The Top 10 Dos and Don'ts of Writing a Christmas Story

We all know to show rather than tell in our writing, and there’s certainly going to be rampant imagery of snowflakes and sugar cookies in any story centering on the Christmas holiday, but in order to pull it off, there’s a few key things writers should observe. Grab a cup of cocoa and get cozy while we take a stroll down candy cane lane to the intoxicating tune of carols and stop under an opportunely-placed sprig of mistletoe to discuss the finer points of Christmas story crafting. See what I did there?

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Do These Five Things To Make Your Story Shine as Bright as Christmas Lights

1. Create Conflict

   Just because the story is set at Christmas doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have a conflict. Without a problem to resolve, the story lacks the tension needed to drive the plot forward and won’t land with your audience.

2. Summon the Sensory Details

   Dial up the sensory details and imagery. Embrace the unique sighs, songs, smells, and more about this time of year. Make the readers wish they were at grandma’s table enjoying a slice of her famous gingerbread cookie cheesecake right along with you.

3. Indulge in Imagery

   Paint the scene. Indulge in all the decorations, lights, colors, and ambience of the season. Even if you are writing about a character who despises these things personally, they can’t be wholly absent. What better way to show your reader how much the character can’t stand them than by making your fictional lead walk past a huge, searingly bright and obnoxiously loud display. This provides a much richer texture than simply stating the character disliked Christmas decorations.

4. A Little Novelty Goes a Long Way

   Add your personal twist on the tales teetering on dopey tropes. When you are sharing your reader’s attention with so many other outlets, hooking them with a unique storyline is essential. Why should they stick around to read a story they have already memorized? Create a new conflict, give characters quirks readers can’t forget, and keep the momentum up so you don’t lose them before they’ve decided yours is a story worth reading from start to finish.

5. They're a Great Guy, Gal, or Nonbinary Pal

   Just the same as stories set any other time of year, Christmas stories also need a main character who readers want to root for and feel they can somehow relate to. When readers connect in some way with the protagonist, they have buy-in and motivation to keep reading. Deliver an intriguing and solid character if you want your readership to stay tuned for your story’s conclusion.

Avoid These 5 Things to Stay off the Naughty List

1. Overdoing It

   Big gestures are great and all, but also not everyone’s love language, am I right? It’s probably not worth the real estate and word count to have a character tipsily perform every single Michael Buble Christmas hit at the office party. Maybe choose the one or two lines that will embarrass them the most come Monday morning.

2. Minimizing What Makes the Holiday Unique

   By the same token, you also don’t want to go too far to the opposite extreme that you completely remove all holiday references and imagery from your piece. If your character is going to strangle their victim with a string of lights from the Holly Jolly Emporium, cool, lean into that and have your perpetrator wonder aloud whether it voids the warranty or they can still be returned. Or, maybe your protagonist laces their sugar cookies with arsenic. You get the idea. There’s a balance to be struck and you’ll have to weigh all the factors to arrive at the right measurements.

3. Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

   While you’re mixing up your wintry concoction of words, be careful not to make it so sweet that it lands as trite and unbelievable. I’m not saying no fiction or fantasy, and we all know that the most gifted writers earn the trust of their readers to suspend logical belief in service of the storyline. But maybe, just maybe, readers don’t want everyone in the story to be a goody two shoes. Maybe it’s the darker side of humanity that adds the right kick to your story and keeps readers hanging on until the last stocking is filled.

4. That's What She Said

   Dialogue can be so tricky to write, especially when writers are trying their hand at crafting a feel good holiday tale for the ages, it’s so easy to slip into cliches and lean too heavily on speech. Don’t make this mistake yourself. By all means, use dialogue to reveal a character’s inner world and move the story forward, but trust your readers to decipher a bit of subtlety. It’s kind of like not opening your gifts before Christmas day, right? Don’t have your characters spell out their every thought and feeling in the first few chapters. Keep their verbal exchanges short and intentional.

5. Did Someone Say Stereotypes?

   Although many of us enjoy a good Hallmark-esque book or movie from time to time, building a Christmas story around played-out character profiles (think ‘female CEO returns to her small town for the holidays after a breakup and discovers the true meaning of Christmas’) makes it very hard to hold a reader’s interest. The storylines become predictable, and many of the characters aren’t all that relatable. If you choose to go this route, make sure to change things up a bit.

A Note on Cliches in Christmas Stories

Generally, it’s not advisable to lean into cliches in your writing. The goal is to stand out and make your narrative memorable in a sea of others. Christmas stories are an exception to this rule, in that cliches are kind of the name of the game. Just be sure to sandwich them in between your own original material so that they don’t get overwhelming.

How to Put a New Spin on an Old Story

The trick is to add something new to the tried-and-true and make it your own. Readers expect a plot with a problem that will wrap up nicely with a bow by December 25th. But maybe they don’t expect a murder. Or eloping in Bali with someone you just met. Give readers a reason to stick around!

Our Contributor's Favorite Christmas Stories and Poems

Use these to get some inspiration!

• The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan: This is set in an Edinburgh bookshop, as the title would suggest, and honestly that was enough for me to reach for my favorite Scottish author’s volumes again. Carmen works in an old bookstore that has seen better days. Will she get things back on track and save the shop before Christmas? 

• Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan: I did warn you that she’s my favorite Scottish author, so you shouldn’t be all too surprised she’s featured twice on my list. What can I say? Something about the islands and the snow and how that’s so different from a North Carolina Christmas I just couldn’t resist. This novel is book four in a series about the island of Mure, so it’s more difficult to recommend as a standalone read. But if you jump in with the bookshop book above and find yourself enamored with Colgan’s writing like I am, maybe you’ll love meeting Flora, Joel, Douglas and their friends in the isles.

• “Sonnet in the Shape of a Potted Christmas Tree” by George Starbuck: Concrete poems are attention-grabbing, and this one caught my eye. The asterisk at the top is a nice touch. Starbuck does great work with sounds here.

• “This is the Latest” by Ange Mlinko: This poem has it all: lobsters, bathtubs, shrinkage. Personally, I give huge props to a Christmas poem that utilizes the word shrinkage. Couldn’t we all use a tiny bit more Christmas shrinkage?

• “Taking Down the Tree” by Jane Kenyon: Kenyon’s piece has my favorite ending, and that’s why I chose it to round off my list. Her words stick with me long after reading, as I hope they do for you too.

Send Your Story Home for the Holidays

We at Ink & Oak have enjoyed all the writing you have shared with us this past year, and are excited to read the work you’ll send us in 2026. May the holidays be kind to you, dear North Carolinian writers and poets. When you have double-knotted the big, showy red bow on your next piece, submit it here for your chance to be published. See you next year!