September. 

That was when I saw the first ‘holiday’ themed products in my supermarket (and yes, I mean the twinkling-lights, snow-covered, jolly fat-man type holiday). There was cinnamon in the air, and the tinkle of jingle bells as I stomped past the ‘holiday earrings’ end-cap.

And I know I’ll start seeing Valentine’s displays before the tinsel is put away. 

As a consumer it drives me a little crazy. 

As a writer, it’s a great reminder: we can use our imaginations to time-travel, any time we want.

• Holidays are part of the fabric of our lives
• It pays to plan ahead if you’re creating something with a date-related theme! (Editors generally plan themed edition many, many months ahead.)

Now is a great time to think about writing a holiday story: when you’re thinking about the end of year holidays with fondness (but aren’t worn out from being in them yet). 

Or perhaps you’re looking ahead to next year, making plans for other upcoming holidays in other seasons.

Time travel to those events now and write a story about them, with the StoryADay  Holiday Stories workshop 

Why Include Holidays In Your Stories?

When it comes to end-of-year holidays my personal bias is towards Christmas & New Year, but there are so many other holidays to celebrate. Which will you choose?

Here’s why you should consider including a holiday in your story:

• They are evergreen: you can recycle them every year! (Think about how rich Maria Carey has become from that one song…)
• They are universal: no matter what culture we come from we all have special days where people come together, eat too much, face family members and friends they don’t really want to see, see people they haven’t seen for years, have fights, make up, fall in love, and get nostalgic. 
• It’s an instant character-motivation-creator: around a holiday you always have some people who are sad, some people are excited, and some people who  are a little too into it…
• If you are writing in a secondary or fantasy world, including this universal human experience in your story enriches the culture you’re creating. It feels real when your characters’ lives are complicated by ritual events they may have strong feelings about (even if it’s just to be frustrated at the interruption to their quest!)

If you want a little guidance, working though the possibilities, the StoryADay Holiday Story Workshop takes you through about some of those universal truths, and the particular must-have ingredients for whatever holiday you choose to write about. And it’s not jut theory. The workshop has built-in prompts that encourage you to pause and start writing the draft.

Use this workshop to get a headstart on next year’s Diwali, Purim, Juneteenth, Pizzamas, or Father’s Day story! (Editors love the ‘undersubscribed’ holidays. They always get loads of Mother’s Day story, but there’s a lot less competition for Arbor Day!). Or simply start writing–today, not ‘some day’!

Join the Discussion

What holidays do you celebrate, and which ones do you think have the richest seams of plot and character goodness, waiting to be mined? Leave a comment!