April Fool's Pranks for the Reader/Writer in Your Life

It's Thursday again! And March is almost over, which means April Fool's Day is very soon! So, today I'll be bringing you guys a Very Helpful list of ideas for April Fool's pranks you can pull on your reader and writer friends. So pull out your prank notebook (because obviously you have one of those) and enjoy!

WARNING: Pulling any of these pranks on your friends may or not put your life in danger. Proceed with caution.

1. ASK TO BORROW A BOOK AND THEN PRETEND TO LOSE IT.

Two weeks pass. Three. A month. Your friend is getting pret-ty nervous that you've forgotten you owe them a book. So when they bring it up, act like you forgot all about it. Then go into panic mode and go rifling through your room, throwing stuff here and there. Maybe even mumble "Oh man, I hope my guacamole didn't spill" as you're looking under your bed.

2. ASK TO BORROW A BOOK. 

Let's be honest, we don't like to share.

3. OFFER TO HELP THEM CLEAN THEIR ROOM AND TOSS ALL THEIR BOOKS WHILE THEY'RE NOT LOOKING.

Say you thought they were leftover schoolbooks.

4. SEND THEM A FAKE EMAIL ANNOUNCING THAT THEIR FAVORITE BOOK SERIES HAS BEEN CANCELED RIGHT BEFORE THE FINALE.

They cancel book series like TV series, right? Well, now's the time to start. (Listen carefully; you'll probably hear your friend wailing from across town.)

5. TURN A SIGNED COPY OF THEIR FAVORITE BOOK INTO A COLORING BOOK.

Bring your little siblings over to your friend's house. Tell siblings they can color. Go into your friend's room and emerge with the signed copy open in your hand and a horrified look on your face.

6. BORROW THEIR LAPTOP AND "DELETE" THEIR NOVEL.

In reality, you're just cutting-and-pasting it onto your flashdrive. But when they go searching for their precious WIP later that day, things are going to get real.

Just be super careful. Because you don't want to, you know, ACTUALLY delete it. (Remember, your health is at stake.)

7. OR, REPLACE THEIR NOVEL WITH GIBBERISH.

Make a copy of the file, then run it through a word scrambler. Present it to the unsuspecting writer
and watch as their eyes grow to size of the moon.

8. WRITE A FAKE ARTICLE BY AN AUTHOR THEY IDOLIZE GIVING INSANE ADVICE.

Your friend a Suzanne Collins fan? Do they aspire to be her and hang on every word she says? Well, share with them an article written by her (or so they think) that encourages them to do such stupid things as naming locations after diseases ("We must travel to Chicken Pox by nightfall"), or turning one character per chapter into a goat, or having a love triangle between two humans and a cookie jar. Of course, you may have to hack Suzanne's website in order to fully pull this one off. Also, this one extends beyond April 1 and you may or may not ruin your friend's up-and-coming writing career. Oh well. No skin off your nose.

TIP: If your friend idolizes Tolkien or Lewis, this will not work. The author MUST be alive.

9. JUST STEAL ALL THEIR BOOKS AND HOLD THEM FOR RANSOM.

This is less of an April Fool's joke and more of a twisted way to just make some extra money? But hey, it works.

10. HIRE AN ACTOR TO PLAY A CHARACTER FROM YOUR FRIEND'S BOOK AND HAUNT THEM.

This one is super convoluted and requires quite a bit of effort. But it's worth it, so hear me out. You want to find somebody that looks EXACTLY like the character; if your friend has chosen an actor to represent the character, this may cost you a pretty penny. (But don't worry, because you've earned all that money from holding those books for ransom!) Proceed to dress the person up like the character, teach them their mannerisms, etc. Once you feel they are ready, release them and let them haunt your friend's life. Make sure they don't tell your friend who they are, though; just kind of let them appear in their daily lives without any actual confirmation of who they are. More mysterious that way. (Imagine the character randomly standing in line behind your friend at the grocery store. Or bumping into them on the street.)

TROUBLESHOOTING: If your friend is happy to meet their character instead of totally creeped out, you should have a backup plan. This plan includes plotting a real-life death scene for the character.  Lots of drama. (Of course, don't actually kill the actor. That would create a whole new mess.)

So there it is, your definitive list of April Fool's jokes to play on your reader and writer friends! Remember, these are all extremely dangerous and as a result, your friend may put you in a book as a character and kill you. Just beware. Tread very, very carefully.

please note that these are all jokes and not at all recommended

So what's the best April Fool's prank that you've ever pulled? Or been pulled on you? Would you put someone in your book and kill them if they did any of these things to you?