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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/9481
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/9481
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I think you're confusing motives and details.

You mentioned people from 500 years ago being very different from us. What concerns do we share over the centuries?

- **Survival basics: food, shelter, clothing.** There really wasn't a "middle class" in 1513, but you could argue there was a merchant class, so a Genovese trader could be worried whether his next shipment of cloth will survive the storm season and pirate raids and make port so he can sell enough to pay his liege lord, compared to a middle manager at Wernham-Hogg who's worried that she'll be laid off and won't be able to pay her mortgage. Project it forward: How do people acquire homes in this future setting, and how could that be jeopardized?
- **Family troubles: marriages, children, grandchildren, siblings.** The Genovese trader might be trying to make a good match for his daughter with the son of the duke. The middle manager might be worried that her sister is settling for a boyfriend who treats her poorly because she's afraid of being alone. People will still have families in the future. Will they still marry? Maybe marriages will be limited-term renewable contracts, and the concern is whether someone will renew, or how to convince someone to sign a five-year instead of a one-year.
- **Job concerns:** Workplaces have politics. Invent some macguffins to worry about.

And so on and so forth. Don't worry about whether people are talking via smoke signal, telegraph, wrist radio, Facebook, or shunt squirt. Focus on the conversation. Our connection to future humanity (and past) is that we have similar problems and concerns and loves. The particulars may change, but mothers are still going to remind their daughters to pee before a long trip.

Original score: 10