During November in the U.S., Thanksgiving dominates everyone’s thoughts. The entire month revolves around plans for traveling or hosting or if and when you can get off work to attend a holiday dinner.

Thanksgiving Story Ideas — Comic or Dramatic

Because Thanksgiving is such an important holiday and involves family, it is ideal for inspiration. I find my greatest inspiration when creating families and letting the relationships play off each other.

Below are some ideas which can be used to for either comic or dramatic effect

• Bad weather — The main character is the host and people can’t make his or her dinner. Or main character is traveling and is stranded on the way to dinner.
• New relative — The first holiday dinner with a someone’s new spouse. Or a long-lost relative shows up unexpectedly.
• Kitchen disasters — Anything that throws a wrench in the cook’s plans. Although this happens in A Christmas Story, the attack of the neighbors’ dogs on the holiday turkey is the perfect kitchen disaster.
• Unusual main character — Write from the POV of a child, who listens in on adult conversations. Or maybe a family pet.

Other November Activities

• Football — High school football heads to the playoffs and championships in November, so it’s the perfect month to end a story set in this sport.
• NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month. This nonprofit group encourages writers to finish a 50,000 word novel in a month. Personally, November is a terrible time to get a lot of writing accomplished because of the 800 lb. gorilla at the end of the month, Thanksgiving. But that does give me an idea … a writer trying desperately to finish her novel while planning an enormous Thanksgiving dinner for her extended family.
• Hunting Season — Hunting season is in full swing in my state and surrounding ones. With November’s short hours of daylight and wild weather, it offers a lot of potential for a story pitting a lost or injured hunter against the elements. Or if you’d like a comic take on this scenario, read Patrick F. McManus’s short story collections.

How would you use November as a setting?