The Worst Dinner I Cooked
Write an essay about the most comically disastrous meal you've ever attempted to cook. Describe each mishap and mistake from prepping ingredients to the final, perhaps inedible, result.
Suggested length: An essay or article: 800 to 2,500 words
Start the clock
Pick a sprint, press start and keep going until it stops. Momentum beats polish on a first draft.
Make it yours
Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- Include a counterargument and answer it fairly.
- Cut every sentence that only repeats the one before it.
- Find one surprising fact and build around it.
Writing humor and satire books
Laughs first, with a point under the punchline.
Comic fiction sets out to make readers laugh; satire uses that laughter to skewer something real, from war to bureaucracy to the publishing industry. Either way, the jokes have to land on almost every page.
What readers expect
- A distinctive comic voice
- Absurd situations played straight
- A target, in satire
- Running jokes that pay off
A tip before you start
Play it straight. Characters who take the absurd seriously are funnier than ones winking at the reader.
More Humor prompts
- Dear Uncooperative PrinterCreate an amusing open letter to an inanimate object in your house (like your printer, dishwasher, or TV) detailing all the ways it has made your life…
- Surviving Family DinnerCraft a humorous guide on "How to Survive a Family Dinner." Incorporate quirky relatives, unexpected incidents, and strategies for maintaining sanity…
- The Legendary Coffee MugChoose an everyday object (like a toothbrush, coffee mug, or blender). Write a comedic history of its importance in your life, including fictional…
- Family Gathering Survival GuidePen a humorous guide on how to survive a family gathering when you have absolutely nothing in common with your relatives. Include anecdotes, survival…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
Chapterly gives a draft somewhere to grow: chapters, daily word goals, and readers when you're ready.
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