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Summary

The website content introduces the eighth edition of the Monday Mash-Up, a series of story writing prompts designed to challenge writers' creativity, with a focus on fantasy themes involving wizards, magic, and mythical creatures, and includes a leaderboard of top performers from the previous week.

Abstract

Monday Mash-Up #8 is a creative writing challenge that encourages authors to craft stories around a central fantasy theme, specifically involving wizards or witches and magical courts. Participants are encouraged to incorporate various constraints into their stories to earn additional points, with the possibility of being featured on a leaderboard. The main prompts for this week involve a drunk person revealing their magical identity and an incident with an anthill leading to a summons to magic court. Writers are also given a set of constraints to include in their stories for extra points, such as a character falling down or the inclusion of a sentient chair. The challenge emphasizes creativity and adherence to specific rules, including word count limits and tagging the organizer to receive credit.

Opinions

  • The organizer values creativity and encourages writers to push their boundaries by incorporating a variety of constraints into their stories.
  • The inclusion of a leaderboard suggests a competitive aspect to the challenge, fostering a sense of achievement and recognition among participants.
  • The use of humor in the content, such as the mention of a "hairy wizard" and the anecdote about the carrier pigeon, indicates a lighthearted and playful tone.
  • The organizer appears to be community-oriented, providing a platform for writers to challenge each other and offering support through resources like a referral link and an email list subscription.
  • The option to publish stories in "The Kraken Lore" suggests a curated space for fantasy writing within the Medium platform, showcasing a preference for this genre.
  • The organizer is open to feedback and engagement, as evidenced by the invitation for writers to tag them in their stories and the promise to consider sharing resources in return for support.

AUTHOR TOOLS

Monday Mash-Up #8

Story writing prompts to spark your creativity with a challenge

Image generated by author with Midjourney

“You’re a hairy wizard” -said some big bearded guy — probably.

Magic spells, wizard hats, and oversized dragons are the core of fantasy stories. In celebration of past Mash-Ups, hairy people, and the creativity of Medium writers I present the next Monday Mash-Up!

Monday Mash-Up Leaderboard (Culmination of Mash-Ups #7)

1st place: Sweet Chaos, Sonja Glucksberg, Rayne Sanning, P. L. Goaway and JF Danskin tied with 9 points

2nd place: Jonathon Sawyer, and Kirsty Mackay with 8 points

(A couple of your stories are not published yet due to scheduling constraints but I’ve pre-included your points since I had the drafts in before I finished this Mash-Up.)

This week’s main theme is: (Worth 2 points, pick one)

A drunk person pulls their best friend aside to a private spot. Through slurred words, they say “I’m a wizard/witch” while tracing glowing runes in the air.

Or

On your way home, you knock over an anthill. The next day you receive a letter summoning you to magic court for “wanton destruction of Faerie property.”

In addition to the main writing prompt, I encourage you to include as many constraints as possible. Each one is worth an additional point! How many points can you make your story worth?

Constraints: (Worth 1 point each)

  • Someone falls down.
  • A sentient chair gets angry when someone tries to sit on it.
  • The authorities threaten to call the authorities.
  • Include the phrase “Never ask a ____ for directions.”

Hardcore Constraint: (Worth 2 points)

  • Include a tautogram — all of the words in a sentence or phrase begin with the same letter.

Rules:

  1. Write a story based on one of the main prompts.
  2. Include as many of the constraints in your story as possible.
  3. Keep your story between 100–1000 words.
  4. Use the tag “Mashups” if you like.
  5. Tag me so that I can read it and credit you for points in the next Mash-Up, please!
  6. Challenge your fellow writers.
  7. Publish where ever you want but consider The Kraken Lore.
  8. Add a section that tallies up your points at the end of your story. You can look here for an example. (Worth 1 BONUS point)

I sent a carrier pigeon to you with my latest story but he got lost. Ensure this never happens again by subscribing to my email list. Since the pigeon will be out of a job you can leave a tip on my ko-fi, join Medium with my referral link, or read my stories and I promise I’ll think about sharing some breadcrumbs.

Fiction
Fantasy
Writing Prompts
The Kraken Lore
Mashups
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