Before I get to this month’s theme of beginnings, which seems like a good theme for a month in spring, I wanted to highlight how to use April in a story as this Monday Spark of inspiration.
April Fool’s Day: The holiday presents a great situation for humorous, middle grade fiction. Maybe a competition between kids to see who can fool the most people. Or maybe a family could be engaged in playing practical jokes on each other. An April Fool’s Day joke gone Horribly Wrong can kick off a mystery or thriller.
Spring Break: A trip always has a lot of potential for storytelling. Whether it’s a family trip, a trip with friends, or a mission trip, the process of traveling in the spring can be exploited for both comic and dramatic effect. Six years ago, my kids and I traveled with my oldest sister and her two kids in their van to visit our youngest sister and her children, who were living in St. Louis then. This trip has gone done in the annals of family history as One of Those Trips–you know, the one in which everything seems to happen.
My nephew was on the verge of wetting himself because we missed the drive to my youngest sister’s apartment. When my oldest sister and I saw on TV at the hotel on the morning that we planned to visit the St. Louis Arch that it was also the opening day for the Cardinals, we kicked into high gear and raced to the Arch in order to get a parking space. My youngest sister met us. Our lunch consisted of whatever she had thrown into a cooler. I thought I’d die of claustrophobia as we went up in the St. Louis Arch, but I was willing to make that sacrifice for the kids. Then I found out the ride was 4 minutes. We visited the City Museum and the three moms nearly lost one or both of our kids as well as our minds.
Each of these incidents could be the raw material for a short story, and all together, I have the inspiration for a comic novel.
Storms: Where I live, in a temperate climate, April is the first month of the year when we usually experience thunderstorms. Storms are a great plot twist or metaphor. As a metaphor, a storm can mirror dueling emotions, desires, or ambitions inside one character. It can also underline the conflict between two or more characters. The storm can be a twist to heighten the tension between characters or force them to survive and reveal their strength and weaknesses.
How would you use April as a setting?
For tips on how to use the themes of Easter in a story, click here.
Your state of residence and mine are next-door neighbors, so I, too, experience the storms of April. One of my main characters was born at the end of April to counter Halloween and All Souls Day. It can be a thunderous time, and I love having my characters deal with the chaotic elements during their struggles to accomplish something. Needless to say, April is an exciting and important month in many of my stories … and a fun time to write.
Weather is a great way to foreshadow conflict, highlight a character’s demeanor or struggles, or just to throw curveball into our characters’ paths. Weather is always an important factor in my stories. And, like you said, it’s fun to write!