Autoantonyms

Autoantonyms are words that are the opposite of themselves. Try using these pairs of opposites in a sentence. Also try including any other forms of the same word, that is, dust can also be a noun.

aught   noun	• anything • nothing
bolt   verb	• to secure in place • to dash away suddenly
bound   adj./verb	• restrained (e.g. by rope) • to spring; leap
cleave   verb	• to adhere; stick together • to cut apart; divide
clip   verb	• to fasten together; hold tightly • to cut apart; cut off (e.g. with shears)
custom   adjective	• usual; normal • special; unique
dust   verb	• to remove fine particles from (e.g. when cleaning) • to sprinkle fine particles onto
fast   adverb	• fixed firmly in place • moving quickly; speedy
fine   adjective	• just meets minimum standards; satisfactory • considerably better than average; excellent
handicap   noun/verb	• advantage (e.g. in sport) • disadvantage; disability
left   verb	• departed from • remaining
model   noun	• archetype; example • copy; replica
overlook   verb	• to examine; watch over • to fail to notice; miss
puzzle   verb	• to pose a problem • to solve a problem
screen   verb	• to view; show • to conceal; shield
splice   verb	• to join together • to cut in two
strike   verb	• to miss (e.g. in baseball) •to hit; collide with
trim   verb	• to cut pieces off (e.g. fingernails) • to add to; ornament
weather   verb	• to withstand; stand up to • to wear away
wind up   verb	• to start; prepare • to end; conclude

There is more information about Autoantonyms as well as a longer list at Fun With Words.

Sloganizer

Go to Sloganizer and type in one or two words (it tells you it works better with one or two if you try more than that) and click Sloganize! Write an advertisement or a press release for the product that goes with the slogan.

Here's some created by Sloganizer. Feel free to use these if you want or take parts of them to create a different slogan.

• Oh, my gods, it's a Jayloo!
  
• SlugBug. Making people sucessful in a changing world. (SlugBugs sole purpose in life is to annoy!)
  
• Rats, your way!
  
• My Lunkhead and me.
  
• Go to heaven with Wind Seeker.
  
• Star Trek forever. :-)
  
• The wonder has a name: Klingons.
  
• iPodtastic!
  
• There's only one thing in the world I want and that is Poop.
  
• Anime, the clever way.
  
• There's a bit of Jackson and Steven in all of us.
  
• Make the world a better place with Jackson and Steven.
  (Jackson and Steven are characters Kathryn created who are kind of clueless walking disasters which made these particularly funny!)
  
• Unschooling keeps going, and going, and going...

"There is no perfect time to write."

Constrained writing

Constrained writing is like confining yourself to a very specific box which can, ironically, be freeing since it forces you out of the familiar boxes you may generally be writing in. I've posted several prompts based on constrained writing: lipograms (forbidding certain letters), anti-lippograms (requiring certain letters), drabble (100 word story). (Click on the Constrained writing category to the right to see them.)

Constrained.org is "a community site for short stories that adhere to various literary constraints, ranging from the well-known (anagrams, acrostics, palindromes) to the obscure and arbitrary". They put up a new constraint each week.

You can see a Random Story from a random challenge. They also have a page listing their current Constraint Challenges. Here's a sample of what may be over a hundred of them. (I wish the page had full descriptions, but each challenge links to a full description.):

• Lipogram (thirteen stories) (Your lipogrammatic submissions should avoid a symbol that I will playfully signal by noting that it...)
  
• The extreme opposite (seven stories) (Compose stories wherein every verb, adjective etc. possesses the letter 'e'.)
  
• Fossil record (nine stories) (No formal constraints this time (although you may, of course, devise your own). Instead your stories...)
  
• Monosyllabic stories (fifteen stories) (Your task, should you choose it, is to weave taut yarns in which each word is but one voiced part.)

The package

You have (or your character has) just received an envelope or package with this symbol on it.

Write about what happens next.

You can use some (or all or none) of the following questions to help think about it.

• Did you expect this to arrive?
• Were you there when it was delivered?
• How was it delivered? Who delivered it? Or what delivered it?
• What does the envelope look like?
• What shape is it?
• Is it new or is it old?
• What color is it?
• What does it feel like?
• Is it made of paper?
• Is it thick or thin? Flat or lumpy?
• Does it have a scent?
• Are there other markings on it?
• Fingerprints? Stains? Watermarks?
• Is there writing? Can you read it?
• How is it sealed?
• What's inside?
• Is there a letter or letters inside? (If so, answer similar questions to the ones about the envelope.)
• Can you read the language?
• What is the handwriting like? Spikey? Round? Fancy? Hurried? Inexpert?
• What color is the ink?
• Is it ink or might it be something else?
• Does the letter have other symbols on it?
• If there's a letter can you tell who it's from?
• What information is in it?
• What do they want you to do?

Alphabet sentences

Write a paragraph (or one really really long sentence) using only words that begin with the letters in the alphabet in order.

Such as "A blustering caribou ...."

Opening lines

Try writing an opening line for each of the following words. Set the timer for 10-15 minutes and do as many as the time allows. Don't agonize over one by trying to do them in order. Let inspiration be your guide.

fable
memory
crabapple
honestly
sea
affectionate
funk
lightness
cyborg
clay
fresh
spider
musty
eternal
theater
heaven
crisp
pitch
eastern
carnage

5 minute stories

The intent of most of these prompts is to get you started. This prompt should lead to an entire story in 5 minutes! Okay, it won't be War and Peace but it will have the essence of story: character, conflict and change.

In Roberta Allen's Fast Fiction her advice on how to do it is to just do it :-) And that it will get easier with practice.

Set the timer for 5 minutes and turn off your conscious self. Select a prompt without thinking much about it. (There are 300 of them in the book. They are nearly all universal concepts and can be applied to any genre of fiction.) Then start writing.

(As always, if the timer goes off and you're on a roll, keep going. If you're done early, stop. The timer is intended to help you, not be a chain.) I suspect my first attempts at this are going to be rough since I like longer fiction!)

Write a story about a will.
Write a story about glass.
Write a story about a disaster
Write a story about a view.
Write a story about something trivial.
Write a story about a rite.

Write a story about a fake.
Write a story about a riddle.
Write a story about a rule.
Write a story about a battle.
Write a story about a souvenir.
Write a story about a scar.

Write a story about a rogue.
Write a story about a holiday
Write a story about a fantasy.
Write a story about a demon.
Write a story about dread.
Write a story about hunting.

Write a story about a lie.
Write a story about something that really happened.
Write a story about an animal.
Write a story about an object that has been lost.
Write a story about leaving.
Write a story about a wish.

More
There's a genre of fiction that's expanded recently called short short fiction. Roberta Allen described it as stories you can read during the commercial break. (So with TiVo, is the next genre micro fiction we can read while we fast forward past the commercials ;-))

Character: If you need help with a character, here's some questions to ask. (You may only need to answer one question. They're all different ways of asking the same thing.)

• What does your character yearn for? (As Robert Olen Butler expresses it.)
  
• What does she desire more than anything else in the world?
  
• What does she fear losing more than anything else in the world?
  
• What does she want back that she lost?
  
• What is she conflicted about? In other words, what two incompatible things does she want?

Conflict: Then create a roadblock. Something or someone or something within herself that's between the character and what she wants.

Resolution: Then have something change by the end. (Maybe she gets it. Maybe she realizes she didn't need it. Maybe she realizes she can't ever have it.)

Quotes from Roberta Allen's Fast Fiction

"Before you do the exercises, you need to give up all your notions about writing well."

"Decide beforehand that whatever you put on the page will be okay. Give yourself freedom. Allow yourself to write whatever comes up. Some of the thoughts going through your mind may seem silly or nonsensical. Include them anyway. Let go of the critic before you start."

"Forget yourself. If you listen to the chatter in your mind, you are not fully engaged in the writing. If you have a goal, such as writing well, for example, you will interfere with the process by trying too hard. The last thing you want to do is try. Instead, let things happen. Don't impose your will. Don't take charge."

"The last thing you want to do in the beginning is judge your work. This doesn't mean that judgment plays no part in the process. I does, but not in the beginning and not in the usual sense. What you will be judging is energy rather than quality and you will only do that after you've finished writing."

"Women with clean houses do not have finished books."

Rules for writing good

Rules for writing good

Many of these "rules" are more appropriate to formal writing rather than fiction but I thought they were funny!

1. About those sentence fragments.
   
2. Always pick on the correct idiom.
   
3. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
   
4. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
   
5. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
   
6. Avoid alliteration. Always.
   
7. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
   
8. Avoid cliches like the plague. They're old hat.
   
9. A writer must not shift your point of view.
   
10. Be more or less specific.
    
11. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
    
12. Contractions aren't necessary.
    
13. Corect spelling is esential.
    
14. Do not put statements in the negative form.
    
15. Don't be redundant and don't use more words than necessary or be highly superfluous.
    
16. Don't overuse exclamation marks!!
    
17. Don't use commas, which aren't necessary.
    
18. Don't use no double negatives.
    
19. Don't write run-on sentences, they are hard to read.
    
20. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
    
21. Employ the vernacular.
    
22. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
    
23. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
    
24. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
    
25. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
    
26. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
    
27. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
    
28. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
    
29. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
    
30. Its important to use your apostrophe's correctly.
    
31. Just between you and I, case is important.
    
32. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
    
33. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
    
34. One should never generalize.
    
35. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
    
36. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
    
37. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of ten or more words, to their antecedents.
    
38. Prepositions are terrible words to end sentences with.
    
39. Proofread your writing to see if any words out and to avoid misteaks.
    
40. Remember to never split an infinitive.
    
41. Take the bull by the hand, and avoid mixing metaphors.
    
42. The adverb always follows the verb.
    
43. The passive voice is to be avoided.
    
44. Understatement is absolutely, positively best.
    
45. Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
    
46. Verbs has to agree with their subject.
    
47. Who needs rhetorical questions?
    
48. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
    
49. Last, but not least, avoid cliche's like the plague. (They're old hat.)

Tom Swifties

A Tom Swifty is a bit of dialog in which the adverb attached to "said" relates both properly and punningly to what was said.

They come from Tom Swift who is the main character of the series of adventure stories written by "Victor Appleton". (Like the Nancy Drew series they were written by a number of different authors under one pseudonym.) He rarely spoke without a qualifier: "Tom added eagerly" or "Tom said jokingly". (They were just qualifiers though. Tom didn't intentionally do Tom Swifties!)

Examples

• "The doctor had to remove my left ventricle," said Tom half-heartedly.
  
• "Elvis is dead," said Tom expressly.
  
• "I swallowed some of the glass from that broken window," Tom said painfully.

There are other punning dialogs that are accepted as Tom Swifties even if they aren't of the adverb-said form.

Verb

• "My garden needs another layer of mulch," Tom repeated.
  
• "You must be my host," Tom guessed.

Phrase

• "I've only enough carpet for the hall and landing," said Tom with a blank stare.
  
• "Don't let me drown in Egypt!" pleaded Tom, deep in denial.

Someone other than Tom speaking

• "Who discovered radium?" asked Marie curiously.
  
• "I'm going to end it all," Sue sighed.

Morphological; i.e. the words must be broken down into morphemes (smaller components) to understand the pun

• "This is the real male goose," said Tom producing the propaganda.
  
• "The cat sounds as if she's happy now she's been fed," said Tom purposefully.

Homonym or homophone

• "I have a split personality," said Tom, being frank.
  
• "I love hot dogs," said Tom with relish.
  
• "There's no need for silence," Tom allowed.
  
• "I won't finish in fifth place," Tom held forth.

Try your hand at some Tom Swifties by writing the alphabet down the side of the page and try to generate one for each letter.

If you scroll down I've included the adverb part of some from Tom Swifties Examples if you need something to get you started.

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If you come up with some good Tom Swifties you can send them into the "Fun with Words" website

said Tom acidly.
Tom admitted.
Tom bellowed.
said Tom bitingly.
Tom chimed in.
said Tom cuttingly.
said Tom deferred.
exclaimed Tom dumbfoundedly.
said Tom ecstatically.
said Tom electrically.
said Tom fanatically.
Tom said fruitlessly.
said Tom with a glazed look.
said Tom gruesomely.
said Tom handsomely.
said Tom heavily.
said Tom icily.
said Tom intently.
said Tom judgmentally.
said Tom without justification.
Tom kidded.
said Tom, knitting his brow.
reported Tom lamely.
said Tom lumberingly.
said Tom mechanically.
Tom mourned.
asked Tom noteworthily.
said Tom, nonplussed.
said Tom oddly.
said Tom patiently.
aid Tom pathologically.
said Tom quiveringly.
said Tom quixotically.
said Tom rabidly.
Tom admitted readily.
said Tom sagely.
said Tom sheepishly.
said Tom tenderly.
said Tom triumphantly.
said Tom unaccountably.
said Tom unwillingly.
said Tom weakly.
cried Tom woefully.
said Tom xerophytically.
yolked Tom.
was Tom's yuletide comment.
said Tom zestfully.
was Tom's zippy rejoinder.

The above explanation was paraphrased from History of the Tom Swiftie. At the site he also explains the examples if you didn't get all of the puns :-)

Darkness and Crystal Kitten

There are two opposite powerful beings: Darkness Kitten and Crystal Kitten.

Each one thinks that they are improving the world with what they're doing, and each thinks the other is the bad guy. Who is right? Or are they both right? Or are they both wrong?

Write about this struggle between "good" and "evil" about what is "right" and what is "wrong".

Darkness and Crystal Kitten can be anything you desire; companies, armies, people, kittens, wizards, etc. ...

One sentence review

Grab a book (probably works best with fiction but don't limit yourself). Open it and randomly choose a sentence. Use that sentence as though it represents the essence of the plot. Set the timer for 10-15 minutes and write a review for the book.

Inspired by the article I REVIEW BOOKS BASED ON ONE RANDOM SENTENCE by Jack Pendarvis

Top 10 things your pet thinks about >^.^<

Make a list of the Top 10 things your pet thinks about. (Or any creature that you or anyone made up.) It may help to do it in the form of monologue speech as though your pet were talking to himself or herself as the thoughts were going through his or her head.

Inspired by Top Ten Things Dogs Probably Think About

Random name generators

There are a lot of random name generators out there! Especially for fantasy names. (BTW, if you click on "Sonic" it takes you to a Sonic character generator.)

The best site I've come across is Seventh Sanctum where there are name generators galore. Plus story generators, character generators, attack generators, tavern name generators. You need something named, Seventh Generation is the place to go.

If you need contemporary names Kleimo's Random Name Generator uses census information so it will generate names from ones used by real people. You can set the "obscurity factor" to generate names on a sliding scale from most common to most obscure.

Here are 30 obscure names:

1. Wes Bretana
2. Delana Liewald
3. Elicia Byrley
4. Kathaleen Argulewicz
5. Billye Aceveda
6. Jenette Homza
7. Palmer Ebilane
8. Sherrell Brynestad
9. Coreen Doussan
10. Eldridge Freidet
11. Wes Kenson
12. Coretta Gheza
13. Vannessa Belwood
14. Zulema Mouzas
15. Michiko Butel
16. Ramonita Florestal
17. Winford Fredrikson
18. Kathern Panias
19. Jarod Malgieri
20. Vinnie Criton
21. Lindsay Gavula
22. Malisa Bielefield
23. Hyman Gunagan
24. Walton Odomes
25. Tuan Linderleaf
26. Cristopher Flota
27. Stanton Forcade
28. Vincenzo Nham
29. Delta Civcci
30. Tuan Guterriez

Your Name Here

In keeping with this week's inadvertent name theme go to Your Name Here. Type in your name and answer the questions. Click "What Is My Name?"

Set the timer for 10-15 minutes and write about one of the "famous" people who had your name, or expand on the history.

Here's the "history" that pops up for my name:

Literal meaning
"Child of James, or possibly David. Or Phil, maybe."

History
Coming to an apprentice shoemaker in a dream exactly three hundred years ago next week, the name Joyce was originally used imprecisely to refer to nuns and the violators of nuns, before being pulled from a fire that killed its variants and diminutives.

Famous Joyces

1. Joyce de la Tightbadger, RN, director of the new Bond movie, LIARS RARELY TANGO; ghost-writer of Oscar Wilde's neighbour, Tom's expressionist autobiography, READ MY STORY IN THIS BOOK; first holder of the tiresomely abstract office of Official Kerb-Trip-Overer;
   
   
2. Joyce Frote, indifferent to the world's most attractive bucket;
   
   
3. Joyce Grating, who discovered the constellation of Pleiades; first holder of the hotly contested office of Hot Diggity;
   
   
4. Joyce R Nightdodge ("The Uncanny"), champion of the right to use more types of bacterial infection than any twenty-one people can name;
   
   
5. Joyce V E P Happenstance, BSc, once saved by Mr Bronson from Grange Hill;
   Inspector Joyce K de Frewsy, BSc, MA ("The Blue"), fascinated to death by the deckchair-cum-hat;
   
   
6. Joyce Thews, PhD, who owes everything to Spandau Ballet;
   
   
7. Joyce O'Endeavour, champion of the indestructible tortoise;
   
   
8. Joyce M Sprewt, DSO and Bar, DSO and Bar, BSc, PhD, who's never forgotten the concept of acceptable losses; first holder of the office of Ruler of the World in Exile;
   
   
9. Joyce N A Itching, aroused by the world's most popular cosh; ghost-writer of The St Winifred's School Choir's leatherwear catalogue and autobiography, I WAS MONTY'S THUG; first holder of the office of Police-constable.

Typical Joyce motto
"A watched pot is never quite worth it."

Anagrams

Anagrams are formed by rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to form a new word or words.

At Anagram type in your name and click "Get anagrams".

Pick 5 or more series of words. The first ones may all start with the same words so keep scrolling down until you get lists with a variety of words or words that intrigue you. (You'll probably see the same words popping up again and again but there will be some surprising combinations.

Set the timer for 10-15 minutes and write sentences the contain all the words on one line.

Using JOYCE FETTEROLL I get 4163. Using JOYCE ANN KURTAK FETTEROLL I get 43,480! (If you click on the "advanced" option you can tell it to include numbers before its lists if you're curious how many there are.) With the first nearly 30,000 that start with "A ACE" so I have to scroll way down to get to the next list. Here are some -- way more than 5! -- that came from my name:

A CAREFREE JUNK KNOTTY TOLL
A RACKETEER FLUNK JOLT TONY
A CRENELLATE OFT JUNK OK TRY
A TERCENTENARY FOLK JOLT UK
A RECREATE FLUNKY JOLT KNOT
A ETCETERA FORT JUNKY KNOLL
A FLATULENCE JOKER KNOT TRY
A REFACE JUNKET KNOT TROLLY
A REFACE JET LURK KNOTT ONLY
A REFACE KNELT JOLTY TURK ON
A NACELLE TREK FOOT JUNK TRY
A CLEANER LEFT JUNK TOOK TRY
A CLEANER TOKEN FLY JOT TURK
A CLEANER KEY FONT JOLT KURT
A LAURENCE JERK LOFT KNOTTY
A CERULEAN ELK FRY JOT KNOTT
A TENTACLE ELF JUNK ROOK TRY
A TENTACLE JOKER FOLK RUNTY
A RELOCATE KNELT FORTY JUNK
A CEREAL ELF JUNKY KNOT TROT
A CEREAL KNELT FUN JOT OK TRY
A CEREAL TOKEN FLUNK JOT TRY
A CEREAL OTTER FLY JUNK TONK
A ELECTRA TEFLON JUNK OK TRY
A ELECTRA FERN JUT YOLK KNOT
A TREACLE FERN JOLTY KNOT UK
A TREACLE FEY JOT KNURL KNOT

Character biography

Write a the name of a character down the side of a page. (Preferably one you've created but it can be any favorite character. Or you can use one or more of the names from today's writing prompt.)

On each line write a word or phrase beginning with that letter that is a true statement about the character.

For example for a character named Holmeyer:

He lives with a rabbit
Open hearted
Loves bridges
Means well
Ebbs when he should flow
Yearns for love
Even tempered
Runs from life

(Try it with your own name too. Your worst enemy. A villain.)

This is from Character Autobiography by Hal Ackerman

Evocative names

Names can evoke character. Pick one or more of the following names and use them as a writing prompt.

Chuck Kweshtunhoshgai
Taka Keltopf
Eltanka
Bratu Gropfkish
Kirello Drenkona
Tiger Nightsky
Jaquino Shyokophine
Wentana Veltina Moscoro Balocto
Mr. Zigafore
Penny Coinson

Turn off the inner editor

Probably the greatest roadblock to writing is the voice in our heads that criticizes what we write before we even write it.

One way to turn off the inner editor is to keep yourself from seeing what you're writing.

When you're doing a writing exercise try turning the text white or turn off the monitor or put a towel over it. That will keep your inner editor from checking over what you've written.

Then start writing. Just let the words flow without stopping.

You might find this really hard at the beginning. We're all used to judging what we write. But it will get easier the more often you do this.

Some people like to reread what they've written right away. Some like to let it sit a bit. Either way you may want to check it over to clean up any typos unless you're confident you'll know what "ntsteruiys" is next time you read it!

Inspiration from imitation

Choose an author whose writing you admire -- or at least would like to imitate for this exercise! Then pick five sentences or so -- it can be the first lines, or from a favorite scene or any that strike you.

Use the sentences as a template to write about your own character, setting and situation. If you need an idea, try writing fan fiction: take your favorite characters from books or TV or movies and put them in a new situation.

Now use the pattern of your author's sentences to write about the subject you chose. Use a noun or verb or preposition where the author did. You don't need to keep any of the words the same, just their type.

You may not need a timer for this one since it's already limited by only having 5 sentences.

A novelist, a terraformer, and a hysterical movie producer

Pick one of the following as a writing prompt.

When we tried this we found they are overkill for a 15 minute exercise so you may want to pick just a few elements from the prompt you choose.

The story is about a talk show host. It starts on a lunar base. The critical element of the story is a performance. A spatial anomoly plays a major role in the story.

This is an epic about the need for change and growth. The story is about a pretender who is estranged from family members. It takes place in a small nation in an interplanetary technocracy. The future of warfare is a major part of this story.

This is a screwball comedy with a focus on the human trait of avoiding death. The story is about a nurse who is in debt to a watchful media technician. It takes place in a small nation on a tropical planet. The critical element of the story is an education.

The story is about a novelist, a terraformer, and a hysterical movie producer who was once married to a moralistic corporate official. It takes place on a post-apocalyptic planet. The issues of faster-than-light-travel and its effects on romance is a major element of the story.

This is a romantic comedy with a focus on revenge and how people are never totally honest. The story is about a crippled acrobat who hates a greedy environmentalist. It takes place at a spatial anomoly. A rebellion against technology plays a major role in this story.

These were automatically generated at Seventh Sanctum Story Generator

Three Blind Mice

Sang sent this idea in inspired by a local rock band who rewrote (and attempted to sing!) Three Blind Mice using as many synonyms as possible.

Give it a try. A word processor with a thesaurus could be helpful as you start running out of your own ideas for substitute words. Here's the original.

Three blind mice.
Three blind mice.
See how they run.
See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife.
Did you ever see such a sight in your life
As three blind mice.

Here's one of the band's versions:
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A trio of visually handicapped rodents
A trio of visually handicapped rodents
Observe how they motivate
Observe how they motivate
The group scurried toward the spouse of the agriculturist
Who removed their rear appendage with a meat cleaver
Have you ever observed such a presentation in your existence
As a trio of visually handicapped rodents

(Though Sang wasn't sure about the "farmer's wife" part since they have to sing it really fast!)

Worst Movie Titles

Culled from various worst titles lists around the net. Use one as a writing prompt or write a movie review or two or three.

• Step Into Liquid
  
• Stop or My Mom Will Shoot You
  
• Phffft
  
• K-Pax
  
• Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
  
• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
  
• Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
  
• Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death
  
• Eegah
  
• Rat Pfink a Boo Boo
  
• Ballistic Ecks and Sever
  
• Killer Klowns from Outer Space
  
• Fat Guy Goes Nutso
  
• Blood and Donuts
  
• Swimfan
  
• Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
  
• Gleaming the Cube
  
• The Hudsucker Proxy
  
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape
  
• The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies
  
• The Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters
  
• Oyster Farmer

Top 10 tabloid headlines for January 2006

From The City Newsstand's (a newsstand/bookstore in Chicago) monthly MAGBAG -- Top 10 Tabloid Headlines. (Mostly from Weekly World News (WWN) and the SUN.)

Choose one as a writing prompt.

JANUARY 2006

1. DESPERATE HOUSEFLIES — WWN
   
2. BRAVE MARINE GIVES UP FINGER TO SAVE WEDDING RING! — SUN
   
3. LASER-CONTROLLED INSECTS COULD BE NEW TERRORIST WEAPON — SUN 
   
4. PREHISTORIC SNOWMAN FOUND! — WWN
   
5. COUPLES' ROUTINE WAS TO DIE FOR Tango dancer doesn't let partner's death keep them from finishing competition! — WWN
   
6. COUCH POTATOES ARE SMARTER! — SUN
   
7. TOWN SAVES MONEY BY BURYING LOVED ONES IN QUICKSAND — WWN
   
8. MAN DIES TAKING BULL BY HORNS! — WWN
   
9. Cat found with hoard of over 200 TONGUES! — WWN
   
10. THE WAY TO A MAN'S HEART IS NOT THROUGH HIS STOMACH! SURGEON'S LICENSE REVOKED — WWN