I like proving that you can take any concept—even a familiar one—and make it your own.

Where Do I Start? | Last Person On Earth

Dec 02, 2024

Last Person on Earth

I’ve been working on a last person on Earth story, and it reminded me of one of my favourite Twilight Zone episodes, “Time Enough at Last”.

This is the final three minutes of the Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last” (1959).

There is something fun about imagining what you would do if you were the last person on Earth. It’s a horror I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

I love familiar concepts and then seeing what happens when writers juxtapose them with unexpected elements.

I also like proving that you can take any concept—even a familiar one—and make it your own.

So much writing advice I got when I was a new writer involved all the things you couldn’t or shouldn’t write about because they had “been done before”.

Think of all the stories that we’ve missed out on because someone believed that a topic was “overdone” or “too familiar” to write about.

It may have been done before but not by you!

Writing Prompt

This prompt is simple.

Set a timer for seven minutes and brainstorm ideas for a last person on Earth premise.
Imagine yourself in this scenario. How would it feel? What would you do? What would you reflect on?
Write a poem, story, or play with this material.

Share you story or your process below.

For Inspiration

Two stories I enjoy that follow this premise is Carleigh Baker’s “Last Woman” in which a narrator plays a last woman on Earth video game while alone at a remote cabin, and Francine Cunningham’s story “Last” from her debut collection God Isn’t Here Today (Invisible Publishing)

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