Okay, I know I said something about blah blah blah, only 100 words, but fuck that, this challenge needs the full girth. So, you still get 1000 words. What’s the challenge, you ask?
No, really. Do it. Click it.
That link takes you to 60 completely insane and largely unusable stock photos. They’re fucking weird, the whole lot of them. Which means we need to take a big bite out of that lunacy and spit out some flash fiction.
Pick one of those 60 photos.
Title it accordingly.
Write 1000 words — flash fiction, start to finish — about the photo you chose. Make sure to indicate somewhere what number you chose so we can all play along in our heads (though, I will note that it could also be fun to write a story based on one and then have people try to guess which photo you chose… you decide, I guess).
Challenge begins now.
And it ends next Friday. Since I’m no longer tallying the stories in the post itself (remember to yell at me if you’d prefer to have that practice reinstated), let’s just say you have till the end of next Friday day.
Now, you may be saying, at present:
BUT I CANNOT ENTER A COMMENT, YOU JERK
Which is a fair comment. Here’s the deal, though: I’m moving this website within the same host from one server to a cloud server, and it’s likely that any comments that get put here will go kablooey over the weekend, so I’m not going to open comments back up until Monday (Tuesday at the latest). So, write your stories, but you’ll have to link to them a little later, I’m afraid. I know. Life is hard. Wear a codpiece.
So, that’s that.
Flash fiction based on horrible stock photography.
Go.
31 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: The Unexplainable Must Be Explained”
Test!
Making sure the comments are working.
THE TREACHEROUS ROAD
http://sgtzero.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/the-treacherous-road/
Don’t say I never gave you anything.
Here’s my entry for picture number 20. I think my explanation for what’s happening there is the most plausible one by a longshot: Another Night Out – http://paulvogtwrites.blogspot.com/2011/04/another-night-out.html
Totally bizarre-o —
Many of the “60 stock photos” have changed:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/60-completely-unusable-stock-photos
— c.
Based on photograph number 60.
http://im-not-a-lizardy-stuff.blogspot.com/2011/04/chuck-wendig-flashfic-challenge.html
Okay, those pictures are totally mesmerizing. It was awfully hard to pick one, but I did. Here’s my 672 word answer to your challenge. http://writemomma.blogspot.com/2011/04/unexplainable-explained-flash-fiction.html
[…] again with another attempt at Chuck Wendig’s challenge: The Unexplainable Must be Explained. This time he gave us the choice of one of 60 “unusable stock images” and 1000 […]
I couldn’t resist #24.
http://skullscrapingsonparade.blogspot.com/2011/04/24-blut-und-kartoffeln.html
http://innocentsaccidentshints.blogspot.com/2011/04/explain-unexplainable-new-kid-in-town.html
My entry, based on picture number 40.
This is my attempt: http://callmeshree.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/flash-fiction-challenge-clarissa-and-her-gift/#more-1667
Little mixture of a description and a story…
Don’t Take The Dirt Road:
http://lindsaymawson.blogspot.com/2011/04/flash-fiction-challenge-4-dont-take.html?utm_source=BP_recent
I went with #39, this isn’t so much an explanation of the picture as a story that could theoretically use that image as cover art http://metamuse-aiwevanya.blogspot.com/2011/04/space-refuge-39.html Hope people enjoy it.
I couldn’t even come close to narrowing it down to one. I had to go for the whole load of them.
http://warnerkirby.blogs.com/clintonaut/2011/04/the-60-of-operation-loki.html
Keep ’em coming — please.
I see other folks used the same picture as I did. Hopefully I offer a different perspective on it.
The Dead Do Not Close Their Eyes
http://marlanesque.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/the-dead-do-not-close-their-eyes/
[…] 6, 2011 by Albert Berg [It's Flash Fiction time again! This weeks challenge from Chuck Wendig was to write a story based on one of these, 60 Unusable Stock Photos. I chose this […]
Grey Area
http://unsanityfiles.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/grey-area/
Apparently I wasn’t the only one inspired by this particular photo. Go figure.
Too bad too. I was really hoping to read something that incorporated backwards-butt-guy.
Albert, backwards butt guy was my second choice as well.
[…] Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge at terribleminds (runs through Friday 4/8, but new challenges are posted […]
Based on number 21, enjoy a little trip.
http://sparky29252.blogspot.com/2011/04/frozen-kitchen.html
33, 34, 35…
Thanks to several small nudges from outside sources whom I don’t actually “know” but I “follow” on the internet, I’m doing a bit more creative (read: fiction) writing. Thanks to Chuck Wendig and Merlin Mann I’m…
I tackled 33, 34 & 35 over the last three days.
http://wp.me/pdqel-13R
[…] Thanks to Chuck Wendig for this flash fiction writing prompt! […]
Way too much fun . .
http://cmstewartwrite.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/for-the-last-time-a-flash-fiction-tale/
I thought a lot of these were doable, and snagged a few to do later. Here’s the two I did today (admittedly they’re not 1,000 words, but I am in theory at work).
http://snellopy.blogspot.com/2011/04/flash-fiction-jake-and-gran-gruk.html
Number 11: Jake and Gran
Number 17: Gruk: Attorney-At-Law
[…] week’s flash fiction challenge is here — The Unexplained Must Be Explained. Stories may be coming in throughout the day, so feel free to check back over […]
Based (loosely) on number 15, here’s “The New Old Media”
http://8thage.blogspot.com/2011/04/flash-fiction-new-old-media.html
Based on photo 38 – a very silly story indeed.
http://tishipoo.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/double-or-nothing/
[…] of “what on earth were they thinking?”), proposed once again by Chuck Wendig of Terribleminds. Just so you know, mine is a very silly story indeed, based on a very goofy […]
Based on number 4. This was fun!
http://rocketforger.blogspot.com/2011/04/does-this-sash-make-my-tail-look-big.html
[…] with 60 photos to choose from. None of them anywhere near normal or usable. Well if you go over to terribleminds you can get the lowdown. It’s just Chuck Wendig’s sense of humor messing with us. The […]
I know you posted this prompt a thousand years ago, or “BB” (before baby). But I finally got around to finishing my piece. An odd tale for an odd photo. Thanks for the inspiration, Chuck.
http://wp.me/p1544R-mh