Flash Fiction Challenge: “The Numbers Game”
“The Torch — last week’s challenge — is large and in charge and demands your eyeballs.
Here’s a number’s game for you.
I’m going to give you five words.
You must choose three of these words and incorporate them into a story.
That story may not be more than 100 words long. I didn’t say 1000. Rather: one hundred.
The five words, chosen by Random Word Generator:
Enzyme.
Ivy.
Bishop.
Blister.
Lollipop.
Again, you have 100 words only.
You may post your story directly in the comments if you so choose. Alternately, feel free to deposit them in your own post and drop a link to said post in the comments. Your call, Cochise.
You have until next Friday, September 23rd, at noon EST.
I will pick three of my favorites. Those three will get my short story collection IRREGULAR CREATURES (with thirty-nine 4- and 5-star reviews at Amazon) in either Kindle or PDF format.
Choose your three words. Spin them into 100. BTFO, emmereffers.
EDIT — WINNERS:
I can’t do it.
I can’t choose just three.
Thus, I pick… er, five.
Shut up.
The winners:
SUE ANN JAFFARIAN
BRIAN LINDENMUTH
CHRIS MACKEY
YOJIMBOJAPAN
JO EBERHARDT
You all need to contact me at terribleminds [at] gmail [dot] com.
Katherine Tomlinson
September 18, 2011 at 4:50 PM //
Enzyme. Lollipop. Blister…
Here you go:
http://kattomic-energy.blogspot.com/2011/09/writing-alchemy-spinning-three-words.html
John Vise
September 18, 2011 at 6:09 PM //
Damn, guess I’m not original at all today. Still here it goes.
http://wp.me/pJy7b-1v
Alternately, almost put all five words in one line.
Ivy sucked the blistered Bishop like a lollipop, her special enzyme addicting him body and soul.
Mitch Dyer
September 18, 2011 at 7:32 PM //
This might be the most depressing 100 word short story I’ll ever write.
http://mitchdyer.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/flash-fiction-the-numbers-game/
Dan Wright
September 18, 2011 at 8:49 PM //
Really good entries so far. Here’s mine.
Real is Relative
http://8thage.blogspot.com/2011/09/real-is-relative.html
Steph
September 18, 2011 at 9:38 PM //
http://writex3.blogspot.com/2011/09/flash-fiction-challenge-numbers-game.html
Dee
September 18, 2011 at 9:46 PM //
hmm interesting challenge
Thanks!
http://www.delenemartin.com/2011/09/18/lollipops-and-corpses/
Candice
September 18, 2011 at 10:56 PM //
My first attempt at this: it was fun!
Since I don’t have a blog… yet, I am using the LJ. Blog to come soon, once I light a fire under my graphic designer.
http://naiyaazurewater.livejournal.com/29382.html
tara tyler
September 19, 2011 at 10:27 AM //
wow! i have a lot of reading to do! glad they’re short =)
here’s mine!
http://taratylertalks.blogspot.com/2011/09/kickstart-monday-versatility.html
Todd
September 19, 2011 at 11:19 AM //
This goddamned war will never end, Bishop thought to himself, grabbed his gear and checked the board for crew positions, “Fucking Belly Blister! “ He turned to his fellow gunner, “Last sortie and I get the belly turret. “
“Can’t live forever,” Ivy replied, hoisting her pack onto her shoulder and moving to the boarding ramp of the war-torn space corvette.
“Yeah, who’d wanna do something stupid like that?” Bishop followed her up the ramp and strapped into the jumpseat for launch, then donned his headgear.
He dozed until the signal, then squeezed into the belly for the last time.
ZC
September 19, 2011 at 11:19 AM //
http://zombie-cowboy.blogspot.com/2011/09/flash-fiction-challenge-numbers-game.html
Todd
September 19, 2011 at 11:31 AM //
Bishop popped the protein enzyme pills that served as dinner. “Can’t wait to get off this rock and back to Earth for a proper steak dinner.”
“Food is all you think about,” Ivy said, as she swirled the lollipop into the other said of her mouth.
“Any good leader knows the army travels on their stomach.”
“Nail on the head, Bishop, this ain’t the army and since when do they think about food in the Space Marines?”
“Lock and load people.” The platoon leader whispered over their comunit.
“Shoot straight fuckers!” Bishop climbed over the ridge and opened up
Josh
September 19, 2011 at 12:30 PM //
Nothing to do with Monty Python, but nevertheless… IT’S THE BISHOP! http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/2011/09/19/flash-fiction-enter-the-bishop/
Stephen R McIntyre
September 19, 2011 at 1:02 PM //
My entry -
http://blog.ifeeladraft.com/2011/09/flash-fiction.html
Samantha J. Mathis
September 19, 2011 at 4:24 PM //
I already have Irregular Creatures, so I’m in it for fun this time!
http://samanthajmathis.tumblr.com/post/10412516280/100-words-the-numbers-game
oldestgenxer
September 19, 2011 at 6:29 PM //
@Darlene-
Your link doesn’t give me anything to leave a message to you. Yeah, Gary Larson. But it goes much deeper. Allow me to tell you a dirty joke. Everyone else can listen, too:
This chick meets a guy in a bar, and they hit it off really well. She goes home with him. When they get in his bedroom, she is awestruck by the rows of various sizes of stuffed animals and things lining the walls. Obviously, this man has a tender, soft side.
They proceed to make with the whoopie in a variety of ways that would even make me blush, for several hours. She really liked this man. As she gazed lovingly into his eyes after their passion, she said, “That was the best I ever had. So…what did you think?”
He paused thoughtfully as looked at her, then said, “You can take any toy from the bottom shelf.”
Chris Mackey
September 19, 2011 at 9:37 PM //
Ain’t It Easy
http://hauntedchurches.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/terrible-minds-flash-fiction-the-numbers-game/
Audrey Whitman
September 20, 2011 at 1:09 AM //
Kansas City
I sprawled on the still-hot grass outside the Olathe public library for maybe three more hours before papa’s boss came with a cracked up lollipop that looked like it’d been lain on. I looked at the blister on my thumb from papa tryin’ to teach me a C barre on grandpa’s guitar, painted all over with ivy and little white flowers. Tonight we were gonna try again, after he checked that the new kinda vest for treasury department men was safe.
Momma came all the way from St Louis, with violets for her an’ me to throw.
Jo Eberhardt
September 20, 2011 at 5:02 AM //
I hd so much fun writing this. I hope other people have a great time reading it! My story’s called Grudge Match.
And the bare link: http://wp.me/p1teED-fF
Lily Cooper
September 20, 2011 at 11:14 AM //
http://lilycooper61.wordpress.com/
my submission for this week
Sergio Rodriguez
September 20, 2011 at 11:22 AM //
My final attempt to submit this… if it doesn’t work this time, I give up.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xbYfrgKfg_A7MptawqPK36DOIYmdHhv7CxUYd0hWwy4/edit?hl=en_US
escher
September 20, 2011 at 11:00 PM //
Ivy sat across the chessboard from TJ. The tips of her cherry fingernails brushing along her bishop.
“I find chess to be a boring mental exercise, mainly interesting to those of limited imagination.” She smirked as TJ shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
“Uh, well… in the winters of Wisconsin, there ain’t a lot to do. Imagination or not…”
Ivy brought the lollipop to her lips, playing with it, watching TJ look up and blush.
“Uh, still your turn…” his voice cracking.
She smiled, moving the bishop.
“Checkmate.”
“You suck…” he grimaced.
“You wish.” An mischievous grin danced on her face.
Paul Tevis
September 20, 2011 at 11:01 PM //
My submission is here: http://paultevis.com/blog/2011/9/20/three-line-scene.html
And this time it’s even before the deadline.
Bree Berry
September 21, 2011 at 12:52 AM //
Been a reader for a while, and I finally decided to give one of these challenges a try
http://stickyinspirations.tumblr.com/post/10472267514/thenumbersgame
Jake P
September 22, 2011 at 12:13 AM //
This challenge has proven the siren call that’s lured me out of my lurker-cave. And I think I have enough Scotch in my system that my ears are sufficiently waxed…or that I’m tied to the ship mast, Homeric metaphors are confusing…
Anyhow, here’s some wordstuffs!
http://notcoffeespoons.tumblr.com/post/10509198431/numerically-flashy
Charlie Etheridge-Nunn
September 22, 2011 at 1:51 AM //
http://wp.me/p1pqJm-7o My latest Faked Tale, “Experimental Prescription”.
Amy Tupper
September 22, 2011 at 6:38 AM //
“Blistering Criticism”
http://amytupper.net/2011/09/22/blistering-criticism/
Ingrid
September 22, 2011 at 1:34 PM //
Mmm…who doesn’t like lollipops fresh from the garden! http://wp.me/s155af-lollipop
Chris Mackey
September 22, 2011 at 1:50 PM //
Jo Eberhardt has written a great, punchy ending.
http://thehappylogophile.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/flash-fiction-the-numbers-game/
Charlie Etheridge-Nunn has written something will sit with me far too long. I’m still squirming a little bit.
http://fakedtales.com/2011/09/22/experimental-prescription/
I’m having fun writing these challenges. It’s also fun to pop in every couple days to find some good reading. I’m so glad I found this community of grown-ass drunks who refuse to take their meds.
Thord Daniel Hedengren
September 22, 2011 at 5:12 PM //
100 words, here we go:
Bishop shook his head, which only made it hurt even more. He couldn’t stand, so he just sat on the cold concrete floor. There were blisters on his hands, he had vague memories of trying to claw through walls last night.
And then Ivy stepped into the light, voluptuous and sensual, sucking a lollipop and wearing a smile that only her crimson lips could pull off.
“Did you like my little experiment, my little enzyme of love and pain?” she asked.
Bishop couldn’t answer. His tongue had never recovered from their evening together. This was bad. He had work tomorrow.
Quinn Slater
September 22, 2011 at 7:55 PM //
Here’s my last-minute contribution, titled “Footsteps.” 100 words.
http://www.quinnslater.com/flash-fiction/
Robyn
September 22, 2011 at 11:30 PM //
That was hard!
http://robynettely.blogspot.com/2011/09/flash-fiction-challenge-one-of-ways-i.html
Michael
September 23, 2011 at 6:38 AM //
http://innocentsaccidentshints.blogspot.com/2011/09/terrible-minds-challenge-buck-stops.html
Laura Miller
September 23, 2011 at 10:08 AM //
Bishop to G5, I said and waggled the piece sideways. My opponent turned to her left and watched the wind lift curls of ivy from the graffiti-smeared concrete. Beneath the wall, pigeons cooed and cackled over a lollipop stick that one had gotten in its beak, carrying it around trophy-like. Rook to A4, she said and stuck her tongue out a little as she slid the piece across the board. A red cauliflower blister shone on the tongue’s tip. I smiled, thinking we weren’t so different: two bodies, tender as enzyme-eaten meat, and the immortal chess pieces between us.
Chris White
September 24, 2011 at 8:36 AM //
So here it is, I know it’s too late to make the competition…but I forgot what day it was (seriously).
http://chriswhitewrites.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/penitent/
terribleminds
September 26, 2011 at 9:33 AM //
I can’t do it.
I can’t choose just three.
Thus, I pick… er, five.
Shut up.
The winners:
SUE ANN JAFFARIAN
BRIAN LINDENMUTH
CHRIS MACKEY
YOJIMBOJAPAN
JO EBERHARDT
You all need to contact me at terribleminds [at] gmail [dot] com.
– c.
Chris Mackey
September 26, 2011 at 4:55 PM //
Thanks, man!