Holidays are a time of celebration, right? A time of family gatherings, food and fireworks, good feelings all around. Not where I’m from.
Those special days throughout the year are positively ripe for conflict, which makes them great fodder for stories. So, in honor of Father’s Day this Sunday, here’s a holiday writing exercise.
Write a story that takes place on a holiday. But there’s a catch—any poor schlub can write a maudlin Christmas story. In this case, you are to write a story that takes place on an obscure holiday. Arbor Day. Administrative Assistants’ Day. Or, why not, Father’s Day.
Use the holiday itself as a storytelling vehicle. Maybe a fight over proper flag display on Flag Day turns out to be about two neighbors’ conceptions of patriotism or the stress of antisocial suburban life. Or perhaps a teacher’s attempt to engage her students in crafting gifts for their mothers backfires when the children live in foster care.
Once you start thinking about temporality, you ground your characters in the world as we see it and how our lives are affected by disruptions to comfortable routines. Ultimately, the holiday is just the wrapping for the emotional package inside: it’s your job to add the decorations to keep your story from falling into the been there, done that realm.
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.