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In 2017, the tumblr page ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
yourbookcouldbegayer ran a holiday event, with 12 prompts for the days leading up to Christmas.
The intent was to write one short story for each prompt, under 8000 words, and starring an lgbtq+ protagonist of any flavor.
Dec 14 – First Day of Gay
Two of your characters are going ice skating. It’s not a date – they swear it – but everyone, including their friends, thinks it is.
Dec 15 – Second Day of Gay
Two or more of your characters are spending time with each other when a blizzard sweeps through the area, snowing them in! Write about how they handle being trapped together with limited supplies.
Dec 16 – Third Day of Gay
Pick 3 (or more) elements and incorporate them: a children’s game, a box of matches, a blizzard, a spell book, betrayal, a torn letter, a secret someone already knew, trick handcuffs, tinsel, an overfull suitcase, a safe haven that doesn’t feel safe.
Dec 17 – Fourth Day of Gay
You found the old silk hat that turned Frosty into a walking talking snowman. Turns out, the hat works on other things too.
Dec 18 – Fifth Day of Gay
Your characters meet at a coffee shop and bond over their shared hatred of peppermint flavored drinks. When they leave, one of the characters is pretty sure they’ll never see the other person again, but guess whose number they find in their pocket?
Dec 19 – Sixth Day of Gay
If it’s a fanfic, make it an AU: One of your characters develops superpowers, and Charlie Brown-esque, accidentally puts Santa Claus (or a St. Nick-ish figure) out of commission. Now they have to fill in for them for the night. (If your character’s not Christian, take the opportunity to make several ironic jokes… I know I will!)
Dec 20 – Seventh Day of Gay
Two or more of your characters have just realized they didn’t get anything for each other for the holidays! They all rush to the nearest shopping center, coincidentally on the same day, and desperately attempt to not let them see each other. Or, if they do see each other they try to play it off real cool like and try to hide the presents.
Dec 21 – Eighth Day of Gay
There’s nothing harder than having a polyamorous relationship during the holidays. Having two families come together for the holidays is hard, but when your three-person couple celebrates the holidays the house is suddenly much more lively than before.
Dec 22 – Ninth Day of Gay
You are out with your S.O. ice skating on a local lake but due to unfortunate events, the ice cracks and you fall through. However, you quickly realize it’s not water underneath the ice.
Dec 23 – Tenth Day of Gay
Write about a family (or a group that considers themselves family) with different beliefs and how they blend and balance them for the holidays.
Dec 24 – Eleventh Day of Gay
Include the line “It’s the most dreadful time of year.”
Dec 25 – Twelfth Day of Gay
Your most social character is throwing a massive holiday party! One problem, well, two problems. One is that all of their friends are confused as to why they never got an invite, two is realizing that the invites, handwritten by the host, have all gone to the wrong people! Holiday hijinks ensue as your character rushes wrong their rights.
Note as of 2023: I only managed to do the first ten days, but it was the first I'd written and shared in several years. I feel like the quality of what I came up with varied pretty wildly, but I really did like a few of them, and hope to someday return to a couple of the ideas!
The intent was to write one short story for each prompt, under 8000 words, and starring an lgbtq+ protagonist of any flavor.
Dec 14 – First Day of Gay
Two of your characters are going ice skating. It’s not a date – they swear it – but everyone, including their friends, thinks it is.
Dec 15 – Second Day of Gay
Two or more of your characters are spending time with each other when a blizzard sweeps through the area, snowing them in! Write about how they handle being trapped together with limited supplies.
Dec 16 – Third Day of Gay
Pick 3 (or more) elements and incorporate them: a children’s game, a box of matches, a blizzard, a spell book, betrayal, a torn letter, a secret someone already knew, trick handcuffs, tinsel, an overfull suitcase, a safe haven that doesn’t feel safe.
Dec 17 – Fourth Day of Gay
You found the old silk hat that turned Frosty into a walking talking snowman. Turns out, the hat works on other things too.
Dec 18 – Fifth Day of Gay
Your characters meet at a coffee shop and bond over their shared hatred of peppermint flavored drinks. When they leave, one of the characters is pretty sure they’ll never see the other person again, but guess whose number they find in their pocket?
Dec 19 – Sixth Day of Gay
If it’s a fanfic, make it an AU: One of your characters develops superpowers, and Charlie Brown-esque, accidentally puts Santa Claus (or a St. Nick-ish figure) out of commission. Now they have to fill in for them for the night. (If your character’s not Christian, take the opportunity to make several ironic jokes… I know I will!)
Dec 20 – Seventh Day of Gay
Two or more of your characters have just realized they didn’t get anything for each other for the holidays! They all rush to the nearest shopping center, coincidentally on the same day, and desperately attempt to not let them see each other. Or, if they do see each other they try to play it off real cool like and try to hide the presents.
Dec 21 – Eighth Day of Gay
There’s nothing harder than having a polyamorous relationship during the holidays. Having two families come together for the holidays is hard, but when your three-person couple celebrates the holidays the house is suddenly much more lively than before.
Dec 22 – Ninth Day of Gay
You are out with your S.O. ice skating on a local lake but due to unfortunate events, the ice cracks and you fall through. However, you quickly realize it’s not water underneath the ice.
Dec 23 – Tenth Day of Gay
Write about a family (or a group that considers themselves family) with different beliefs and how they blend and balance them for the holidays.
Dec 24 – Eleventh Day of Gay
Include the line “It’s the most dreadful time of year.”
Dec 25 – Twelfth Day of Gay
Your most social character is throwing a massive holiday party! One problem, well, two problems. One is that all of their friends are confused as to why they never got an invite, two is realizing that the invites, handwritten by the host, have all gone to the wrong people! Holiday hijinks ensue as your character rushes wrong their rights.
Note as of 2023: I only managed to do the first ten days, but it was the first I'd written and shared in several years. I feel like the quality of what I came up with varied pretty wildly, but I really did like a few of them, and hope to someday return to a couple of the ideas!
