Telling the Greatest Story Ever Told by Annmarie Miles
Annmarie Miles joins us again for another month with the Writer’s Fun Zone. In today’s article she shows us how to tell the greatest story ever told. Enjoy!
***
What a shame that I didn’t have any entries to my Christmas story competition, BUT… the series of Christmas guest posts has started on www.ficticiousamo.wordpress.
As I read through them and chatted with the different authors, I thought to myself
What makes a great Christmas story?
I mean think about it! How many times have we heard a Christmas story and still we, want to hear it again. We never get bored with it. The tree, the presents, the crib, Midnight Mass, the tinsel, the turkey, the snow – or the sun depending on where you are, & a baby in a manger. The same elements are featured again and again in many Christmas stories.
So as writers, how do we keep it fresh? How do we keep the magic but still take a fresh approach to it all? How do we make our Christmas story unique?
Some things to remember
It’s ok to use the images and language that we’re all used to.
The great thing about Christmas is that ‘tradition’ is part of the story. So people will expect to hear things they’ve heard before. After all, isn’t part of the fun finding that particular ornament that always sits on the table by the door, or the years old star that has been on the top of your tree since the kids were small. I reckon the old adage, ‘we know what we like and we like what we know’ was written for Christmas.
The unique element in your Christmas story is you.
Even though many of us share a very similar Christmas experience, we don’t all have identical ones. Every family has their quirky traditions, or ‘interesting’ relatives, or creative table plan and there’s always the unorthodox addiction to the ‘stuffing recipe’.
So think of the little quirks and curios of your family Christmas and bring them out in your story. Spend some time dwelling on your own special memories. Write them down, then embellish them with some extra detail and maybe the magical ending that you would have liked to have
Use the themes of hope and goodwill
Not everyone gets to have the big family Christmas, and some may even prefer that; but I think everyone needs a bit of hope at this time of year. The biblical concept of good will to all men, is particularly needed in this day and age. I reckon that as storytellers we can bring encouragement by writing stories that reflect that hope. The aspiration that tomorrow will be a little bit better than yesterday.
So get your writing groove on 😉 Share your Christmas memories, or fictionalise your strange relations who put mint sauce on their Christmas dinner because they don’t like cranberries (ewwwwww).
Let’s share some Christmas magic with a Christmas story 😉
And if after you’ve written it, find somewhere to share it. If you don’t have a blog of your own, maybe it could be a guest post for someone else.
And be sure to keep a notebook handy. During this Christmas season you can be taking notes for next year’s stories. That’s the beauty of Christmas it just keeps coming back. 🙂
Have a fantastic Christmas and I’ll see you in 2014 x
***
Annmarie Miles is 40 something, Irish, Christian, married, and proud to be all of those things. She loves words, music & chocolate!
You can get her first collection of short stories ‘The Long & The Short of it’ in paperback or for any e-reader from the fiction section of www.emuink.ie
Where to find Annmarie: Email: amowriting@
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.
Google+ auntyamo
Twitter: @amowriting
Personal Blog: www.auntyamo.
Fiction Blog: www.ficticiousamo.
