Flash Fiction Challenge: It’s ABC Meets XYZ!
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
» Flash Fiction: King’s Landing’s Hero Blue Ink Alchemy
June 10, 2013 @ 9:34 AM
[…] rolled for the Terribleminds ABC meets XYZ challenge, and got “Game of Thrones” meets “Batman”. I’m not sure I […]
June 10, 2013 @ 9:35 AM
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/
Flash Fiction: The Blackbird - | The Zombie Chimp
June 10, 2013 @ 11:11 AM
[…] fiction challenge because… fill in your own excuse here. I couldn’t miss this week’s flash fiction challenge, though. We were given a list of 20 books, films, comics, and TV shows. We were to randomly choose […]
June 10, 2013 @ 12:11 PM
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 @ 2:24 PM
OMG… 7 & 11 believe it or not… Batman and Bueller… fun.
Flash Fiction: The Runeman and the Magistrate of Fire | Elisa Nuckle
June 10, 2013 @ 6:04 PM
[…] flash fiction piece for a Chuck Wendig prompt. If this one seems a little clipped that’s because I think I’m going to make it into a […]
June 10, 2013 @ 6:05 PM
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 @ 7:40 PM
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 12, 2013 @ 7:11 AM
I would watch the hell out of this if it was a movie.
June 16, 2013 @ 10:08 AM
Oh, my word… That. Was. Awesome!
In a Day’s Work | Fatma Alici
June 11, 2013 @ 3:12 AM
[…] weekly blog challenge up. http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/06/07/flash-fiction-challenge-its-abc-meets-xyz/. I’m really glad I started doing them. They are crazy fun, and really force me to try out […]
June 11, 2013 @ 2:58 PM
http://flyknifecomics.com/flash-fiction-7/
It’s Casablanca meets Star Wars! What fun.
The Mashup | Fidget and Think
June 11, 2013 @ 3:33 PM
[…] this week’s flash fiction challenge at terribleminds.com was to mashup two movies from a list of 20. I was very excited about this theme and settled on […]
June 11, 2013 @ 3:36 PM
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 @ 4:21 PM
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 @ 4:22 PM
It’s Die Hard meets The Handmaid’s Tale for me, in Women’s Work: http://ksbrennan.com/womens-work
June 12, 2013 @ 7:12 AM
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 @ 1:22 PM
Thanks!
Flash Fiction: Leaving So Soon? (1006 Words) | Writing While Black-
June 11, 2013 @ 7:48 PM
[…] gave an interesting challenge for this week–smash two movies together. Good thing I rolled Planet of the Apes and The Godfather, two […]
June 11, 2013 @ 7:50 PM
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 12, 2013 @ 2:55 PM
It’s like Batman meets Star Wars!
“Knight Error”
http://jmboverthinking.blogspot.com/2013/06/flash-fiction-challenge-its-abc-meets.html
Flash Fiction Challenge: “Shooters” | Spot of Ink - The Fiction of Desmond Manny
June 12, 2013 @ 6:09 PM
[…] My contribution to the Flash Fiction Challenge found here […]
June 12, 2013 @ 6:11 PM
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/
Terribleminds Flash Fiction Challenge: ABC meets XYZ! | JoeTblogs
June 12, 2013 @ 6:21 PM
[…] week at Terribleminds we were given twenty different pop-culture properties, and had to mash two of them up like the base […]
June 12, 2013 @ 6:27 PM
Well, done and dusted, though I question the cleaner…
http://joetblogs.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/terribleminds-flash-fiction-challenge-abc-meets-xyz/
Flash Fiction Challenge: It’s ABC meets XYZ! | Half-Mad Rantings with Nick Egelhoff
June 12, 2013 @ 7:50 PM
[…] this week’s challenge was to combine two pop culture properties based by rolling a d20 twice and choosing from a list of […]
June 12, 2013 @ 9:46 PM
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 @ 9:54 PM
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
Flash Fiction Challenge ABC Meets XYZ | Writing and other stuff
June 12, 2013 @ 10:36 PM
[…] This is my flash fiction for the ABC Meets XYZ Flash Fiction Challenge presented at terribleminds. […]
June 12, 2013 @ 10:37 PM
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/
The World Ended and I Still Need Condoms [1153 words] | Panning For Clouds
June 13, 2013 @ 11:13 AM
[…] short story prompted from Chuck Wendig’s weekly challenges, this time it was called “ABC meets XYZ“. It was fun but incredibly […]
June 13, 2013 @ 11:16 AM
“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 @ 8:04 PM
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/
The Raven and The Blushing Nightingale | b0bsbl0g
June 13, 2013 @ 8:33 PM
[…] entry is in response to Chuck Wendig’s entry at http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/06/07/flash-fiction-challenge-its-abc-meets-xyz/ […]
June 13, 2013 @ 8:34 PM
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 @ 8:57 PM
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 @ 10:27 PM
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 @ 10:58 PM
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 14, 2013 @ 2:18 AM
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 @ 2:45 AM
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
Flash Fiction Challenge | Amber Roettger
June 14, 2013 @ 5:42 AM
[…] Friday, Chuck Wendig over at Terribleminds hosts Flash Fiction Friday. This week, or last week, I guess, the challenge was, “ABC Meets […]
Flash Fiction Challenge: ABC meets XYZ | Whoa, Molly!
June 14, 2013 @ 9:09 AM
[…] this week! Shock! Horror! I was inspired to take part in the latest Flash Fiction Challenge on Chuck Wendig’s blog: It’s ABC meets XYZ. I chose two titles from a list of twenty popular movies, TV shows and […]
June 14, 2013 @ 9:13 AM
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 @ 11:28 AM
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
Under Your Skin | Toothsome Fiction
June 14, 2013 @ 5:33 PM
[…] one is a response to Mr. Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge (found here), in which my goal (after random selection, of course) was to combine the thematic/stylistic […]
June 14, 2013 @ 5:34 PM
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/
terribleminds: chuck wendig
June 16, 2013 @ 7:41 AM
[…] Last week’s challenge: “ABC Meets XYZ“ […]
Voyager Comics - It’s like X meets Y
June 19, 2013 @ 5:05 AM
[…] This last week, while Voyager Comics has been off on our Summer/June vacation, I’ve been playing around with a list of 20 well-known properties suggested by author Chuck Wendig for a flash fiction exercise . […]