Future Folktales
Future Folktales is a storytelling-based futures workshop in which participants start from a folktale that shaped them as children, move one of its characters into a scene in a desirable future, and then write the tale of how that character got there from today. It was developed by Shweta Srivastav for the Transition Makers Toolbox and refers to Sitra's 'Remembering Futures' project, the Panchatantra tradition and Peter Fruhmann's folktale structure. The format brings personal and cultural narratives into futures work that would otherwise rely on trends and scenarios.
Facilitation script
- 1
Small groups share childhood folktales and discuss the feelings and worldview each one carried.
60 min - 2
Pick a character, a time horizon and a place-based 'what if' change. Write or draw the future scene with the character in it.
150 min - 3
Outline the journey from today to that scene: characters, pivotal moments, challenges, things learned and unlearned.
90 min - 4
Write the tale in five parts: context, turning point, action, reversal, resolution.
150 min - 5
Choose a format and produce the tale as a story, comic, recording or other medium.
240 min - 6
Share the tales with structured peer feedback after each one.
30 min
Tips
Give the first step its full time: the childhood tales supply the characters, tone and values for everything that follows.
Insist on a specific place and a concrete scene for the future, because visions without a location stay abstract and make weak endings.
Decide the output format before the workshop if time is limited; media production can take over the session while the story stays unfinished.
Common pitfalls
Cutting the childhood-tale round to save time, which leaves participants writing generic science fiction with no personal root
Future scenes without a specific place or moment, so the journey has no clear destination and the tale drifts
The journey skips the reversal and the unlearning, which produces a smooth success story that says nothing about how change happens
Production of a comic or film absorbs the available time and the story underneath stays thin
Using a folktale or character from a culture not represented in the group as decoration, without the care its origin deserves
Variations
As written, the workshop takes about twelve hours over two sessions. For a half-day version, fix the format to a short oral or one-page written tale, shorten the future-scene step to under an hour and the writing to about ninety minutes. With large groups, form story teams of four or five and share tales in a gallery or story-circle format instead of in plenary. Online, use breakout rooms and a shared document per team, and collect the finished tales as recordings. Groups from one organisation can replace childhood folktales with the founding stories the organisation tells about itself.
Where it fits
When to use it
A community, class or programme wants a vision of a desirable future that people feel attached to, not a list of goals
Participants come from different cultural backgrounds and their own stories are a resource for the work
Earlier futures work produced scenarios that were plausible and left people cold
You have at least half a day, ideally two sessions with time in between
The result should be something that can be told or shown to others
When not to use it
You need a plan with milestones and owners; use Backcasting, which works back from the vision to concrete steps
You have an hour or less; Headlines from the Future or a Letter from the Future gives a narrative vision quickly
The group needs to compare several possible futures analytically; use scenario planning instead
Participants are uncomfortable with creative writing and the setting gives no time to build that confidence
The childhood-story step could expose painful personal history in a group without enough trust; open with a lighter story exercise
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Future Folktales?▾
Future Folktales is a futures workshop by Shweta Srivastav from the Transition Makers Toolbox. Participants recall a folktale from their childhood, place one of its characters in a scene set in a desirable future, and then write the folktale of how the character travelled from the present to that future. The finished tales are shared and discussed.
How long does the workshop take?▾
The source step timings add up to about twelve hours, usually spread over two sessions. A compressed version that fixes the output to a short written or oral tale can be run in about four hours.
Why start with childhood folktales?▾
Folktales carry values and ways of seeing the world that people absorbed early and rarely examine. Starting there makes those lenses visible and gives each participant a familiar character to think with, which makes a distant future easier to imagine in concrete terms.
What structure do the tales follow?▾
The source uses a five-part folktale structure: context, turning point, action, reversal and resolution. The reversal matters most for futures work because it forces the storyteller to include a setback and to say what the characters had to learn or give up.
How is it different from Backcasting?▾
Both start from a desired future and work back to the present. Backcasting produces milestones and actions. Future Folktales produces a story with characters, obstacles and a moral, which is better for exploring values and for communicating a vision than for planning.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Shweta Srivastav, Transition Makers Toolbox (University of Amsterdam).