« Story Ideas: Sci-Fi Speculation – Scientific Proof | BLOG HOME | Blog Award For The Story Ideas Virtuoso »
Thanksgiving Story Ideas
By Deb Gallardo
Here’s an excerpt from my upcoming ebook The Calendar of Our Lives, that includes several story ideas for the Thanksgiving holiday.
History of Thanksgiving
Story Idea: Depict actual historic events, embellished with speculation and fictional characters, all interwoven seamlessly to create a “might have been” scenario of Pilgrims and Indians, both real and imagined.
Thanksgiving, Truth and Tampering with History
Are you aware that public school textbook editors have “sanitized” accounts of the first Thanksgiving to such an extent that the reason for the Pilgrims’ settling here is all but obscured? If you were to read the latest texts, you might be appalled.
Story Idea: How might a Pilgrim, caught somehow in a time inversion, react to learning her history had been rewritten in the 21st century, to be politically correct?
Religious Overtones
Many people believe Thanksgiving to be the only genuine Christian holiday, since all others we celebrate in the U.S. have their roots in pagan religious rites. Easter = fertility rites (hence, all the chickies and bunnies and duckies) and relates to the worship of the Goddess Astarte/Ishtar (from which the term “easter” derives) and Christmas = wanton feasting and drunken revelry relating to the worship of Saturn/Bacchus. Have these holidays been “redeemed” as some suggest or is there more here than meets the eye?
Story Idea: A family is considered an oddity because they observe Thanksgiving as a religious celebration and a tribute to a courageous people hundreds of years ago.
Thanksgiving Nostalgia
“Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother’s house we go.
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through white and drifted sno-ow!”
Lydia Maria Child wrote the poem which became the lyrics for the popular classic song we still sing today. I don’t know where you live, but in Ohio on Thanksgiving we do not have sufficient snow to pull a sleigh. In New England in 1844, they did. (Who says global warming isn’t real?) Interestingly enough, Ms. Child was one of the first American women to make a living from her writing. But that’s another story…
The image of people bundled up and buried under blankets in an open sleigh, excited to be making a trip to Grandmother’s house (it’s not Grandpa’s too!?) has always captured my fancy. And it conjured up in me a yearning for simpler times. (The reality of the uneven ride on a horse-drawn sleigh in sub-zero snowy weather, however, would undoubtedly quickly disabuse me of my romantic notions.)
Story Idea: A modern family moves to a remote northern area with a group of like-minded individuals for a simpler existence. Their teenagers have the most difficulty adapting, but by Thanksgiving the worst is over and the celebration of this unique community brings them all closer together. But when a freak blizzard descends on them, the very technology that helped to turn them to a simpler life, hidden by one of the families, now saves everyone’s lives.
Heartwarming Modern Thanksgiving Tales
Many of us have stories from our childhood or recent history that literally warm our hearts when we remember them.
Story Idea: A long-lost (or estranged) relative arrives just in time for Thanksgiving dinner, ending years of bitterness and unhappiness.
The Downside to Thanksgiving
Not everyone has a happy time during the holidays, particularly because of the emphasis on family-oriented celebrations.
Story Idea: Lonely, single people putting on brave, uncaring or hostile faces must endure a day when none of them can think of anything to be thankful for. Do they end up connecting with other people (or even each other) before the day is out? Is this a total downer story or does it have hope.
Gender-Specific Thanksgiving Points of Views
Football games, video gaming, friendly sports contests, food preparation, decorating, conversation, the parade. These are elements that can stereotypically be attributed to one gender or another.
Story Idea: Turn stereotypes on their ears and write about non-gender specific antics that will put a smile on everyone’s face. The women are watching football, the guys are cooking and decorating, the girls are playing video games and the boys are playing dress up? Maybe…
The Macy’s Parade Influence
From the movie “Miracle on 34th Street” (both versions) to watching the parade yourself, possibly channel hopping from network to network to hear all the parade commentary, to totally ignoring the whole dog and pony show in New York, it’s difficult to deny the influence this parade has had and continues to have on American culture at this time of year. It ushers in the holiday shopping season. (If you’re an international reader, let me know how much influence the Thanksgiving Day Parade has on people in other countries. Do you watch the parade? Or is it just another day?)
Story Idea: Write about the parade from these viewpoints:
one of the character balloons
one of the balloon holders
a marching band participant (including the band director)
star performer
backup singer for star performer
fan of star performer
spouse
friend or family member of star performer
parade organizer
shop owner on parade route
security officer on parade duty
child visiting NYC for the first time
child seeing giant balloons for the first time
adult visiting NYC for the first time
a crowd pickpocket
a celebrity stalker
someone on the run who eludes capture in the parade crowd
vendor raking in the cash
street person raking in the cash
TV parade anchor/commentator
someone watching the parade on TV
someone who waited in line all night to see the parade
Santa
Santa’s retinueNow use your imagination and think of all the myriads of people who are watching or can’t get near enough to the parade, such as those:
who participate
who oversee
who are there by accident
who are trapped there
who don’t want to be there
who are thrilled to be there
who couldn’t care less about Thanksgiving, let alone the parade and SantaPick one or more people to focus on. Now decide if the parade is where the story begins or ends. Play “What if?” with the characters, motivations and backstory before the parade and what happens after it.
Black Friday – The Eclipsing and Diluting of Thanksgiving
Commercially I realize that holiday shopping is best when spread out over time, but I’m not sure we need an “official” time period. With Thanksgiving sandwiched between two highly commercial holidays, I can’t help but feel it gets short shrift. Here we have a day set aside per year to be grateful, to count our blessings or what-have-you, yet on either side of it are two days of “gimme.” Gimme candy and gimme presents. We prep for a month for Halloween and likewise for Christmas, but for Thanksgiving — a day of reflection and remembrance — a day of family and gatherings and feasting together, the most we focus on is the meal. Other than décor and food preparation, there is little commercial value in this holiday.
After all, if we are truly grateful for what we already had, there wouldn’t be a need to go out and spend money we can’t afford for more “things.” I’m not sure I’m making this point in a way that truly conveys my feeling here, but I find the juxtaposition of “gimme” on either side of “thank you” an exquisite irony.
Story Idea: Pick a position on this and write it like you mean it. I’ll leave the details to you.
Black Friday – The Start of a Season of Wonder
If you’re a child or someone new to the transformation of the night-time landscape with twinkling lights, hustle and bustle, sometimes genuine good cheer, the abundance of consumer goods available, the experience of this season is truly wondrous.
Story Idea: Write from the point of view of such a person mentioned above. It can be a recent émigré, a child, someone with amnesia, or anyone who is just discovering the positive side to this time of year, after a lifetime of seeing only the negative.
I’ve handed you eight big topics and eight small suggestions for possible stories. What? You’re not writing yet? Well, get busy!
Related Posts
- Story Ideas – Seasonal Story Prompts
- Story Ideas from Thanksgiving & All That Surrounds It
- More Story Ideas from Thanksgiving
- Story Ideas from Thanksgiving et. al.
- Story Ideas: 5 Places to Look
3 Comments »
November 24th, 2008 at 10:39 am
[...] Thanksgiving Story Ideas [...]
November 24th, 2008 at 10:41 am
[...] Thanksgiving Story Ideas [...]
November 24th, 2008 at 10:42 am
[...] Thanksgiving Story Ideas [...]