Writing Prompts (Jan 2021) — Fill in the Blanks Publication
A new publication on Medium, inspired by the classic game, Mad Libs!
--
Welcome to our first-ever writing prompt for our new publication, Fill in the Blanks, inspired by the classic game, Mad Libs!
In case you’re coming to this story from somewhere unrelated to the new publication, let me explain: Mad Libs is a “phrasal template word game which consists of one player prompts others for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story,” making for hilarious results.
If you’re interested, here is the link to the publication. Come give us a follow!
Every month, we will be picking out 5 random writing genres for our writers to choose from. You may submit as many as you want, from any prompt you want — as long as your submitted piece matches our submission guidelines and has the required # of blank words.
Submissions may be a full story or an excerpt from a hypothetical full story and can be as long or short as you want — as long as your submitted piece matches our submission guidelines and has the required # of blank words.
It is recommended that you keep your stories under 3 minutes to maximize the hilarious factor with Mad Libs.
Catch my drift? Good!
In case you need to review the submission guidelines, click here!
If you want to submit words for this month’s prompt to be paired up with other writer submissions, click here!
These prompts will be left up until midnight (EST) on January 31, 2020.
Let’s have some fun!
Word Blank Requirements
Your stories must have at minimum the following blanks. Ensure you place them in the areas of your story that will have the maximum impact. You can have them anywhere in your story in any order, but you must have all of them labeled for different sentences (e.g. The [noun] went to the park).
See the submission guidelines for examples!
At Minimum!
- 5 Nouns
- 5 Plural Nouns
- 5 Adjectives
- 5 Verbs
- 3 Adverbs
- 1 piece of clothing
- 1 celebrity
- 1 number
- Name of pet dog or cat
Writing Prompts
Swashbuckler Fiction
I’ve always been fascinated by fiction stories about pirates! Famous pirates like Bluebeard, Long John Silver have long been household names for many avid readers around the globe, including myself.
It’s time to sail the Seven Seas and get inspired to write some creative, hilarious swashbuckling stories! Arrrr you ready?
Superhero Fiction
In the last 20 years, we’ve seen a renaissance of superhero movies dominate Hollywood.
The modern-day superhero industry started with Blade in 1998 and X-Men in 2000 before ultimately evolving into big blockbuster hits from Marvel and DC Comic universes like The Avengers and Batman.
Oh, look in the sky! It’s a bird! No, it’s a plane! No, it’s a Fill in the Blanks story!
Action Thriller Fiction
Think about James Bond for a second. Can you hear the 007 theme song in your head now? Dun, dun, dun-dun dun, dun.
I absolutely love action thrillers from Mission Impossible to Jason Bourne to Tom Clancy books. Guns blazing, cars racing, and crazy stunts. Ready to get our hearts pumping?
Cooking Instructions for Recipe
Ever see those recipes on random blog sites that take forever to scroll down before you hit the actual recipe? Yeah, don’t do that.
But I think it would be fun to choose this prompt and spin it, Mad Libs-style! Feel free to make up a recipe or use a real recipe and walk us through the step-by-step guide!
Make us something yummy! (or hysterical!)
Self-Improvement Non-Fiction
New Year, New Me! Medium is full of self-improvement advice, but how many of them are Mad Libbed? Here’s your chance to tell us how you would improve our lives with blanks!
