Winter Folkloric Beings

Happy holidays, fellow Vocalites! I’m sure that we are all busy with our wintertime activities as well as the everyday responsibilities that keep our plates full all year round. It can make this time of year quite stressful. Well, it’s time to take a break from all that holiday shopping and festive cheer and get our pens to paper. ‘Tis the season to be writing, after all.

It’s been a year since I introduced Vocal to one of my favorite Friday Fun-Day writing prompts from my blog, The Writer’s Scrap Bin, called “Winter Horror Story”. Quite a few hilarious and horrific tales sprung up from that prompt, including Paul Stewart’s Jingle Bell Rot, which has continued this year in the form of You Better Watch Out and Last Christmas’ Message for Claus. With such great success from this prompt, I figured that it is time for me to introduce another holiday-themed writing prompt. This one is called “Winter Folkloric Beings”.

Like “Winter Horror Story”, “Winter Folkloric Beings” is rather simple. All you have to do is take a lesser-known winter folkloric being and write a story from their perspective. These must be lesser-known beings that are not often explored in popular films, TV shows, books, and so on. (Sorry, that means no Santa Claus, no Rudolph, no Elf on the Shelf—creepy little thing that it is—no Jack Frost, etc. Krampus is totally fair game, though.) Really bring this folkloric being to life in a way that has not been done before!

Your being can be from any culture, tradition, etc., so long as it has to do with wintertime. So come on, bring me your Krampus, your Nuckelavee, your Mahaha, your Grýla! I want to see something that I have not seen before and, more importantly, see a perspective on it that other people have not given it before. Do some research and have fun with it!

Your story can be light or dark, it doesn’t matter. I personally have more putting a darker twist on the holidays, but I know how a lot of people like to keep things merry and bright this time of year, so if that’s what strikes you for this prompt, bring it! I would love to read it all.

Unfortunately, I cannot afford to tip anyone for their stories like some other prompts do. (I’m an amateur writer with a day job who’s still paying off loans from grad school. What do you expect?) However, on New Year’s Day, I will post my three favorite stories. So, if you can get your stories into the comments by midnight Pacific Time on New Year’s Eve (and you can enter as many as you want), then I will consider them for my top three favorites.

I have already written and posted a story that could serve as an example for “Winter Folkloric Beings”, called A Christmas Beast.

Your story does not have to be as long as mine. In fact, it could be microfiction if you think you can manage the complexities in such a short format. It could even be longer than my story, if that is what you think will best convey your story. Just do whatever feels right to you.

Remember to leave a link to your story in the comments below. And if you have your own winter-based writing prompt, feel free to share that as well. The more, the merrier!

To see my blog posts, check out The Writer’s Scrap Bin. For more of my Vocal pieces, go to my Vocal profile.

And for my other Krampus piece from last year, All is Bloody and Bright, follow the link below.