Dreaming of a Write Christmas

We’ve had our last meeting before Christmas, and it was a great laugh! Good to see so many of you turned up at this busy time of year, even though some of our members are away.

We started by pulling crackers and writing a piece about one of the items we found inside. Then I asked you to write about a childhood Christmas – not necessarily your own childhood. That produced an interesting variety of poetry and prose, although a lot of you chose some rather gloomy stuff. I began to feel quite guilty that my worst Christmas problem is that advent calendars aren’t as exciting as the good old days! 

Let’s be honest, none of us experience the Hollywood idealised Christmas of rosy-cheeked carol-singers tramping through the snow, or happy children sitting beside log fires, opening beribboned parcels containing wooden toys. I doubt if anyone ever did!

The fact is, as Erica pointed out, writing about the ordinary doesn’t grab most readers’ attention. Adding conflict to the mix can create a stronger piece of writing. 

And every Christmas there are many people who don’t get the modern ‘TV advert’ equivalent either. We’ve all seen it, of course, as Mum brings in a platter of gleaming golden turkey to an appreciative gathering of family and friends. Bev’s story of homeless children in a hostel, with ham sandwiches for their Christmas dinner, showed the other side of the coin: many people are dispossessed, sad and alone.

Showing a contrast between the expected joyful feelings of the season and the negative emotions and memories it can evoke in reality works well, but can be a bit of a downer!

Fortunately for those of a more cheerful disposition, there are other ways to add contrasts to a piece of Christmas writing. Comparing the present with the past or one type of celebration with another can have just as powerful effect.

Anyway, we soon perked up again with lots of yummy Christmas food and a couple of glasses of wine!

If you have some spare time for writing over the break, I’ve scheduled some festive writing prompts to appear on this blog on 22nd December. Have a very happy Christmas, and I hope all your conflicts over the festive season are purely fictional!