Thursday 26 October 2024: 33 Writing Prompts For April Stories

Topical & evergreen ideas editors want to see

Every month I do a think/write/submit writing exercise. I usually ‘think’ around 6 months ahead, which means in October, I’m ‘thinking’ April, ‘writing’ March, and ‘submitting’ February.

Once I’ve done a date-finding exercise, I put the file away for a few days and come back to it fresh. Then I choose around 5 ideas to pursue for myself, and I discard the others. I hate for those ideas to go to waste, though, so I ‘throw’ them out there for others to take up if they wish.

Here, then, are my ‘throwaway’ writing suggestions for April 2025. I don’t think I’ll have time to do much with any of these, and those I think I might be able to rustle up have already been put to one side. (Remember to double-check the dates yourself as the source I used may have made a mistake.)

1. On 3 April 2020, 5 years ago, London’s Nightingale Hospital, with 4,000 beds to treat Covid patients, was opened remotely by (then) Prince Charles (topical date specific)
2. 4 April every year is apparently International Carrot Day (evergreen)
3. 4 April every year is apparently World Rat Day (evergreen)
4. On 4 April 1945, 80 years ago, US forces liberated Ohrdruf concentration camp in Germany, the first such camp to be liberated by the US Army (topical date specific)
5. On 4 April 1975, 50 years ago, 138 were killed when a US Air Force plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashed during an emergency landing in South Vietnam (topical date specific)
6. On 4 April 1975, 50 years ago, Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen (topical date specific)
7. On 5 April 1935, 90 years ago, the Croatian Farmers’ Party won the Yugoslavian election (topical date specific)
8. On 5 April 1995, 30 years ago, pages from Codex Argenteus (the Silver Bible) were stolen from Uppsala University, Sweden, in broad daylight (topical date specific)
9. On 5 April 1995, 30 years ago, Rolling Stone Magazine retracted their ‘Rape on Campus’ story after being discredited (topical date specific)
10. On 6 April 1925, 100 years ago, the first film was shown on an aeroplane (topical date specific)
11. On 6 April 1975, 30 years ago, Bundy victim Denise Oliverson disappeared from Grand Junction, Colorado (topical date specific)
12. On 7 April 1945, 80 years ago, sonderkommando elbe, special Luftwaffe units designed to destroy Allied planes by ramming into them mid-air, were sent on their first and only mission (topical date specific)
13. On 8 April 2000, 25 years ago, 19 US Marines were killed when a V-22 Osprey crashed near Marana, Arizona (topical date specific)
14. On 10 April 1825, 200 years ago, the first hotel in Hawaii was opened (topical date specific)
15. On 10 April 1925, 100 years ago, Scribners published The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (topical date specific)
16. On 10 April 1955, 70 years ago, Ruth Ellis shot David Blakely and became the last woman to be executed in the UK (topical date specific)
17. 11 April every year is apparently Day of Silence (evergreen)
18. On 12 April 1945, 80 years ago, US president Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office, and vice-president Harry Truman was sworn in as the 33rd US president (topical date specific)
19. On 14 April 1935, 90 years ago, on Black Sunday, a dust storm ravaged the US Midwest, leading the region to be renamed ‘Dust Bowl’ (topical date specific)
20. On 15 April 1955, 70 years ago, Ray Kroc opened the first McDonalds Inc. fast food restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois (topical date specific)
21. On 16 April 1945, 80 years ago, US troops liberated Colditz Castle prisoner-of-war camp in Saxony, Germany (topical date specific)
22. On 17 April 1945, 80 years ago, the Eighth Air Force bombed Dresden (topical date specific)
23. On 19 April 2025, Holy/Easter Saturday, it’s the Nutters’ Dance in Bacup, Lancashire (date specific evergreen)
24. On 20 April 2010, 15 years ago, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 and causing the rig to sink, causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico (topical date specific)
25. On 21 April 2025, Easter Monday, they’re having a Bottle Kicking and Hare Scramble in Leicestershire (date specific evergreen)
26. On 21 April 2025, Easter Monday, they’re Egg Rolling in Preston, Lancashire (date specific evergreen)
27. 25 April every year is apparently World Penguin Day (evergreen)
28. On 25 April 1945, 80 years ago, Clandestine Radio 1212, used to hoax Nazi Germany, made its final transmission (topical date specific)
29. On 27 April 1965, 60 years ago, R.C. Duncan patented ‘Pampers’ disposable diapers/nappies (topical date specific)
30. On 28 April 1965, 60 years ago, Luciano Pavarotti made his debut at La Scala, Milan, in La Boheme (topical date specific)
31. On 29 April 1965, 60 years ago, 5 died in Seattle earthquake (topical date specific)
32. On 29 April 1975, 50 years ago, the US began to evacuate its citizens from Saigon — the Fall of Saigon began (topical date specific)
33. 30 April every year is apparently Warpurgis Night (evergreen)

There you go, 33 ideas to get you writing.