The Blank of Writing Titles
I loved Mad Libs as a kid and bought them on vacations at Stuckey’s. I created my own Mad Libs on notebook paper and made my friends and family fill in the blanks, hoping for an “Elephant that Ate Crackers in a Jukebox” or something equally wacky.
As an adult, I struggle with titling stories and see at least one Twitter post a day where someone is searching for a story title. The infamous blank page can come down to just a blank title. As I look at my titles that felt natural when I wrote them, I’ve discovered I often Mad Lib my titles. A lot of Blank of Blank. A little sing-song-y by nature. A little bit Mad Libs, maybe a little bit of madness.
For example, I have:
The Math of Truck Driving
The Zen of Inosculation
The Storage and Keeping of Children
The Shape of Exit Signs
The Short Life of Bessie Taylor
An Accident in Pottowa County
The Summer of ‘89
When Girls Had Wings
The Art of Brutalism
The Inosculation of Sara
What To Order When You Get Invited to a Tupperware Party
Twelve Stations of the Scale
Tuesday Over Albuquerque
Looking at this list, I may have gone a bit slap-happy with the format. But I’m not the only one. I wonder how famous writers came up with their titles. I can’t guess their methods. However, I can imagine them discarding Fifty Hues of Purple or Harry Potter and The Mug of Sand.
Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
Fifty Shades of Grey
The Last of the Mohicans
Howard and The Purple Crayon
There’s something in the Blank of Blank way of writing titles that can feel mysterious and make people think twice about the story. I’ve also found when I’m stuck on writing a story, creating the title all Mad-Libby can also guide the story or even be a generative process. Title first, story second.
I see you writers thinking of putting the F-word in for Blank like you did when you were twelve. After you get done giggling, try some of these title-creating options. Mix and match. Blank and Blank. The Blank of Blank. Start keeping a list when Blank strikes you.
I also apologize to all editors in advance for unleashing a ton of Mad Lib title submissions on you. “The Personality of Man” in the header image is intriguing — even that unknown author was filling in the blanks. Without further Mad-Libbing or ado, here’s some Blank of the Blank title-creating prompts.
Play Off the Famous
Those famous titles that *might* be Mad Libs? Don’t quote me (and I have no legal knowledge) but I understand you can mimic/blur a title without copyright issues. It’s hard to say that anyone owns Fifty Shades of Blank and no one else can use that format again.
Go Back To School
Take your favorite (or not-so-favorite) subject and fill in the blank.
The Art of
The Science of
The Essays of
The Math of
The Physics of
The History of
AP Blank
The Politics of
Relax Your Blank Off
Your reader may be expecting one thing from these titles and you can either give that to them (sleeping, relaxing, zen) or you can do the opposite and have someone getting stalked by their ex-husband.
The Zen
The Peace of
Sleeping with the Blank
Define the Title
Another way I fill in title blanks is by defining big words with the story that follows. I keep a running list of words that are long, medical, intriguing, or ones I have to look up. This may be the most basic of Mad Libs, just one blank to fill in. I’ve used words like hyperlexia and dermatographia as titles — each story that followed was a wink to the word.
If you don’t have a thesaurus or a three-dollar word to use as a title, pick a word you love within the story and pop that into the title space — make and fill in your own Blank.
Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes
Fairy tales are another option. The base words are there — you turn them on their ear with a word(s) substitution.
Blank and the Blank Blanks
The Blank Blank Who Blanks in a Blank
Beauty and the Blank
A Pocket Full of Blank
Blank Had a Little Blank
Color Me Mad Libs
Colors are another wonderful place to pull titles from. Visual. Easy.
The Blank Color of Blank
The Blanks of Blank Color
Shades of Blank
I’m Blank Color
The Day the Blank Turned Blank Color
A Time Blank
The word or concept of time is another fun place to find titles.
Time for Blank
Blank of Time
The Past is Blank
The Future is Blank
Blank Day is For Blanking
The Day of the Blank
The Night of the Blank
The Minute of Blank
Time Blanks
Conflicted?
I’ve read a lot recently on “should there be tension or conflict in every story?” My solution is to make conflict happen in your title. Take one of your character’s names or places and add the blank of a conflict or disaster or love or fight.
Mary Blank and The Day She Blanked a Blank
Howard and The Blank Who Ate His Blank
The Blank With Susan
Blank and Blank Blank in the Blank
The Fight of Blank’s Life
An Incident in Blank
Get Poetic With It
I personally think it’s always good to fall back on the moon or nature for titles even if it’s not in your story and you’re not writing poetry. The Blank of the Moon or The Trees of Blank is a great starting point for something sappy or even rhyme-y.
The Moon Over Blank
A Sunset/Sunrise/Sky on Blank
The Trees of Blank
Trees Are for Blanking
Commercial Mad-Libbing
I’m all for pop culture references. TV shows, books, movies and commercials are ripe for creating your own new title versions.
Where’s the Blank?
Let’s Make a Blank
The Blank Show
The Blank Bride
That’s a Spicy Blank
The Blank Boat
Time To Make the Blanks
Title a Sense of Place
If nature isn’t your thing, let the location of your story do the blanking for you. What is the main place in your story? The area? Place a character wants to visit?
Blank City in the Blank
The Blank of Blank City
Finding Blank in Blank State
In The City of Blank
The How to Of Blank
Another stand-by for titles is the simple “How To.”
How to Blank
The How To Guide of Blank
The Body of Blank
If you’re going to have blanking going on, there needs to be body parts. Try some of these.
The Hand of
The Feet of
Give Me Your Blank
Blanks in the Closet
His/Her Blanks
A Body of
Sense the Title, Be the Title
Your senses can be your best friend when writing. Creating a title is no different.
The Taste of
The Smell of
The Feel of
A Sight of
The Softness of
Do You Hear Blank?
Feed the Title
In the sensory vein, take a closer look at foods and drinks specifically. It’s one of my favorite things to write about and pull titles from. Readers might just eat up your story from the title alone!
The Apple of Your Blank
Cake and the Blank
A Plate of Blank
Instructions For Cooking Blank
Frosting Blank
Cooking Blank