My Writer's Letter to Santa

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

The first thing I recall writing on my own was my Christmas letter to Santa. I chose the perfect Christmas green construction paper and a silver crayon. It began, "Dear Santa Claus," and I carefully indented my first paragraph. My printing was not perfect or straight on the unlined paper. I remember drawing a picture of Rudolph, my favorite reindeer because he was different. I remember decorating it with glued glitter, so much glitter. Of course, I wanted my letter to stand out from the crowds.What I asked for is not relevant but what is, it was the first thing I wrote on my own. 

How about you? Do you remember writing a letter to Santa as a child?

As the Amy Grant song says, Santa, "do you remember me?"

As a writer, my grownup letter to Santa would still involve glitter because I like glitter...so much glitter. It would start as all letters to Santa start: Dear Santa: As you know, I'm a writer and the only thing I really want is the gift of 'child-like wonder.' Wonderment we create each year with festive decorations, light displays, special traditions, musical programs, culinary delights and just the excitement of the season of Christmas.

As children grow into adults, that magical quality seems to lessen as the realities of the world gain our attention. Recapturing the gift of wonder makes writing a joy where words flow freely. This transcends to a great book and an enjoyable read for your readers.

As a P.S. to my letter, I'd ask Santa for the gift of purpose for my writing. As the angel Clarence says to George Bailey in, It's a Wonderful Life, "Each man's life touches so many other lives, and when he isn't around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?" I want my writing to be unforgettable and make a positive impact on my readers.

That's my writer's letter to Santa. What's on your grown up Christmas letter to Santa?

Isn't It Ironic?

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


When George Bailey decides to drown himself in It's a Wonderful Life, he ends up saving someone else from drowning instead.  Over the course of the story, George realizes his life isn't worthless after all, but rather has had positive impact on everyone around him.  Irony such as this adds a touch of magic to fiction; a poetic twist of fate that makes it bigger than life.

In truth, life itself is full of ironies, so we identify with this fictional device. Ever since Greek tragedies, storytellers have sought to heighten the drama by pitting characters and situations against themselves.

There's enough irony in Titanic to sink a ship. The rich girl doesn't want her rich suitor; she loves the poor immigrant boy. Many on board were looking to start a new life, only to have no future at all. There were too few lifeboats available because something like this was never going to happen, much less on the maiden voyage.

In The Wizard of Oz, everyone puts their hope in a wizard who isn't a wizard at all. Dorothy, who runs away from home, only wants to go back home.  Her traveling companions long for a brain, a heart, and courage, when it turns out they had them all along.

More recently, The Fault in Our Stars features a character who likes to keep a cigarette in his mouth but never lights up, in metaphorical defiance against the cancer causer. 

There is irony in a flawed protagonist.  All super heroes and detectives have at least one serious Achilles heel.  To makes matters worse, costumed crusaders from Spiderman to Zorro can't reveal their secret identity to the people they love most, and are often blamed for something they didn't do.
 
Contrast is a particularly popular form of irony.  A messy roommate drives neatnik Felix Unger to distraction in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple.  Even Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie were a pint-sized pair of opposites.  From The King and I to My Fair Lady to Downton Abbey, there is fascination in seeing different cultures and classes clash.

How many romances start out with the two lovers despising each other?  (Besides all of them?)  Indeed, we wouldn't be quite as interested if it was love at first sight and remained smooth sailing through the tunnel of love.

Similarity can be just as ironic as contrast.  We see it in a child who takes on the negative characteristics of a parent, or a sidekick who comes to the rescue by using a skill the hero taught them.

The very jokes we tell make us laugh through irony.  We are surprised by the punchline because we were expecting something else.  Why did the duck cross the road?  Because it was the chicken's day off.

Irony comes in many different forms, and creates interest instantly. We can give a story more layers and more complexity with the simple addition of this very easy device.  How ironic is that?

Twist A Christmas Classic

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

I love black and white movies especially Christmas movies. It takes imagination to fill in colors. A sense of richness is found in these movies. It's somewhat like reading a book and your mind picks what it wants to see.

I kicked off the holiday season watching Barbara Stanwyck in the classic movie, Christmas in Connecticut. Barbara plays, 'Smart Housekeeping' magazine columnist, Elizabeth Lane. Her column describes wonderful meals she cooks for her non-existent family on her fantasy Connecticut farm. In reality, she is not a housewife; she is a single working woman pounding out a living as a magazine writer in her New York no frills apartment. The fun begins.

Other favorite black and white Christmas classics movies are; The Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, It's A Wonderful Life, The Bishop's Wife, Come To The Stable, The Shop Around The Corner, It Happened on Fifth Avenue and Remember The Night. 

Do you want to write a Christmas classic? During this holiday season watch one or more of these classics. Write a new "what if" twist and create your own Christmas classic. 

Did you know the movie You’ve Got Mail was based on the Christmas movie classic, The Shop Around The Corner?

What's your favorite Christmas classic movie? 

Can you develop it into a new Christmas classic story?  

If you write it this season it can be in print by next Christmas.