Writing Tip — Christmas Music as Writing Inspiration

pianow-3775191_1280-2My kids and I have broken out our collection of Christmas music and listen to it whenever we are in the car in December. I have a firm rule that we don’t listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving and we quit after New Year’s Day. So we need to cram in a lot of music in five weeks.

My kids have very different tastes in music. My oldest likes instrumental pieces almost to the exclusion of songs. My youngest finds music without lyrics boring. They agree on a few musical items. Slow tempo = bad. Fast tempo = usually good. Both of them like songs that tell a story, and they both like instrumental pieces by the Trans Siberian Orchestra.

When I drive my oldest to school, and we listen to  orchestral arrangements, my imagination thinks of the music as a soundtrack and tries to create a scene that suits it. One of our favorites is the piece by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Christmas Eve/ Sarajevo 12/24“. I always imagine some kind of fight scene to go with it. Another favorite is a fast-paced version of “God Read Ye Merry Gentlemen” by Mannheim Steamroller.

Songs also ignite my creative fire. The short story, “Mary, Did You Know”in Christmas fiction off the beaten path reminded me of this. This song inspired author Patricia Meredith to write a story about Mary’s first years as a parent of Jesus. She isn’t the only writer to find inspirations in Christmas songs.

Flipping through The Christmas Encyclopedia by William D. Crump, I find movies or TV shows inspired by “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”, and “Good King Wenceslas”, which is a movie depicting a fictional version of the life of Vaclav the Good, who ruled Bohemia from 922-929.

I’ve always wanted to write a speculative fiction story, set in modern times, based on the verses of “Good King Wencelas”. I tried to write it as a flash fiction piece but couldn’t make it short enough and still produce a satisfying narrative. Maybe I should just write it out as long as I need to and then see if I can cut it down.

How does Christmas music as writing inspiration spark your imagination?

Monday Sparks — Writing Prompts: What’s the Christmas Story?

sisterw-553520_1280Here’s a typical Christmas scene, relatives or friends baking. How would you use this in a Christmas mystery? Share below!

“Did you put in the vanilla?” Aunt Delia asked.

“Yes.” I stirred the thick batter. “I’ve made this a hundred times.”

“Doesn’t hurt to double check.”

I stopped stirring. “Do you think it’s dumb or brave to have a cookie exchange after after what happened last year?”

Aunt Delia rested her hands on the counter, staring out the back door. “I don’t know.”

Writing Tip — Favorite Books: One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith

winterw-1998359_1280Did you know One Hundred and One Dalmatians was a middle grade novel before it was a movie? And did you know it was a Christmas story?

I’d forgotten all this when my youngest, the Fishing Fanatic, watched a bunch of classic Disney movies on a long drive this summer. We recently watched it again, and I remembered how much I loved the novel as a kid. I’m reading it to my kids now, and they love it, too.

The movie is a very good abridgment of the novel. So if you liked the characters and the fantasy world of the dogs, you’ll love the book, which gives much greater details than the movie.

If you aren’t familiar with the story, it’s about a young couple, the Dearlys, who live in London with their Dalmatians, Pongo and Missus. Their neighbor is Cruella de Vil. She lives for furs. She only married her husband because he is a furrier. Missus gives birth to fifteen puppies, who are stolen. Pongo figures out that Cruella has taken them because she wants to make a Dalmatian coat.

When Scotland Yard says it is “Frankly Baffled”, Pongo and Missus decide it’s up to them to find and rescue their puppies. They use the Twilight Barking. A dog barks a message, and the next dog to hear it barks it on. They spread the news all over England.

A week before Christmas, Pongo and Missus receive word that their puppies are being held out in the country at the ancestral home of the de Vils. They set out, relying on the dog network to provide food, shelter and information, while trying to avoid all people because their “pets”, as they call the Dearlys, have advertised that they have gone missing, too.

The details of the dog network are wonderfully imagined. Once Pongo and Missus bark that they are leaving, the dogs swing into action, working out a route, that will get them to the home. Other animals help out, as if they are an underground network of resistance in enemy territory, as author Danny Peary points out in his book Guide for the Film Fanatic.

Cruella is one of the great villains of fiction, and in the book, we learn more about her. She puts pepper on all her food, and when one of the pups nips at her ear, it tastes like pepper. We also get some of the history of the de Vil family and how their country home came to be called Hell Hall.

The main reason this story has stayed with me all these years is because it has one of the best descriptions of evil that I’ve come across.

At the end of the book, Cruella’s cat comes to live with the Dearlys and Pongo and Missus. She tells them the de Vils are financially ruined. Missus says she feels sorry for Mr. de Vil. He seems so meek, and Cruella dominates him so much that she made him take her last name.

But the cat says not to bother. “He’s as bad as Cruella. The only different is she’s strong and bad and he’s weak and bad.”

When I read that at as a tween, I knew it had great insight. Even now when I create bad guys, I often think about whether he or she is strong and bad or weak and bad. And like the cat said, both kinds of personalities are equally evil.

What books from your childhood have always stayed with you?

 

Writing Tip — Just for Fun

forestw-4574803_1280On Friday, I posted on my Facebook and Instagram pages that when I took my morning walk last week, the gloomy weather and the shortening days inspired a poem. I had to do some work on it, but some parts seemed to write themselves. It sums up my feelings for December.

And the way through the woods was dark.

The way through the woods was cold.

But I followed the path. I had to

Although it was faint and old.

 

The way through the woods grew darker.

The way through the woods grew colder.

But I trudged on. I had to

Though the cold weighed like a boulder.

 

The way through the woods went black.

The way through the woods disappeared.

And I stopped and stared. I had to

As my heart thudded with fear.

 

Then a light through the woods flamed on.

A light through the woods shone warm.

And I gazed at the light. I had to.

My only hope to find home.

 

The way through the woods was still dark.

The way through the woods was still cold.

But I walked on. I had to.

That light was better than gold.

Monday Sparks — Writing Prompts: Christmas Haiku

sunrise-w3850768_1280I haven’t had a poetry prompt in awhile, so here’s one for Christmas Haiku. My haiku has seventeen syllables but not in the correct lines. Instead of lines of five, seven, and five syllables, I  have lines of five, six, and six syllables. But I thought the lines worked better than way.

When darkness descends

And seems to have no end,

The Son will rise again.

If you’re inspired, share below!

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