Last week’s challenge: “Write What You Know“
It’s the Game of Aspects, and you know the drill.
Grab a ten-sided die or click over to a random number generator.
Choose three random numbers between 1-10.
That corresponds to a subgenre / setting / element to include.
Those are now the parameters of your story.
(So, you might randomly get: superhero / Titanic / love letter, for instance.)
You have — well, let’s up the numbers a bit. You have 1500 words.
Due by next Friday, March 1st, at noon EST.
Post at your blog or online space. Link back here in the comments.
Now go forth and randomize!
Subgenre
- Superhero
- Erotic Fairy Tale
- Sword & Sorcery
- Slasher Horror
- Bumbling Detective
- Time Travel Romance
- Zombie Apocalypse
- Parallel Universe
- Technothriller
- Magical Realism
Setting
- High school prom
- On board the Titanic
- In a vampire’s subterranean lair
- At the gates of the Garden of Eden
- A shopping mall
- A Martian greenhouse
- The capital city of a lost civilization
- A king’s throne room
- An amusement park after dark
- In the home of the gods
Element To Include
- Warring Families
- A Love Letter
- A Puzzle Box
- Elves
- A Talking Sword
- Artificial Intelligence
- A Mysterious Stranger
- A Lost Painting
- A Dream
- A Magical Pocketwatch
98 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: Game Of Aspects, Redux”
I don’t even know where I was going with this…
http://authorsarahohara.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/terribleminds-flash-fiction-challenge_27.html
http://jmboverthinking.blogspot.com/2013/02/flash-fiction-challenge-game-of-aspects.html
I liked your story, interesting ending. 🙂
I finished one! Woohoo! The assignment was Parallel Universe, Warring Families, and At the Gates of Eden.
http://www.beauhall.com/the-booty-snatchers/short-story-1/
The story that came up after getting parallel universe, elves, and the prom – That’s Just the Way It Is.
http://knotachance.tumblr.com/
Much to my dismay, my D10 chose the following: technothriller, in the home of the gods, warring families.
I Tweeted my dismay to (at?) Chuck and received nothing but encouragement. I hope he’s happy. No… seriously. I really hope he’s happy. If he is, it likely has nothing to do with my story – but I shall tell myself it does nonetheless.
My story is one thousand, four hundred, and seventy-eight words long (or thereabouts).
This is my first published short story. It’s a big deal. Well… to me. (Holds breath.)
http://dreamscrybe.dreamwidth.org/474.html
[…] was written for the terribleminds writing challenge this week. Random number generator gave me Magical Realism, an amusement park […]
I got magical realism, an amusement park after dark, and a love letter. Not entirely sure I got the magical realism right, but I tried! Let me know if you think it was a hit or miss lol.
I [resent to you ‘Fortune’s Eye’.
http://onethemis.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/fortunes-eye/
That first paragraph is amazing. It’s a huge mouthful but absolutely sets the stage for the story!
I know I almost cut it up a bit more, but then I left it lol. Thank you though!
I got Time Travel Romance/On board the Titanic/A love letter. Great fun! Read “Unsinkable” here: http://pushcomestoshove.blogspot.com/2013/02/unsinkable.html
[…] goodness for the Wendig Challenges that keep me writing. My random elements: A time travel romance, a vampire’s subterranean […]
Jigging with a little travel romance in a subterranean lair all wrapped up in a dream.
http://pdhinson.com/?p=848
6,5,1 here we go. First short story ever.
http://denoftheblackwolf.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/flash-fiction-2-28-13/
[…] decided to participate in a flash fiction challenge I found at this great blog. Chuck Wendig gives some great advice for authors and this exercise seemed both entertaining and […]
7, 4, 7. Zombie apocalypse, gates of the Gardens of Eden, mysterious stranger.
First time blogger- sounded too fun to pass up.
http://mrdorough.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/noah-zombies/
I’d really like to know what you think, so feel free to leave a comment.
zombie apocalypse, capital city of a lost civilization, and artificial intelligence:
http://therealmofdionysus.blogspot.com/
[…] in response to Mr. Wendig’s Game of Aspects, Redux. My die gave me time travel romance, an amusement park after dark, and a mysterious stranger, […]
I got time travel romance (wasn’t even sure what that was), an amusement park after dark (my brain inserted ‘abandoned’ somehow), and a mysterious stranger. My die hates me, I guess. Still, I made a stab at it. Yay for stabbing!
http://tentavailetimes.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/the-torch-and-the-tower/
2, 7, 10. An erotic fairy tale set in the capital city of a lost civilization and featuring a magical pocket watch. Here’s “Shambhala.” http://swordsoftheancients.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/shambhala/
I got 10/2/10 for Magical realism/Titanic/Magic Pocket watch. Here it is:
http://librarycreature.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/titanic.html
Comments greatly appreciated!
Your story is cool and has an interesting premise, but there are a couple of things that I kind of wanted to point out. The big thing that rankles me is the very first sentence, it’s awkward and it took me a couple of times- and a flick back to the top of the page mid-story- to clue in to what it was saying. I don’t know how much of this was just me being thick, but let me break it down and maybe I can articulate where it is I’m coming from.
“The day Alex met a mermaid was unusual only for the fact that the person she was complaining too actually agreed with her”.
I think the stumbling block for me here is “the person she was complaining to”. Call me a stickler for grammar, but I think this could be improved if it were written as “the person to whom she was complaining” (or heck, just crop it out altogether and say “James”, if you fancy). That seems like a really bizarre thing to nitpick about, but I think it really makes the sentence flow better. Take it or leave it, I’m just a dude with grammar hangups.
It also wasn’t immediately clear (to me, at least) whether or not the person doing the complaining was Alex or the mermaid. Like the day was unusual because the person to whom the mermaid was complaining was agreeing with her, as though the mermaid complained a lot but usually not to sympathetic ears. I think this may have to do with the fact that the implication of the sentence is that the day wasn’t unusual because of the mermaid. I actually do like that, it nicely underscores how infrequently Alex and James are on the same page. Unfortunately, it took me a little while to suss that out, and I think that weakened the effect. I think it would be good to maybe emphasize it a bit, it would drive the point home and make the sentence a little clearer. Try this on for size as an alternative phrasing:
“The day was unusual for Alex- not because of the mermaid, but because James was actually agreeing with her”.
As with anything I say, you can take it or leave it, because I’m just a guy on the internet and my credentials are suspect at best and nonexistent at worst.
All besides, the rest of your story is pretty on point. I like the non-traditional characterization of the mermaid, and the characters feel whole and fleshed out in spite of the word limit. The ending is a kind of out-of-nowhere gut punch, the kind of which I’m not a huge fan, but it’s a flash fiction so your mileage may vary on how strongly that can be counted against it. Good show, and carry on.
Thanks for the comments and for the suggestion on rewriting.
Hmm, the revelation of the pregnancy is supposed to answer the question at the beginning about why Alex’s advisor is suddenly so unsupportive of her. Apparently that question was too subtle.
Ah, you know what, I see that now. It’s probably half again as likely that I’m just bad on subtlety.
7,7,6 were my lucky numbers. Long time participant, first time poster. Enjoy. Feedback welcomed, careful, I’m fragile. 🙂
http://evanspencil.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-prison-within.html
I don’t normally read zombie fiction and between the gruesome imagery and an unsympathetic main character I wasn’t sure I wanted to finish. I did want to see if the AI got it’s ‘final release.’ Nice job handing him a truly burdensome failure.
Why doesn’t he just jump off a cliff? Why couldn’t he have used the guts of a monster?
Ok, last minute but here is the story. Was 2000 words (written in one go just over the last few hours!) but I pared it down to just under 1500. I give you: The Box http://www.jeffxilon.com/a-terribleminds-flash-fiction-challenge-more-random-elements/
[…] By Suzie | On March 1, 2013 In Flash Fiction Another flashfiction – this one for GAME OF ASPECTS, REDUX, at Terribleminds. I got “erotic fairy-tale, high-school prom with elves”. Hmm. I […]
I got “Erotic fairy-tale, high-school prom, elves”
I don’t know… this story ended up late, over-budget (1800 words) and missing some features – namely the high-school prom! http://suziehunt.co.uk/erotic-elven-fairy-tale
But at least I got something down on paper. Better late than never?
[…] Last week’s challenge: The Game Of Aspects, Redux […]
My numbers were 1, 1, 5. Superhero at a high school prom and a talking sword. Sounds epic already.
I guess I’m late but here’s mine. Also, over the word count by about 1000 words. But what can you do when you get Sword and Sorcery/Gates of Garden of Eden/A Talking Sword ?
http://ablogisagreatwaytoprocrastinate.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-garden.html
I forgot to check in this morning, but this was my writing accomplishment this week.
http://vansoolenartoflife.blogspot.com/p/writing-prompts.html
[…] brings me to today, and my decision to try the flash fiction challenge by Chuck Wendig. This meant rolling a ten sided die three times which, from his website, would give me the […]
Yup. It’s late. But I finished it, so I’m posting it. I rolled zombie apocalypse, shopping mall, warring families. I give you…
“Love Will Never Tear Us Apart.”
http://blackpowderblackmagic.com/flash-fiction-love-will-never-tear-us-apart/
[…] following piece has been crafted for another one of Chuck Wendig’s writing challenges. We were given three lists of ten topics, for sub-genre, location, and included element. Thanks to […]
[…] browse Terrible Minds (http://terribleminds.com) and this Flash Fiction Challenge was posted. I did what was said, and I rolled sub-genre Parallel Universe, setting a Martian Greenhouse and […]