Since the holidays are marching towards us like the armies of Mordor, I was curious to hear if anyone is getting in the mood to write a holiday special? Maybe a holiday chapter in your imagined lands, or a poem, or a short story, or just anything, perhaps even a holiday card from your hero to the supervillain? Let me hear if the holidays are inspiring you as a writer this year, or do they just feel like "meh".
I'm thinking about writing a Christmas themed poem, but I don't know if I'll actually end up doing it
I wrote one once called Revenge of the Elf about fifteen years ago. It was about an underground elf-fighting ring in South Boston... kind of like cock-fighting but with elves instead of chickens. Anyway, they had this bar where the fights took place. There was a regular bar for the humans and a lower one for the elves. Everyone got drunk and talked shit until it was time for the elves to brawl and everyone to bet on them. Fairly harmless until the MC (who's lost his wife the previous year) has his elf and best buddy killed in the ring. This of course upsets the MC greatly, and he sinks into a deep depression until his dead elf's brother shows up from Ireland (the elves were kind of like leprechauns) to exact revenge. Not a great story, but it made me giggle.
If I want to write holiday-themed pieces, I have to finish them before the end of the holidays. As soon as the holidays are over, my enthusiasm for writing them vanishes almost instantly. That said, if I'm writing a non-holiday-themed story around the time of the holidays, I'll likely set it where the holiday is in the background in some manner that doesn't affect the story. Referencing holidays in a novel, however, is a different thing altogether. If it's Christmastime in my novel, I'm writing Christmastime, even if it's April in real life. Gotta keep the momentum going.
What are you talking about? It sounds freakin' awesome! Action, heartbreak, revenge, it's got absolutely everything. I'd read that in a heartbeat.
Thanks... find me 3.5 floppy disk drive and a computer that recognizes it and I might be able to dig it up!
I hear that. I also write Christmas stuff before the holidays, and not after, because afterwards there's always a kind of bloated feeling and I'm kinda happy there's a whole year until next Christmas.
"Holiday specials" are fairly common in my genre (romance) from what I've experienced, usually done as a promotional giveaway on an author's website or blog. I wish it was something that got my creative juices flowing a little more because readers seem to appreciate them. I think it comes down to the fact that I don't feel the urge to write short stories very often; I always feel like I'm better off using my time to work on whatever my current novel-in-progress is.
I can definitely relate to that, I'm not a short story writer either. Maybe one year, if you find yourself at a natural break in the novel-writing for Christmas, you'll write one and surprise your readers. I found that break this year, but it's only gonna be about weekend's worth of deviation from normal schedule. Good luck with your current novel, and have a great weekend!
