Here's another story we wrote using a Mad Libs word list. For more details about how we came up with our story, see our original Mad, Mad Words post. I've included our list below. Feel free to try writing a story of your own using them and let us know what you come up with, either by posting in the comments below or by emailing me at hathaway.amber@gmail.com.
Word list:
*Basket
*Eerily
*Coagulate
*Corset
*Big toe
*Repugnant
*Cello
*Anchors
*Lip
*Ice cubes
*Thumb
*Sledgehammer
*Ice pick
*Flailing
*Haughty
*Prepubescent
*Slather
Along the side of the long, dusty road laid an abandoned wicker basket. An owl hooted eerily from the neighboring woods. As the temperature dropped, a strange blue substance began to coagulate around the basket.
The woman was wearing a corset, short shorts, and spike heels as she trudged down the road. She walked with a slight limp, for her big toe sported a large blister from her long journey. She glanced over at the basket, the repugnant blue substance hardening around it. As she stared at it, captivated, she thought she heard the soft sound of a cello playing in the distance. She studied the miniature anchors painted on the basket's surface. Her lip began to involuntarily twitch as she tried in vain to look away from the basket. It suddenly felt very cold outside, like she was standing in a pit of ice cubes. A sharp pain formed in her thumb and began to spread to the rest of her hand. It felt as though someone had hit her with a sledgehammer.
She caught the sound of something scraping the ground and out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed what appeared to be a figure dragging an ice pick. She tried to run, but tripped, flailing her arms in an attempt to keep from falling. A voice with a haughty tone penetrated the silence. Regaining her balance, she turned around to see the man with the ice pick, almost prepubescent in appearance save the scraggle adorning his chin and cheeks. He began to slather the ice pick with the same blue substance which surrounded the basket . . .
Welcome to our blog, One Line at a Time! We're Amber and Brian, graduate students studying mathematical physics and computational mathematics, respectively, who enjoy writing. This blog is a collection of short stories that we have composed together by taking turns writing the sentences. So Amber will write a line and then pass the story off to Brian, and he'll write a sentence and pass it back, etc. Our stories are silly and sometimes very strange, but we hope that you enjoy them!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Mad, Mad Words: The Woman in the Orange Stilettos Part I
Here's another story we wrote using a Mad Libs word list. For more details about how we came up with our story, see our original Mad, Mad Words post. I've included our list below. Feel free to try writing a story of your own using them and let us know what you come up with, either by posting in the comments below or by emailing me at hathaway.amber@gmail.com.
Word list:
*Orange
*Maple tree
*Tiara
*Hurriedly
*Hip
*Knees
*Hovercraft
*Mailbox
*Complicated
*Salty
*Heel
*Dust bunny
*Pencil
*Ghastly
*Desk
The woman in the orange stilettos walked by. A maple tree's leaves rustled as the wind glided between its branches. The woman adjusted the silver tiara resting atop her head. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a dark figure moving toward her and she hurriedly changed course, racing into the park. She did not notice the bench and rammed her hip into it. She let out a yelp as she tripped and fell to her knees.
She glanced over her shoulder to see a hovercraft zooming past the shadow shrouded man. He was now passing by the mailbox she herself had only moments ago used to send off the package. It had not been a complicated mission and yet she had managed to mess it up.
A salty drop of sweat dripped into her eye as it cascaded off her forehead. She tried to stand, but the heel of one of her shoes snapped off. She grabbed the heel and stuffed it into her purse, which was inhabited by a lone dust bunny. The pencil she stored in it must have fallen out earlier. She considered the ghastly deed she would have to perform, which would now be considerably more difficult without such a trusty weapon. She had to get back to her desk as soon as possible to pick up another one . . .
Word list:
*Orange
*Maple tree
*Tiara
*Hurriedly
*Hip
*Knees
*Hovercraft
*Mailbox
*Complicated
*Salty
*Heel
*Dust bunny
*Pencil
*Ghastly
*Desk
The woman in the orange stilettos walked by. A maple tree's leaves rustled as the wind glided between its branches. The woman adjusted the silver tiara resting atop her head. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a dark figure moving toward her and she hurriedly changed course, racing into the park. She did not notice the bench and rammed her hip into it. She let out a yelp as she tripped and fell to her knees.
She glanced over her shoulder to see a hovercraft zooming past the shadow shrouded man. He was now passing by the mailbox she herself had only moments ago used to send off the package. It had not been a complicated mission and yet she had managed to mess it up.
A salty drop of sweat dripped into her eye as it cascaded off her forehead. She tried to stand, but the heel of one of her shoes snapped off. She grabbed the heel and stuffed it into her purse, which was inhabited by a lone dust bunny. The pencil she stored in it must have fallen out earlier. She considered the ghastly deed she would have to perform, which would now be considerably more difficult without such a trusty weapon. She had to get back to her desk as soon as possible to pick up another one . . .
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Mad, Mad Words: The Sparkly Barnacle's Journey Part I
Here's another story we wrote using a Mad Libs word list. For more details about how we came up with our story, see our original Mad, Mad Words post. I've included our list below. Feel free to try writing a story of your own using them and let us know what you come up with, either by posting in the comments below or by emailing me at hathaway.amber@gmail.com.
Word list:
*Sparkly
*Soda
*Cats
*Nine
*Icy
*Swims
*Green
*Owl
*Ottoman
*Cupcake
*Gopher
*Jumps
*Tree
*Pretty
*Book
*Calculators
*Grim
*Toaster
There once was a sparkly barnacle. It lived on the side of a soda bottle. The soda bottle had once been owned by an eccentric old man who had been the caretaker of famous cats. He had nine such cats, in fact. However, there was no old man nor were there cats in the icy depths of the ocean.
As the barnacle's memory of the old man faded, it watched as an eel swam past it. As the eel passed, the barnacle saw a flash of green light. The bottle was lifted into the air by an owl wearing scuba diving gear.
After they reached the surface, the owl and barnacle were hoisted aboard a ship and the owl placed the bottle on an ottoman. The owl took off her scuba mask and started munching on a cupcake from the tray beside the ottoman. A gopher dressed in fanciful captain's attire approached the owl. Feeling a presence behind her, the owl jumped. She jumped so high that she landed on the tree branch that was the mast of the ship.
"My, what a pretty view I have from here," she said as she regained her composure.
The gopher began to flip through pages of a book, searching for something. He picked up a calculator from the mound of calculators neighboring the ottoman. As he punched numbers into the calculator, a grim expression crossed his face. "This thing you found in the ocean is too small to be the toaster of prosperity," he said.
Word list:
*Sparkly
*Soda
*Cats
*Nine
*Icy
*Swims
*Green
*Owl
*Ottoman
*Cupcake
*Gopher
*Jumps
*Tree
*Pretty
*Book
*Calculators
*Grim
*Toaster
There once was a sparkly barnacle. It lived on the side of a soda bottle. The soda bottle had once been owned by an eccentric old man who had been the caretaker of famous cats. He had nine such cats, in fact. However, there was no old man nor were there cats in the icy depths of the ocean.
As the barnacle's memory of the old man faded, it watched as an eel swam past it. As the eel passed, the barnacle saw a flash of green light. The bottle was lifted into the air by an owl wearing scuba diving gear.
After they reached the surface, the owl and barnacle were hoisted aboard a ship and the owl placed the bottle on an ottoman. The owl took off her scuba mask and started munching on a cupcake from the tray beside the ottoman. A gopher dressed in fanciful captain's attire approached the owl. Feeling a presence behind her, the owl jumped. She jumped so high that she landed on the tree branch that was the mast of the ship.
"My, what a pretty view I have from here," she said as she regained her composure.
The gopher began to flip through pages of a book, searching for something. He picked up a calculator from the mound of calculators neighboring the ottoman. As he punched numbers into the calculator, a grim expression crossed his face. "This thing you found in the ocean is too small to be the toaster of prosperity," he said.
To be continued . . .
Mad, Mad Words: The Blue Raccoon's Adventure by the River
Brian and I both enjoy Mad Libs and as we were playing the game the other day, Brian suggested writing a story using the words that we fill in for the Mad Libs, including at least one of the words per sentence. I thought it was a neat idea and so we gave it a try. This is what we ended up with. I'm including our word list as well. If you feel inclined to try writing a story using these words yourself, I'd love to see what you come up with. Post your stories in the comments below or email them to me at hathaway.amber@gmail.com
Word list:
*Blue
*Mirror
*Cod fish
*Ugly
*Crimson
*Killing
*Mauling
*Fluffy
*Silly
*Hatchet
*Bananas
*Spleens
*Naughty
*Chevy S-10
*Apples
*Pickles
*Crayfish
*Worms
*Crossly
*Hat
Once there was a blue raccoon who loved to look into a lake that had a mirror-like reflection. One day while staring into the lake the raccoon saw a cod fish. The cod fish looked up at the raccoon and said, "By golly, you're ugly!"
The raccoon pointed a crimson claw at the cod fish and said, "That's not a nice thing to say. You would probably look unkempt too if you had been out killing all day long."
The raccoon was fibbing, for the only thing she had been mauling was a red paintball. The raccoon, like a fluffy streak, dove into the water. She proceeded to make silly faces at the cod fish. The cod fish, in a moment of terror, pulled out a hatchet. The raccoon reached into the water for something to defend herself with and pulled out a bunch of bananas. The bananas reeked like spleens that had been sitting out in the sun for ten days.
"Naughty codfish," said the raccoon, "Did you leave this perfectly good food in the river?"
As the cod fish began to answer the raccoon, a Chevy S-10 drove by, muffling the cod fish's reply. Several apples fell out of the back of the truck. Then a jar of pickles floated by. A crayfish swam to the surface after the pickles, shouting, "Hey, come back here, my lunch!"
The cod fish yelled after the crayfish, "Hey Jim, you got those worms you promised me yet?"
The crayfish glared at the cod fish and said crossly, "Can't you see that I'm busy?"
The raccoon thought to herself, "This is getting weird" as she grabbed her hat and slowly backed away.
Word list:
*Blue
*Mirror
*Cod fish
*Ugly
*Crimson
*Killing
*Mauling
*Fluffy
*Silly
*Hatchet
*Bananas
*Spleens
*Naughty
*Chevy S-10
*Apples
*Pickles
*Crayfish
*Worms
*Crossly
*Hat
Once there was a blue raccoon who loved to look into a lake that had a mirror-like reflection. One day while staring into the lake the raccoon saw a cod fish. The cod fish looked up at the raccoon and said, "By golly, you're ugly!"
The raccoon pointed a crimson claw at the cod fish and said, "That's not a nice thing to say. You would probably look unkempt too if you had been out killing all day long."
The raccoon was fibbing, for the only thing she had been mauling was a red paintball. The raccoon, like a fluffy streak, dove into the water. She proceeded to make silly faces at the cod fish. The cod fish, in a moment of terror, pulled out a hatchet. The raccoon reached into the water for something to defend herself with and pulled out a bunch of bananas. The bananas reeked like spleens that had been sitting out in the sun for ten days.
"Naughty codfish," said the raccoon, "Did you leave this perfectly good food in the river?"
As the cod fish began to answer the raccoon, a Chevy S-10 drove by, muffling the cod fish's reply. Several apples fell out of the back of the truck. Then a jar of pickles floated by. A crayfish swam to the surface after the pickles, shouting, "Hey, come back here, my lunch!"
The cod fish yelled after the crayfish, "Hey Jim, you got those worms you promised me yet?"
The crayfish glared at the cod fish and said crossly, "Can't you see that I'm busy?"
The raccoon thought to herself, "This is getting weird" as she grabbed her hat and slowly backed away.