Using the Calendar for Inspiration

Dave from MorgueFile

With the Ides of March nine days past and spring having arrived on the twentieth, we find a wealth of grist for our writing mills. Did you know the assassination of Julius Caesar isn’t the only marker that establishes March 15 as a date in infamy? “Beware the Ides of March,” according to the Smithsonian, extends well beyond Caesar’s murder to our present day. Their list of same-date tragedies includes some surprising entries.

French raided southern England in 1360.

A Samoan cyclone in 1889 smashed three U.S. and three German warships in the harbor at Apia. Over 200 soldiers died.

In 1917 Russia’s Czar Nicholas II abdicated the throne, making way for Bolshevik rule and setting the stage for the execution of his family.

In 1939 the Nazis overran Czechoslovakia, effectively eliminating it as a country.

A disastrous blizzard in 1941 killed 60 people in North Dakota and Minnesota and another six in Canada.

In 1952 a deluge pounded the island of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean and set a world record of 73.62 inches of rain in 24 hours.

In 1988, a NASA report indicated the Northern Hemisphere’s ozone layer was disappearing at three times the expected rate.

The World Health Organization in 2003 issued a global health alert over the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak that struck more than 8000 people and killed 774.

These catastrophes may seem more than enough to suggest skipping March 15 altogether, but they also till fertile soil for the creation of countless stories. From historical fiction (or fact) to modern thrillers, powerful and poignant characters could come to life amidst these tragedies.

Badeenjuh from MorgueFile

So we move into spring. This season of renewal stands out as the one most often anticipated with nostalgic longing and welcomed with hopeful hearts. While its official date is March 20, it can seem to come later for some of us above the equator. Have you heard of springtime in the Rockies? Beautiful as it can be, it often brings the heaviest snows of the year.

Do you feel the beginnings of a story here? What would prevent spring’s fulfilling its promise of hope and renewal? Could our protagonist from the sunny South get lost in one of those snows? Might the season mark the death or departure of a loved one? What if a farmer on land homesteaded by his family a century ago faces foreclosure instead of planting season because of the ongoing drought?

Do you use dates, observances, or other familiar points of reference to ground your stories and draw your readers in? Can you extend these to your marketing plan and bring in a new audience?  

Linda Lane and her editing team mentor and encourage writers at all phases of the writing process. To learn more about what they do, please visit them at www.denvereditor.com.