Reading · Writers' Narrative eMagazine

Introduction

Holidays, even day trips, can be useful for plausibly putting our characters somewhere different, which can open up interesting storylines.

I love Agatha Christie’s work. Some of her best novels, to my mind, are where she sends her characters away. Two Miss Marple stories stand out - Nemesis where Miss Marple is sent on a coach trip and At Bertram’s Hotel where she is sent to recuperate from illness. It isn’t long before the murders start happening.

But the change of location for Miss Marple works precisely because she cannot rely on all she knows from her home village of St. Mary Mead to back her up. There are no immediate friends to hand either. So she has more challenges to face and that makes those books great for me.

Holidays as Backdrops

Known holiday locations can be used as a backdrop to the main action. If you use one, it can save a lot of your word count on description. If I have a character who lives in, say, London, but I show them boarding from a main railway station such as Waterloo to go to, say, Weymouth, a well known UK coastal resort, I can imply they must be having a break, especially if I show them with a suitcase in hand. I don’t need to spell everything out.

Especially if you are writing series (or short stories with the same character popping up in more than one of them), given it isn’t unreasonable for us to have a break from the norm, the same applies to them.

Yes, the reader will guess something will happen though your characters are supposed to be on a break. But the fun will come from seeing how your character handles that and whether the problems they face are different from the ones they face at home.

You can invent holiday locations for your characters based on what you know and/or can research further. So if I wanted my fairy godmother character to go off on holiday, I would send her to some beach resort similar to ones I’ve known but add in some magical element to reinforce the point this lady lives in a different realm and to show how it differs from places we know.

Also bear in mind your character is expecting a break, to relax and something is bound to get in their way. Do they handle this better because they’re away or not because they’re stressed at having their holiday interrupted? Good story ideas to explore there, I think.

A character can need to get away from it all to be able to face whatever problems they have in a better way on their return. Now in a short story, you won’t have so long to show this though it can be done.

In novels, a chapter showing the character escaping for a while to return to deal with whatever they have to handle can work well. But the “holiday” chapter still needs to be as gripping as what comes before and after it. The pace may slower but you can use this chapter to show the character’s inner turmoil and how the break is helping them deal with this ahead of tackling their bigger issue. Without that break, they won’t deal with the issue at all (and certainly not well) so the holiday chapter has to be crucial to the plot and be seen to be.

Stand Alone Holiday Stories - Short Form Fiction

Even in flash fiction with its limited word count, holidays can be used effectively. You have one character usually in the sub-500 words stories and one location so why not make it a holiday one?

A character’s thoughts can be used to show how the holiday is helping them or not. You can show what they’re getting away from and what they go back to - it just has to be condensed. It helps with flash to focus on one moment. Even with slice of life stories, you can have a character sharing one stand out holiday moment and what that meant to them. This kind of tale can be deeply moving.

The bottom line for any length of fiction here is why is the holiday needed. There has to be a good reason for your story to be centred around one, otherwise readers will wonder what the point was. With flash and short stories it pays to focus on one reason for the holiday, one character, one event. You won’t have the word count room for more.

Tips

Think where for a holiday and what meaning it has for your character..

Think why they are going on holiday at all and especially if they’re trying to escape something, does the holiday help or just delay matters?

What makes the holiday memorable for your character (as that will make it memorable for your readers too)?

What is it about being on holiday which can make things happen your character wouldn’t normally face?

What it is about being on holiday where your character would face the problem at home but where being away complicates matters?

Think mood of story - will it be light or darker in tone? Holiday stories can be either of those things.

Conclusion

Holidays are usually fun. Now this can be the same for our characters. Holidays can be frustrating or disappointing, if they don’t live up to expectations. This can also be true for our characters. But holidays can be used to reveal more of your character’s personality. We can show who we truly are when we’re relaxed and away from the daily routine. The same applies to our characters.

Question: So where would you send your character and why? What do they make of it? What happens? There are plenty of stories to be written around just answering those three questions.

Happy writing!

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Is It Time for Your Characters to Get Away From It All?

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