Breaking Free from Writing a Cookie Cutter Holiday Romance
Breaking free from writing a cookie cutter holiday romance
By Michelle Major
As the weather cools down, the anticipation for the holiday season heats up. One of the things that makes the last couple months of the year special is the familiarity and comfort people can take from celebrations and traditions we share. Yet how we experience them each year is unique depending on where we are in our life. Children who believe in Santa Claus coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve have experience of anticipation and wonder that’s very different from that of a frazzled parent who has been up until midnight hanging the stockings with care and wrapping presents, prepping breakfast and generally running themselves into the ground making the moment magical.
Someone who is in love will have a different perspective on Christmas parties and pageants or something as simple as decorating the tree than a person who has newly broken up with their significant other. But the traditions provide a framework by which we can experience the holidays.
For readers, Christmas books often hold a special place in their hearts because a holiday story is a chance to escape from the stress or possibly challenging emotions that arise during this time period. It’s the reading equivalent to curling up with a warm blanket or slipping into a hot bath. We know it’s going to bring a sigh of relief from whatever might be troubling us.
I’ve written over a dozen books set during the Christmas season and I love writing holiday books as much as I love reading them. Each year the challenge is revisiting familiar settings and traditions–and sometimes tropes–about making them feel unique and fresh. How do you write Christmas over and over without having the books feel cookie cutter?
The answer might be easier to understand if we look at writing through the lens of baking. If someone asks if you want a cookie, how do you answer? Well, if you’re anything like me with a giant sweet tooth, your automatic answer is yes. But the very next question is what kind of cookie?
There are a variety of flavors of cookie for every taste, from traditional chocolate chip made from that recipe on the back of the yellow bag to tangy ginger snaps to elegant macarons with their creamy center. Those those different flavors are much like creating a unique story. Depending on the ingredients, whether it’s a light romance with enemies to lovers trope or cozy mystery set in a festively decorated bookstore or steamy opposites attract story.
Or, as with my latest release, The Wish List, a deeply emotional women’s fiction with three point of view characters who each have a romance woven into the story. The truth is so much of what makes a Christmas story unique and allows it to resonate with readers is how the author handles the subject matter.
Just like you could have three different bakers come together with their favorite sugar cookie recipe and end up with three different types of texture and level of sweetness and decorations on the top. As writers, we bring our own experience and personal insight into the books we write to make them special. Each of us has had a holiday experience that sets us apart from others that we might want to use for inspiration. There are individual family traditions from growing up or the region that we live in that can make something feel unique. The Wish List is set in the coastal town of Magnolia, North Carolina, an area I visited quite a bit as a child, but one that is very different than the Rocky mountains of Colorado that I currently call my home.
Just like characterization, setting is another way we can make sure our books don’t fall into the trap of the same-old, same-old. I know the ocean becomes a character in and of itself in each of my books set in Magnolia and Southern sensibilities of the region are something I love to explore and so different than what I experience in my daily life.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from The Wish List that I think helps reinforce why Christmas stories remain popular with readers: “Beth and her sisters had what now felt like an unbreakable thread stitched across their hearts, tying them to each other as well as their mom. Unbreakable because the holiday season together had shown them the value of reinforcing their connection to make it grow stronger.”
I think that one of the tricks to making genre fiction unique is really diving into why writing a certain plot or character spoke to you as an author in the first place. Yes, readers like the comfort of the familiar and it’s easy to give them that through mentions of holiday music or references to classic movies or Christmas activities. But really knowing your characters and your setting will help you develop a plot that is as unique as the cookie offerings in the world’s best bakeries.
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Website: https://michellemajor.com/
Instagram: @michellemajorauthor
Facebook: @MichelleMajorBooks
THE WISH LIST
“Major’s charming small town is packed with salt-of-the-earth people readers will embrace, and each sister’s journey is beautifully imagined. Readers will eagerly await their next visit to this idyllic community.”—Publishers Weekly
This Christmas the Carlyle sisters will rediscover the gift of family
For some families, a Christmas reunion is like a feel-good movie. For Beth Carlyle, it might be more of a disaster epic. Her ex-husband’s new girlfriend is already pregnant. Her self-absorbed, bestselling author mother recently suffered a stroke and has summoned Beth’s sisters, Freya and Trinity—neither of whom even seem to like Beth very much—back to Magnolia. Beth’s so lonely and stressed that she spills her guts to a stranger, wondering why the handsome newcomer affects her so deeply. Reality TV star Freya deliberately forged a career that would upset her mother, who’s always been as brilliant as the sun…and just as distant. Now a handsome literary agent is making Freya dream of a different life. As for Trinity, she just wants to start over after leaving an abusive relationship and make a future for her and her baby.
It’ll be a Christmas like no other in Magnolia. But the Carlyle sisters might find they have more in common than their shared past—and that the holidays are made for second chances.
Category: How To and Tips
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