Last week’s challenge: “Choose Your Random Words“
So, this week’s challenge is going to be awesome.
SHUT UP IT WILL TOO.
Here’s what’s going to happen.
I’m going to list 20 different pop culture properties — books, movies, comics.
You’re going to randomly choose two and mash them up into a piece of ~1000-word flash fiction.
Here’s why — because whenever I read reviews of my books or whenever you pitch a film to somebody you always mash up two wildly different properties to give a feel for what it is. (As I’ve noted elsewhere, Blue Blazes often gets called Goodfellas meets Lovecraft meets The D&D Monster Manual.) It’s a fun way to envision a story, so boom, that’s what we’re doing here.
Note: the result should be thematic and stylistic, not actual mash-up fanfiction. (Again, envision you take your story into a pitch meeting and to pitch it, you combine two seemingly unlike pop culture properties. It’s like that.)
Story due by Friday, June 14th, noon EST.
Post at your online space. Link back here.
Here’s the list. Choose two or pick ’em randomly with a d20 or random number generator.
- Casablanca
- Die Hard
- Breaking Bad
- Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
- The Maltese Falcon
- Terminator
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- Star Wars
- Game of Thrones
- The Handmaid’s Tale
- Batman
- The Stand
- Neverwhere
- The Godfather
- Planet of the Apes
- Rosemary’s Baby
- Arrested Development
- The Walking Dead
- Reservoir Dogs
- Pride & Prejudice
Josh Loomis says:
The d20 gave me Game of Thrones and Batman. I… am not sure I stopped there.
http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/2013/06/10/flash-fiction-kings-landings-hero/
June 10, 2013 — 9:35 AM
Cameron Mount says:
The mysteries of the d20 gave me “Die Hard” and “Reservoir Dogs.” I don’t exactly know how the resulting twist here came about at the end, but I did enjoy the sideways reference to another one of my favorite movies (a list on which both Die Hard and Reservoir Dogs appear), “The Big Lebowski.”
Bodies
June 10, 2013 — 12:11 PM
OhkaBaka says:
OMG… 7 & 11 believe it or not… Batman and Bueller… fun.
June 10, 2013 — 2:24 PM
Elisa Nuckle says:
So, as I mentioned earlier, I got Terminator and Game of Thrones. The thing I came up with was surprisingly fun. It’s turned into a short story, maybe even a novella (not sure yet), so thank you for the plot bunnies. I put up the flash fiction piece though.
http://elisanuckle.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/flash-fiction-the-runeman-and-the-magistrate-of-fire/
June 10, 2013 — 6:05 PM
jreinmiller says:
So Planet of the Apes and The Walking Dead collide resulting in the Planet of the Walking Monkey Carcasses… er, something. In any case, the story came out like this:
http://www.jqpdx.com/2013/06/10/the-visitor/
June 10, 2013 — 7:40 PM
Mike Berkey says:
I would watch the hell out of this if it was a movie.
June 12, 2013 — 7:11 AM
shonnerz says:
Oh, my word… That. Was. Awesome!
June 16, 2013 — 10:08 AM
JackVanish says:
http://flyknifecomics.com/flash-fiction-7/
It’s Casablanca meets Star Wars! What fun.
June 11, 2013 — 2:58 PM
ecarrolles says:
Breaking bad and Star Wars. Here’s my second ever attempt at flash fiction: Desperate Jib (I’m calling it Flash Fiction and a Half since I’ve written about 1500 words!)
http://fidgetandthink.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/the-mashup/
June 11, 2013 — 3:36 PM
Trine Toft Schmidt says:
Star Wars and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was my lot. I should have planned the story more in advance, because it clearly got away with me. But I’ll present it anyway. Sorry about the massive word count.
http://www.trinetoftschmidt.com/2013/06/flash-fiction-mash-up/
June 11, 2013 — 4:21 PM
Kelsey says:
It’s Die Hard meets The Handmaid’s Tale for me, in Women’s Work: http://ksbrennan.com/womens-work
June 11, 2013 — 4:22 PM
Mike Berkey says:
Awesome! Round two of this would be pretty epic. I’m picturing the handmaiden killing Swedes, walking barefoot over broken glass and bungee jumping off of exploding towers using a bridal gown…
June 12, 2013 — 7:12 AM
Kelsey says:
Thanks!
June 12, 2013 — 1:22 PM
K.C. Wise says:
I rolled Planet of the Apes meets The Godfather.
I cheated and left it at 1006 words. But they are 1006 GOOD words!
http://iamwritingwhileblack.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/flash-fiction-leaving-so-soon-1006-words/
June 11, 2013 — 7:50 PM
Jeanne B. says:
It’s like Batman meets Star Wars!
“Knight Error”
http://jmboverthinking.blogspot.com/2013/06/flash-fiction-challenge-its-abc-meets.html
June 12, 2013 — 2:55 PM
D. Manny says:
Okay, so my challenge was 14. The Godfather & 18. The Walking Dead.
So here we go with “Shooters” – http://spotofink.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/flash-fiction-challenge-shooters/
June 12, 2013 — 6:11 PM
joeturner87 says:
Well, done and dusted, though I question the cleaner…
http://joetblogs.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/terribleminds-flash-fiction-challenge-abc-meets-xyz/
June 12, 2013 — 6:27 PM
Beth L. says:
Frankenstein meets Pride and Prejudice – this one came out very oddly, but it’s been a really weird week.
http://knotachance.tumblr.com/
June 12, 2013 — 9:46 PM
Dana Alyce-Schwarz says:
Got this done a day early since I’ll be busy the next few nights. I didn’t want to miss the cut-off. http://contrastsolution.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-weekly-challenge.html
June 12, 2013 — 9:54 PM
John says:
Alright. Took me a while to figure out something. I rolled up Pride and Prejudice meets The Godfather. http://vgaubersoldat72.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/flash-fiction-challenge-abc-meets-xyz/
June 12, 2013 — 10:37 PM
Rick Cook Jr says:
“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” meets “The Walking Dead” turned out to be called “The World Ended and I Still Need Condoms” (content warning, PG-13 I guess?):
http://panningforclouds.com/2013/06/13/the-world-ended-and-i-still-need-condoms-1153-words/
June 13, 2013 — 11:16 AM
crow365 says:
I rolled “Reservoir Dogs” and “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein”, and came up with “For Ten Silver Fishes”:http://nickegelhoff.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/flash-fiction-challenge-its-abc-meets-xyz/
June 13, 2013 — 8:04 PM
rcc00888 says:
Here is my entry:
http://b0bsbl0g.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/the-raven-and-the-blushing-nightingale/
This is a Game of Thrones/Batman mash up.
June 13, 2013 — 8:34 PM
Polyglottal T. says:
It’s Batman meets Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!
“Masked: What She Does Not Know”
http://polyglottal-toad.tumblr.com/post/52909339673/masked-what-she-does-not-know
June 13, 2013 — 8:57 PM
kaikiriyama says:
Truly, I don’t think it’s very good, but that’s all right. This is my first flash piece in 6+ months and I’m very tired. Still no excuse for sloppy writing, but there you have it. It’s Die Hard meets Walking Dead.
http://kaikiriyama.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/terrible-minds-flash-fiction-challenge-6-7-13/
June 13, 2013 — 10:27 PM
Jasmine Stanford says:
Whoo *wipes sweat off forehead*, this was the hardest one yet. I had “Star Wars” meets “The Stand,” I give you “The Choice.” Enjoy!
http://jasminestanford.blogspot.com/2013/06/flash-fiction-choice.html
June 13, 2013 — 10:58 PM
Jemima Pett says:
This probably isn’t the right idea, but Casablanca meets Star Wars in “Paradisio”. And it’s long because the previous week was short. OK?
http://jemimapett.com/2013/06/14/paradisio/
June 14, 2013 — 2:18 AM
Kevin George says:
Yippee Ki Yay Nerf Herder! The combination of Die Hard and Star Wars was awesome to me.
http://magell2.blogspot.com/2013/06/yippee-ki-yay-nerf-herder.html
June 14, 2013 — 2:45 AM
Whoa, Molly! says:
Left it to the last minute (what is it about deadlines that inspires such a raging torrent of procrastination?) so it’s rough as guts, but anyway… My two were The Handmaid’s Tale and Reservoir Dogs, and I wrote the first idea that those titles brought to mind. It’s called 712 and you can find it here:
http://whoamolly.com/2013/06/15/flash-fiction-challenge-abc-meets-xyz/
June 14, 2013 — 9:13 AM
AmberR says:
I got Pride & Prejudice meets Ferris Beuller…A little rough around the edges…And titled “Maybe I Was Wrong.”
http://amberroettger.com/blog/?p=655
June 14, 2013 — 11:28 AM
rangelicus says:
Late but here, here’s my take on a mash-up of Pride and Prejudice and Planet of the Apes: Under Your Skin.
http://toothsomefiction.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/under-your-skin/
June 14, 2013 — 5:34 PM