Festive Writing and Reading by Allison Symes

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.

I don’t write many seasonal stories. One exception is now when I write festive flash fiction. Sometimes I get ideas for festive tales during the summer so will write them up ready to send later.

Festive flash is lighthearted and I’ve had some broadcast on an internet radio station. I usually finish my weekly column for an online magazine with a festive flash roundup and share a story. All fun to do (and I hope for others to read). 

On the reading side, I ensure I watch and/or read Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather, Discworld’s equivalent to Christmas.  

Naturally Dickens’ fabulous work, A Christmas Carol, is on the agenda though usually in the form of the best film version ever made - The Muppet Christmas Carol. Yes!  

Michael Caine plays it straight as Scrooge and genuinely comes across as sinister. The Muppets are true to the book - they’ve just added some songs (good ones too, I’m fond of their Marley and Marley). 

Gonzo plays the role of Dickens narrating his own story and, at the end of the film, recommends people read the book. 

What is there not to like about that? Also I think it is a nice nod to authors having to do their own promotional work. Dickens was legendary for his book reading tours. I’m sure he would have made good use of social media (and the plane!). 

I’ve written stories based on the Christian and secular traditions. One of my flash pieces saw Santa stopped for speeding. 

Another saw the elves’ strike on Christmas Eve averted thanks to quick thinking by Santa’s secretary who realised Mrs Christmas, who supplied the elves with their goodies to keep them working hard, was miffed with her husband for forgetting their anniversary again, hence no goodies, hence the strike.

I’ve just written a Nativity scene flash piece based around the oxen. Well, someone had to give up their manger. This one will have just been broadcast by the time this post goes live. 

I believe there is an Icelandic tradition where Christmas Eve is spent reading books and eating and drinking chocolate. Could we please import this tradition? Could it be the ultimate in festive writing and reading? I think so.

So much has been added to our literary canon thanks to the festive season. As well as Dickens’ fabulous novella, there is Christina Rossetti’s In the Bleak Midwinter (which is my favourite carol but it has to be the Holst tune for me). 

My favourite line is “but only His mother, in her maiden bliss, worshipped the Beloved, with a kiss.” Beautiful and easy to picture.

So many of the other carols tell the Nativity story in a few lines which, as a flash fiction writer, appeals to me on those grounds as well as my faith.

Whatever festive writing and reading you do, have fun.  

May I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (and keep on celebrating the wonderful world of stories).