Summer story ideas and inspiration

Who doesn’t love summer? Well, apparently a lot of people, but there’s still something special about the season. If you’ve come here to get ideas for summer stories, you’re in the right place.

Previously, I’ve given you story setting tips about summer, so you might want to check that post out after you’ve found your best story idea here.

Related reading: Season writing tips, Summer writing tips, Writing a summer romance

What’s unique about summer?

What is it about summer that other seasons don’t have? If you’re still young, or perhaps a teacher, the answer might be obvious. The summer holidays are longer than other holidays. When you’re writing about summer, though, don’t forget that everyone can’t be on vacation! Someone needs to work at McDonald’s, the hospital, H&M, etc.

Typically the weather is different in summer, but HOW different depends on where your story takes place. Writing about weather by itself isn’t really that interesting but different weather phenomena like storms and heatwaves can bring unique conflicts to your story.

Because most people still tend to have their vacations in summer if that’s an option, the season can also bring a sort of emptiness and stillness to many places. I mean, where did everyone go? And why is no one answering the phone at the office where I’ve been calling every day for a week now? On the other hand, there are places that could be swarming with tourists, for better or for worse.

Think about why you want to write a summer story. Do you like the lighthearted atmosphere? Would the story not work if your characters were wearing duffle coats? Whatever the unique ingredient is, don’t be afraid to emphasize it.

What kinds of books are meant to be read in the summer?

Perhaps you want to write a summery book that is meant to be read in the summer. Perhaps at the beach, even? If so, there’a definitely a market for it.

These summer books are often quick and light reads, but that doesn’t mean they need to be stupid. Just because your story is low stakes, you shouldn’t bypass good storytelling – just entertain your readers, don’t underestimate them. These stories are often about relationships, whether it’s romantic relationships or drama between family members or adventures with friends.

Other popular summer reads are the kinds of fast-paced crime novels and thrillers that you can practically read in one sitting and that keep you turning the pages without challenging you too much, but these stories aren’t necessarily summery and probably emphasize different things in the setting than the blooming flowers and sweltering beaches.

Of course, you don’t need to write either of those types of stories to write something that takes place in the summer. You’ll find ideas and inspiration in this post in any case.

Summery story setting ideas

If you want to write something especially summery, the setting is very important. You’ll need to have your characters surrounded by summery details, and if your setting comes with unique circumstances and obstacles, even better.

Here are some setting ideas for summer stories

• University town that is now suddenly empty because everyone is at home
• Seaside town that is now full of tourists that keep getting in trouble because they’re not used to the sea
• Quaint small town with a stream of vacationers who are looking for the most Instaworthy locations
• Manor house surrounded by incredible gardens (and perhaps secrets)
• House in the mountains that only becomes reachable in spring
• City that only becomes more stinky in the summer
• Remote village that is freezing cold apart from the few weeks in the summer

Story ideas about students on summer vacation

Maybe you want to write about young people enjoying their freedom from studies in the summer months. This freedom could mean having nothing but leisure time or it could mean working summer jobs to support their studies or families. They could be with their friends or they could be meeting new people.

Here are some story ideas for your students on summer vacation:

• Your character has to work in the family business in the summer even though he hates it, because his father wants to spend time with him before he leaves the nest completely
• A sunburn on the beach leads to your character meeting the cute, new receptionist at the doctor’s office
• Spending the summer selling ice cream on the beach would probably be a lot more fun without a terrible dairy allergy
• Taking part in the dumb dance competition in her small hometown was NOT in her summer holiday itinerary but unfortunately there’s nothing else to do
• Although he’s not exactly excited about spending the summer studying for his last year of high school, the library is the only place your character can escape the heat and his parents’ divorce
• You haven’t heard from your high school sweetheart since she started college last year so you spend all your summer tending to your grandma’s garden to take your mind off things

Summer story ideas for fantasy fiction

Contemporary fiction isn’t the only place for summer-inspired stories. What if you wrote a summer fantasy story? For other fantasy worldbuilding tips, check out this post.

Here are your summer story ideas for fantasy novels:

• A character in a normal human world escapes the summer heat to a local forest where they find the fae also sruggling with the heatwave
• It’s literally raining frogs this summer and you’re determined to find the wizard responsible for it
• Unless you want to be a farmer, there’s nothing to do in the village in the summer months, so your character starts exploring the mysterious ruins in the forest
• When you’re a herbalist, summer is the most important season for filling up your stock – if only you hadn’t been struck by that curse last winter
• Taking over your father’s job as the travelling merchant is almost fun now that it’s summer even though the creatures in the night still worry you
• Now that winter is over and the ice has melted, the mermaids can come to the surface again

Inspiration for cozy summer stories

“Cozy” can be very subjective for people but usually cozy stories are marked by low stakes plots, friendship, small and comfortable settings and the feeling of coming home. Cozy stories usually go about their way to make the story’s setting tangible since the environment is so important for setting the right mood.

Whatever cozy means to you personally, I hope you find these story ideas inspiring:

• You’re off school for the summer so you go help your grandma at her little cottage and you end up finding a family secret that you could have never predicted
• The inn is particularly quiet this summer so your character has a chance to get to know the few guests better than normally, with interesting results
• They don’t have a library at the small country village so your character decides to turn his old bread delivery van into a mobile library
• Reading for the patients at the cottage hospital was not your idea of an exciting summer job but it turns out you can learn a lot from old ladies
• She needs a new place to stay after graduating from college and the lighthouse operator needs someone to share expenses with – what could go wrong?
• Selling handmade souvenirs at a popular summer vacation destination might not make you rich but it’s what got you through the death of your parents

Summery travel story ideas

Not everyone travels during the summer holidays, of course, but travelling is still fun to read about. When you have characters that change locations a lot during the story, make sure your readers still stay with you and don’t get a whiplash from the changing scenery.

Here are a few story ideas for summer travel stories:

• Five friends go on a roadtrip to the seaside – only four friends return
• An author visiting a popular budget holiday resort is bored by the lack of murders and mystery so she decides to fix things
• Hundreds of people are stranded at an airport during a massive thunderstorm – two of them make a pact that will change the summer completely
• You were planning to wear all your most glamorous summer outfits in Italy – unfortunately, you ended up with your grandma’s luggage
• You’re going to make a new best friend at the summer camp no matter what you have to do to achieve that
• After catastrophically failing at his med school entrance exams, your character decides to spend the summer hitchhiking through the country to escape everyone who’s disappointed in him
• Going to all their favourite festivals tests two best friends who have known each other since they were in diapers

I hope you’ve got some inspiration from these summer story ideas, and if you’ve got any requests for future writing inspiration posts, let me know in the comments!

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Protagonist Crafts is a blog about writing fiction, written by a published author and creative writing teacher. You can find more writing tips and inspiration in the blog and you can get the best author tools at Writer Lifestyle on Etsy.