s Melissa Clark Reynolds. I work as a futurist foresight practitioner. I particularly am interested in the future of food and agriculture and you can&#8217;t really do that without thinking about the climate. And I also have a particular interest in pandemics, human and animal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I studied a mixture of anthropology, epidemiology, and environmental planning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I spent almost 30 years in software development, a whole lot of it in thinking about predictive analytics and how we might use software to analyzed both pandemics and water pollution and other kinds of pollution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strangely, fluid dynamics is very useful for thinking about epidemics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, yeah, so I have background in tech as well, kind of eclectic brain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We met a futures course in the UK Yes, yes. But I live in New Zealand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And have you done this work in New Zealand primarily, or you&#8217;ve done it around the world?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m mostly in New Zealand though I have done quite a bit of work,\u00a0 in Australia and in the UK.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We, we met at a training the summer school for international Futures one-week intensive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And something that I really took away from that is a lot of people who were there were very eclectic, had very eclectic backgrounds, and were already quite good at cross-thinking, you know, thinking across disciplines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You&#8217;re not in software today, right? You don&#8217;t work in software now, but how, how did that work, like lend itself to your work in, in future foresight?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;ve always been one of those entrepreneurs that was just a few steps ahead of the market, and sometimes that&#8217;s a virtue, and sometimes it&#8217;s a recipe for going broke.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was of no great surprise to me that my orientation was to the future and I think I&#8217;ve always been like that as an entrepreneur, and software I&#8217;ve always been wanting to create things that didn&#8217;t exist\u00a0 and a lot of it has been to help to model the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perfect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, yeah, that kind of software just made sense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was late to this, the whole discipline of futurism or futurist thinking. I first trained with the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto in 2016, and I&#8217;ve been running a Futures Practice, Future Center New Zealand since then.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think software, that whole thing of creating something from nothing<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and really wanting to understand where your clients are going to be and how to solve future problems rather than just solving today&#8217;s ones is, is a lot of what softwares about for me.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Building scenarios is messy<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Next, Melissa and I talk about how futurists build scenarios.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is very different than how novelists usually think about their stories set in the future or in an alternative time. Usually, we are thinking of only one kind of story in one kind of direction. Whereas futurists and foresight practitioners think about multiple opportunities that might present themselves going forward. And I find this mental exercise really eye-opening as a science fiction writer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let&#8217;s take a listen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the things we were gonna talk about today is about scenario building and I thought that it&#8217;s really interesting to me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;ve been thinking a lot about like the present is messy and contradictory and the future will be too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I, I think that when I get commissioned by clients to develop futures for them or to maybe work with communities to develop futures, I feel like there&#8217;s this drive to sort of create a single unified version of the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And it&#8217;s almost come out of our desire to like, create a vision and then feel like somehow we just if we hold that vision, we can smack it out, you know, and it&#8217;s very linear.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I found that increasingly as I talk to clients and potential clients, they almost confuse this idea of creating a vision with creating futures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So what I like to do is to work with them and go, well, the present is different depending on who you are and what point of view you have and how you might see the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, the older I get, one of the things that I&#8217;m much better at doing is holding paradoxes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, you know, we see the rise of feminine say, so we see the uprisings in the Middle East, led by young, courageous women. We see more women in public life. So we might see the Nancy Pelosi and the AOCs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In my own country, women got the vote in the 1890s. And so 1893, you know, we have a long history of women in service.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At one point we had our attorney general, the head of our judiciary, our Prime Minister, and our Governor General, which is the representative of the Queen in New Zealand were all women.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oh wow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those kind of women in power women taking more roles in public life can exist at exactly the same time as we don&#8217;t have pay equity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm, yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And access to abortion is limited in some countries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And access to contraception and access to childcare.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so these things, these contradictions can hold in the present.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I think sometimes, we expect the future to somehow be clearer and more simplified as if as if there is only one future out there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But these paradoxes of say, more women in public life and, a lack of pay equity, they exist in today&#8217;s world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So part of what I like working through with people is this idea of creating scenarios of the future where we might think about four different futures, all of which are plausible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And the real future in a sense, that plays out may be a combination of those.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But if we only try to create a single unified view of the future as we would like it to be, we won&#8217;t be prepared for the future that actually arises.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does that make sense?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah, absolutely. It makes perfect sense to me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anybody who works in a organization, whether it&#8217;s city or private company, or nonprofit, it seems like it would be really beneficial for them to play out multiple scenarios and how each one impacts the people involved, and also what the current trends or signals are that speak to those things.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It makes perfect sense. I think to your point, the present looks very different according to who you are and where you come from, and why wouldn&#8217;t the future be any different?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, and we can use as an example like we were talking earlier about the past.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If we just go back 10 years or even 20 years, we can see the advances that have been made, say for example, in computers or cell phones, yet inequities still existed. Challenges still existed.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Past of the Future<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So can you, can you define back casting? Because it seems to imply we&#8217;re looking backwards, but really we&#8217;re in the future looking back.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That&#8217;s, that&#8217;s, that&#8217;s what a perfect definition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is it? Ok. I got it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s the perfect definition. Yeah. Backcasting in that sense is throwing your mind out into the future that you&#8217;ve created and then coming backwards to today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And it actually, in some ways it came out of the whole Apollo Moonshot stuff.\u00a0 where what they did was that they threw their minds out to how do we. A man cuz it was a man onto the moon and home again safely. And what they did is that they, they got to the result and then they said, what happened just before that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So just before, the guys landed safely in the ocean, what happened? You know?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, the pod separated. Well, what happened just before that? And then they could actually work backwards to work out what order you needed to create things. So you didn&#8217;t actually have to design the landing gear for the Apollo series until you&#8217;d already worked out how to get them, to take off.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so you could start to do things like just in-time design and, and it really came from there but it&#8217;s become such a ubiquitous tool now in futures of that idea of throwing your mind out to the future state and then asking what happened just before that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What happened just before that? Oh, that&#8217;s what happened<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beautiful<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah. It&#8217;s so funny cuz that&#8217;s actually how I do, planning for my books, for anything that I&#8217;m putting out in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okay, it&#8217;s going out in the world. I&#8217;d like it to be at this date. And I&#8217;m very calendar oriented too. So I will then move it backwards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, to get there, we have to do this and then we have to do that. And I&#8217;m, I work all the way backwards and that&#8217;s actually what I do when I&#8217;m in a production mode, like for my novels, or I&#8217;m starting to put timelines around any project. That&#8217;s so interesting. I&#8217;ve been doing that for years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fascinating. Because I use it in doing kind of strategic planning and stuff as well, because mostly if we think about what we have to do, we think I have to solve this, and then after that I can solve this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm-hmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then after that I can solve this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And the problem with that is that it was taking too long and that was the way they saw it with the Moonshot is that when they tried to Forecasting of what it would take to get the man on the moon, they didn&#8217;t have the time. It was going to take them decades.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so instead by doing the backcasting they could really crunch up the times lines a whole lot better.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That&#8217;s fascinating.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s such a useful tool and I think it&#8217;s such a useful tool. Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this is Sort of a sideways turn, but when I focus on editing, I focus on the end result, which is how do I want my readers to feel, and then use that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I&#8217;m kind of putting myself in a future position and to into somebody else&#8217;s position. And then use that. It&#8217;s not very step-by-step. It&#8217;s very organic, it&#8217;s very intuitive. But then I use that to work through everything in the editorial editing process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How To Stay Connected<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s always a pleasure. Yeah. It&#8217;s so, so much fun, Melissa, to talk with you. I can&#8217;t, yeah. Uh, wait till we do it again. And just for our listeners, where can they find you? If they wanna connect with you? If they wanna learn more about what you do, what, what&#8217;s place for them to come.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right. Well, despite what&#8217;s happened to Twitter, I&#8217;m still on Twitter. So my handle is honeybeegeek on Twitter. Melissa means honeybee and I do keep bees. So, and I&#8217;m pretty geeky, so honeybee geek on Twitter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can find me, Melissa Clark Reynolds on LinkedIn. I&#8217;m not so active there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I have, a website, futurecenter.nz. So, message me. I do put out a regular newsletter on Signals for one of the government departments in New Zealand, and it&#8217;s free and you can sign up. And I have just started doing six monthly webinars of what I think my top 10 signals from the future are.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so if you keep an eye on my Twitter feed, you can sign up for those and they&#8217;re free.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oh, that all of that sounds so wonderful. I wanna be sure to be signed up for all your things.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Melissa Clark-Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;ll send you links.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beth Barany<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Great. Thanks everyone for listening. Great. And, until next time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019re Awesome &#8211; Thank You<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thank you so much, everyone for listening to my podcast. Your interest and feedback is so inspiring to me and helps me know that I&#8217;m helping you in some small way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So write long and prosper.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you stuck and overwhelmed by world-building? Then check out my new World-building Workbook for Fiction Writers. Head over to HowToWriteTheFuture.com and sign up for yours today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2012061<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or in your podcast home of choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>ABOUT BETH BARANY\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/BETH-BARANY_IMAGE_PODCAST-LOGO_HOW-TO-WRITE-THE-FUTURE_v04_200px.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-25580 size-full\" title=\"Image of Beth Barany\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/BETH-BARANY_IMAGE_PODCAST-LOGO_HOW-TO-WRITE-THE-FUTURE_v04_200px.png\" alt=\"Image of Beth Barany\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/BETH-BARANY_IMAGE_PODCAST-LOGO_HOW-TO-WRITE-THE-FUTURE_v04_200px.png 200w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/BETH-BARANY_IMAGE_PODCAST-LOGO_HOW-TO-WRITE-THE-FUTURE_v04_200px-80x80.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>Beth Barany teaches science fiction and fantasy novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor. She\u2019s an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and runs the podcast, \u201cHow To Write The Future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn more about Beth Barany at these sites:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/author.bethbarany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Author site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/bethbarany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coaching site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/ <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bethbaranyschooloffiction.teachable.com\/p\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">School of Fiction<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/ <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.writersfunzone.com\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Writer&#8217;s Fun Zone blog<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CONNECT<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contact Beth: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/podcast\/#contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/podcast\/#contact<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email: beth@bethbarany.com<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bethbarany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bethbarany\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CREDITS<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.descript.com\/?lmref=_w1WCA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.descript.com?lmref=_w1WCA<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MUSIC: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/uppbeat.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uppbeat.io<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/?referrer_id=1994465\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/?referrer_id=1994465<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SHOW NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For more \u201cHow To Write the Future\u201d episodes, go <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/podcast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019d like to invite Beth onto your podcast, drop her a note <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/contact-beth\/#contactbeth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m fascinated by how futurists and foresight practitioners think about the future. It is very different than how novelists usually think about their stories set in the future or in an alternative time. Usually,&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5099],"tags":[5239,140,4607,5236,5160,5235,5238,5137,5234,2872,5163,5183,5162,5237,5164,1490,5165],"class_list":["post-26824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-write-the-future-podcast","tag-backcasting","tag-beth-barany","tag-fiction-writing-tips","tag-future-thinking","tag-futuristics","tag-melissa-clark-reynolds","tag-new-zealand","tag-school-of-international-futures","tag-soif","tag-story-telling","tag-story-world-building","tag-strategic-foresight","tag-tips-for-fiction-writers","tag-women-in-power","tag-write-the-future","tag-writing-coaching","tag-writing-teaching"],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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