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Story 2025:

Stories for the Future

Participate and maybe your story will be published!

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Stories for the Future

“What can I expect from the future... my future? There is only misery in the news... it seems like nothing positive ever happens anymore. Will the many wars, famine and climate change ever end? These kinds of thoughts are not strange, if you look at the world today. In the Netherlands, more than one million people now take antidepressants. Many hundreds of thousands of young adults are not feeling well and see their future bleakly. Our question is therefore: how can we prevent more and more people from sliding further into despair?

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Why this challenge?

With the 'Stories for the Future' we want to give people who are struggling mentally inspiration, meaning and hope. We want them to see again that they are worth something and to get excited about tomorrow again. Give them a mirror in which they can discover that the future has not yet been determined. That's what this challenge is about. And that really needs you and your pen!

Open Book

Participate and sign up!

Write one of the inspiring, meaningful and hopeful 'Stories for the Future'

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Thanks for your participation!

Challenge Explanation

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Write your 'Story for the Future' to inspire others and let people feel that, even with headwinds, there is always light in the distance. A personal story, an exciting fictional scenario or a social commentary or new philosophy based on your own world view? Everything is allowed. All stories are judged, published on our website and published as an e-book. A selected collection of short stories will also be published as a book, including ISBN number.

 

This can help you with your writing

We have insights and tips for every writer that can help you write a story so that it can really help people. When you read them, you will understand why we haven give them. These items come from our own research among dozens of young adults, youngsters with mental health problems and (mental health) professionals on top of scientific research on the possible therapeutic impact of (shared) reading and writing:

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  • 'Write from your heart' - a strong wish from experienced experts. It doesn't have to be smooth and slick, a little messy is nice.​

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  • Overly positive stories often set the bar too high. A happy ending doesn't feel real, life has setbacks and you don't have to brush that aside. That gives false hope.​

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  • Acceptance of one's own vulnerabilities makes life livable. The perfect world does not exist here either. But real people... they do exist.​

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  • Social ideals are nice, but they must also be believable. Stories can encourage you to see new paths and bright spots and contribute to the feeling of 'it is possible'. Reality helps with that.​

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  • As said: a story that is too pretty misses its target. Here are some words that were mentioned and that can be valuable for a good 'Story for the Future': desire, resilience, uncertainty, fear, courage, trust, connectedness... You can also let existential dilemmas, such as order/chaos, freedom/limitation, responsibility/guilt, play a role in your story.​

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  • As for 'connectedness': many people with mental vulnerabilities experience a feeling of loneliness or existential emptiness. Stories with/about one person therefore appeal less to the imagination than stories with multiple characters who are connected to each other.​

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  • (of course you can also ignore these 'tips' and just write a wonderfully inspiring, meaningful and hopeful text. It's up to you!)​

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You see that you can go into all sorts of directions. And do keep in mind: scientific research shows that writing from the heart has a strong healing effect. So take that opportunity and enjoy this writing experience yourself!

Challenge Approach

Who can participate? Everyone of course. To immediately give this Challenge wings, we will first collaborate with a number of academies, schools  and universities in the Netherlands. Writing plays a primary role in these institutions. The students of these institutions are challenged to write inspiring, meaningful and hopeful stories for the 21st century. These can be inspiring philosophies, meaningful views or hopeful personal stories.

 

We expect that short stories of about 2000 to 4000 words will be an excellent format for this. But other forms, such as screenplays, sonnets, poems, animated stories and/or graphic novels (maximum of 10 pages), are also more than welcome. It is important that these stories have the potential to inspire thousands of young adults, provide meaning and exude hope. No small feat.​

 

The stories are judged. There are two juries; a professional jury consisting of a number of well-known writers, poets and professionals from the mental health field. The other jury consists of a number of young adults and experts. A number of these experts are affiliated with MIND. MIND is the largest umbrella patient organisation in the Netherlands.​

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After this jury selection and the presentation of a selection of these stories, selected writers will have the opportunity to work with an editor. The story can then be further refined in a number of editing rounds. After this, the final correction and galley will take place and the collection of stories will go to the printer. We will also focus on the typography and styling of this book.

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This collection of hopeful stories will then be published. All suitable stories will be published as an ebook, while a jury selection of these stories will be published as a bound softcover book. This physical book will be limited to 256 pages, making it handy. Easy to take with you. Each story will also get its own webpage on our MADE-Life platform. We will also offer the possibility to have your story recorded as an audiobook.

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​In order to reach as large an audience as possible, we will distribute these stories through various channels, such as universities, HBO/MBO and secondary schools. We will also activate the larger (patient) associations, mental health institutions and municipalities. Furthermore, we will also distribute the stories through our website, social media and as many other channels as possible. ​We will also make these books available through (online) bookstores. Each writer will receive at least four copies of the collection. One for themselves and a few for friends and family.

Challenge Timeline

 

When is it going to happen? This Challenge will start in the first semester of the 2024/2025 school year. Training courses can also start earlier, if that suits the schedule better. In any case, the assignment must be completed on Friday, January 31, 2025. The judging will then take place in February 2025. The presentation of the stories will take place on Monday afternoon, March 3, 2025 in the Utrecht Public Library.

 

 

A number of editing rounds, a correction round and the typesetting test will take place in March and April, after which the collection can be printed well before the summer holidays. The stories will then be distributed in bundled form, so that they can be read during the summer holidays - and far beyond. Naturally, we also try to generate as much publicity as possible on the relevant social media, in online and offline newspapers and (relevant) magazines.

Challenge Impact

 

What difference will this collection of stories make? MADE-Life will map out what social impact these 'stories of the future' actually have. The impact of this bundle will not be easy to measure, because many aspects influence someone's mental health. But not everything of value can be measured, just as not everything that is measurable is of value. In this case we will keep track of how many of these short story collections are downloaded and ordered.

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To reach the largest possible audience, we will distribute the ebooks free of charge, and we will distribute the physical books at cost price. We will also keep track of how much this will be shared across the various social media platforms.

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In addition, we also want to offer this 'challenge' work method - after our first round - free of charge to secondary schools, mental health institutions, community centers and other organisations in the social domain. After this initial challenge, we will also create a workbook that supervisors can use within these organisations. We can well imagine that 'stories for the future' are given to students as an assignment or as a profile project during social studies or other subjects. This not only involves writing, but also reciting and discussing the stories.

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Furthermore, these stories can also function as a springboard to even more forms of expression. If the content of these stories resonates, we can imagine that this initial challenge is only the beginning. You could imagine that this will lead to various spin-offs, such as comic strips, spoken word performances and perhaps even a TV series (think 'bright mirror' instead of Netflix's dystopian 'Black Mirror').

 

 

Stay up-to-date!

 

Challenge Conditions

 

Under what conditions are these stories published? These stories are published under 'Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0' license with attribution (syntax: "<school name>, <author name> in collaboration with the MADE-Life 2024 foundation". There will be no financial compensation. These stories may be freely distributed for non-commercial purposes , but always with attribution. The Creative Commons licensing terms can be viewed here.

 

Challenge Reading List

 

Where else can I get inspiration? Millions of books and short stories have been written, but - unfortunately - nothing really resembles our intention. If this were the case, this challenge would have been redundant. We would like to refer you to some texts for inspiration.

Please note that this list does not contain any value judgment, advice or selection criteria. These are just a few thoughts.

 

  • Dystopian novels (opposite of our stories): 1984 (1949), Brave New World (1932), Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

  • Dystopian series (opposite of our intention): Black Mirror, The Handmaid's Tale, The Man in the High Castle

  • Utopian novels (with dystopian edges):

    • The Book of the City of Ladies (1404),

    • Utopia (1516),

    • A Modern Utopia (1905),

    • Island (1962),

    • Pacific Edge (1990),

    • Terra Ignota (2016 - 2021)

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  • Recovery stories: from the American 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' collection to many Dutch recovery stories

  • Anthologies (on other subjects): 'A winter full of stories' (2020), 'Even we are more together' (2023)

  • Cultural Pharmacy: 'Bibliotherapy' Books on Prescription

  • Letterenfonds bibliotherapy: 'Reading for Empathy' (29 kinderverhalen), 'Little Pharmacy of Children's Books'

  • Spoken Word & Rap recitals: Youtube, like from Daisz

  • PhD thesis on hope: ' Understanding Hope ' by Emma Pleeging

  • Alternative economic models and worldviews: various essays in Kees Klomp's 'Thrive' (2021).

  • (Also see Kees Klomp's ' The Rainmaker ' as an ecological fable)

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In addition, MADE-Life asked the Cultural Pharmacy to select 8 story fragments that can inspire our writers:

  • 'Lente' of Ali Smith (2019) (translation by Karina van Santen & Martine Vosmaer). Seeing the wonders of the world: how do you do that? 

    • from page 155 with sentence [‘Lang lang geleden op de ochtend van wat eigenlijk nog steeds vandaag was, was Brit op weg geweest naar haar werk’]

    • until page 162 with sentence [‘Als je niet weet hoeveel geluk je hebt dat je het zelfs over de kans van een keuze kan hebben, zei het meisje, dan kan ik alleen maar zeggen dat je echt geluk hebt']

  • ‘Wétiko’ from the anthology 'Treinen en kamers' of Annelies Verbeke (2019). Standing up for your beliefs and your sense of justice – despite ‘know-it-all adults’

    • from page 225 with sentence [‘Je hebt een droom gehad’]

    • until page 241 with sentence [‘Je zult standhouden als je held, een leven lang. Liefdevol likt Mozes je hand.’]

  • 'Kleine catechismus van geluk' of Baukje Zijlstra (2022). Revolution or choosing for yourself? Can you catch happiness for others? A fairy tale. Short story from the Frisian UNESCO stories project 'Uitdracht Geluk'. Complete short story. Read here.

  • 'Een ochtend voor het leven' of Françoise Sagan (vertaling Eva Wissenburg (2012)). What would you do if…….. The end of times as a game. Short story. Read here.

  • 'Parkeren in het paradijs' of Sietse de Vries (2022). Who decides what is paradise? Should young people perhaps have an opinion about this themselves? Short story from the Frisian UNESCO stories project 'Uitdracht Geluk'. Read here. ​

    • from first sentence [‘Toen wij de laatste bocht van de rivier uitvoeren en tussen de overhangende takken van een treurwilg door zicht kregen op de oude villa, was het Patrick die riep: ‘Dit lijkt het paradijs wel’]

    • until one-before-last paragraph [‘Ze pakte haar flesje bier van het tafeltje voor haar om te toasten. ‘Op het paradijs’’]

  • 'Uitgepolderd' of Aafke van Pelt (2024). Sometimes it helps to put your fear of what the future holds into perspective or laugh at it by zooming out completely. In this case, look at it from the perspective of the sea creatures. Short story. Read here. 

    • from the start [‘De octopus leidt al jaren de vergaderingen en vandaag is het niet anders’]

    • to the finish [‘Misschien, denkt het kleine clownsvisje voordat hij het schild afklimt, stijgt de zeespiegel ooit zó ver dat de oceaan de zon opslokt. Het lijkt hem prachtig.’]

  • 'Alles wat er was' of Hannah Bervoets (2013). When disaster strikes, people pull themselves together again – see the resilience of a group.

    • from the sentence ‘Ik weet niet helemaal zeker wie de nieuwe situatie als eerste de nieuwe situatie noemde’

    • until the sentence ‘En blijven wij binnen’

  • 'Het meisje en het geluk' of Jürg Schubiger (translation Bart Moeyaert (1997)). Short story of the same name from this collection of stories. There is no single right way to a better world. Detours are part of it.

    • from the sentence [‘Een meisje ging erop uit om het geluk te zoeken’]

    • until the sentence [‘Misschien helpt dat’].

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Challenge Science

 

Most people 'feel' that some texts can have an uplifting effect. There is not a lot of scientific research on the possible therapeutic impact of (joint) reading or writing stories, but there have been a few dozen - mainly qualitative - studies that indicate a positive therapeutic impact. Below we name some of the most recent studies.

 

Scientific research on the therapeutic impact of reading

 

Several scientific studies have been conducted on the possible therapeutic impact of (joint) reading on mental health. Below we name a number of these studies:

  • 'The role of reading groups in or managing mental distress in the community', Judith Shipment, et al (2016). Full research

  • 'A literature-based intervention in woman-prisoners: preliminary findings, Josie Billington, et al (2016). Full research

  • 'Shared Reading: assessing the intrinsic value of a literature-based health intervention', Eleanor Longdon, et al (2015). Full research

  • Trimbos 'Bibliotherapy Manual' (Dutch), P. Cuijpers, et al (2004), Full Research

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Scientific research on the therapeutic impact of writing

 

Other scientific studies have been done on the possible therapeutic impact of writing on mental health. We also mention a number of these studies:

  • 'Writing to keep on Living: A systematic review and meta-analysis on Creative Writing Therapy...', Alejandro Porras, et al (2024), Full research

  • 'Writing Therapy for post-traumatic stress: a meta-analysis', Arnold van Emmerik, et al (2012). Full research

  • 'Therapeutic writing as an intervention for symptoms', Olwyn Johnston, et al (2010). Full research

 

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