Flash Fiction Challenge: Random Story Title Generator
Last week’s challenge: “Somethingpunk.”
First up, a bit of administrative — I picked three random participants from last week’s challenge to get signed hardcovers of my cornpocalypse cornpunk agridystopia, Under the Empyrean Sky, and those folks are, drum roll please:
S.W. Sondheimer!
D.W. Coventry!
Tia Kalla!
You crazy kids, email me at terribleminds at gmail dot com. I’ll need your mailing addresses.
NOW, this week’s challenge:
It will allow you to randomize five story titles.
You’ll pick one title out of the five selected and, duh, you’ll write yourself a nice little ~1000-word bit of flash fiction using that very title. Easy-peasy, hug-and-squeezy.
Due by next Friday (8/16), noon EST.
August 9, 2013 @ 12:30 PM
I don’t see the link. I’d blame it on the whisky but I haven’t started drinking yet.
August 9, 2013 @ 12:30 PM
Chuck, I think your link is invisible to us mere mortals…
August 9, 2013 @ 12:30 PM
And there it is!
August 9, 2013 @ 12:32 PM
“Wrath is Flapping” — I can’t stop laughing.
August 9, 2013 @ 12:45 PM
I’m actually sobbing over the lost potential of “The Blog of the Evening Consuming Pirate” while doing another title.
August 16, 2013 @ 5:27 AM
I may or may not be sobbing over the fact that I now have to live in a world where that title exists and that story doesn’t… 😛 No, seriously, I am legitimately distressed by this.
August 9, 2013 @ 12:50 PM
I got “The Brass and the Song”
August 9, 2013 @ 1:28 PM
Wow this one practically wrote itself. I wanted to continue the story from the “Last Lines First” FFC. The sequel came in at 996 words. I give you The Brass and the Song.
Last Lines First: http://article94.blogspot.com/2013/07/flash-fiction-challenge.html
The Brass and the Song: http://article94.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-brass-and-song.html
August 13, 2013 @ 9:53 PM
I couldn’t get the comment to go up on your site. So, posting it here instead.
I like the fast pace of it. And how you sprinkle in a lot of things, without really saying one way or the other. A lot of mystery. The beginning was a touch confusing though.
August 13, 2013 @ 11:47 PM
I wanted a certain structure, so i expected some people to be a little confused. I have already written another 4k words for it and have decided to make it a short story. Wait until you read the ending!
August 14, 2013 @ 12:12 AM
Cool, it was really interesting. I’m looking forward to it.
August 14, 2013 @ 8:28 AM
I’m getting some silly “Whoops, error” message when I try to comment on your blog, so here it is:
Nice follow-up to your previous story! I liked the pacing of this one, though the narrative shift confused me a little, as I thought the current situation happened directly after the first death. It only took me a few sentences to work it out though, so not too bad.
August 15, 2013 @ 1:31 AM
Any suggestions on ensuring the “death, flashback, events leading to death” cycle is more obvious?
August 15, 2013 @ 3:07 AM
Hmm… possibly shifting the flash-back scene into a single tense, and/or italicising the whole thing? I think it’s just a little confusing as you use such phrases as “I hope some day I will…” which seems to be present tense in the flash-back, and then “I was heading…” (past continuous) and also “I had become…” (pluperfect). There are a lot of I (verb) in that flash-back, which I think makes it harder to keep all the tenses in check.
Personally, I like to italicise flash-backs as it helps the reader with a visual prompt, but maybe you just need to play around and find a style that suits you!
August 15, 2013 @ 10:47 AM
I really like the pace and concept of your story. Even though I don’t remember reading the first one, I didn’t feel like something was missing.
August 15, 2013 @ 4:11 PM
Thats always a worry when writing serialized fiction. Im glad you were able to keep up. Did you go back and read the first part?
August 16, 2013 @ 12:54 AM
Not yet, I have this nagging guilt every week when I don’t manage to read all the stories that get linked here, so I admit chose to try and alleviate that first. 🙂
August 9, 2013 @ 1:26 PM
Not sure if I can keep it to 1000 but the title that strikes me is “Broken Odin”….
August 9, 2013 @ 1:56 PM
I know what you mean. After I barfed the words onto th page, the word count ended up just shy of 1,100 words. I hacked it back down an I suppose the story works.
August 9, 2013 @ 1:32 PM
I got “The Captain Hook that Must Not Laugh Bat” and I can’t wait. 🙂 I love flash fiction. Thanks for the great idea!
August 9, 2013 @ 8:24 PM
Oh man, the possibilities with that one are endless! Good luck. I’d like to see how your turns out.
August 9, 2013 @ 3:09 PM
I got “The Hairy Raw Sword”. That is too awful not to write.
August 9, 2013 @ 8:26 PM
Congrats on snagging that signed copy! Awesome title…..hope you can keep PG-13.
August 10, 2013 @ 2:05 PM
Write fast. I REALLY need to read this one. 🙂
August 15, 2013 @ 2:24 PM
And done. Took me a while, but yeesh… what an awful title!
http://dwcoventry.com/fiction/2013/8/15/flash-fiction-challenge-the-hairy-raw-sword
Riders and Fire | Vers Les Etoiles
August 9, 2013 @ 4:08 PM
[…] week’s Friday Flash Fiction Challenge from Chuck Wendig led us to a “random story title generator.” Out of the five titles presented, I chose “Riders and Fire.” by Albrecht […]
August 9, 2013 @ 4:11 PM
I chose Riders and Fire–too good to pass on. http://secondstaronther.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/riders-and-fire/
Hopefully I can use one or two of the others for something else!
August 9, 2013 @ 5:03 PM
I’m new to your site, but love this. Do we submit through comments, or somewhere else?
August 9, 2013 @ 5:13 PM
Ah! Post on your own online space, link back here. 🙂
August 9, 2013 @ 5:35 PM
Got it. Thanks!
August 9, 2013 @ 6:19 PM
I missed the last window, so this will be my first challenge. I won’t share the titles just yet, I still must decide which one I like better. 😀
The Days Out of the Body – Flash Fiction Piece | Observations of The Urban Spaceman
August 9, 2013 @ 6:32 PM
[…] and welcome. Today’s Friday Flash Fiction Challenge, courtesy of cornpunk creator Chuck Wendig, is to click a ‘random title’ link, pick a title that tickles your fancy, and write a […]
August 9, 2013 @ 6:35 PM
Cool generator. Reminds me of all the random movie titles you get if you play The Movies (sim-type game). I’ve wasted far too many hours of my life playing that.
Anyway, story. 1000 words exactly.
The Days Out of the Body: http://mrurbanspaceman.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/the-days-out-of-the-body-flash-fiction-piece/
August 9, 2013 @ 8:00 PM
NIce. ‘Wibble’ is my new favorite verb.
August 12, 2013 @ 4:49 PM
Thanks! It’s a word I totally didn’t steal from Blackadder.
August 15, 2013 @ 4:05 PM
Chalk up another one for the enjoyment of the word ‘wobble.’
August 9, 2013 @ 6:48 PM
Okay, I just started reading the blog this week, and it inspired me to start writing again. So, as my first attempt at flash fiction, I refuse to apologize for the fact it’s 1400 words. Fuck it. The title I got was Tsan-Lo’s Cold. And here ya go:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20368279/Tsan-LosCold.pdf
August 9, 2013 @ 7:30 PM
ooh, forgive the typos and incorrect use of it’s (fuck and damnation!.) My eagerness got the best of me and I linked it before letting my alpha reader have it. Maybe I shouldn’t drunk post. If it makes you feel better, I’ve corrected the errors in the original text but won’t relink ’cause I’m fairly certain I’d just pork it up.
August 10, 2013 @ 1:58 PM
Nicely done! Look forward to reading more.
August 13, 2013 @ 8:35 AM
Not bad! I like how silent Tsan-Lo is throughout the whole piece, it really makes him feel like an outsider in the world. As for posting drunk, we’ve all done that at some point! (I frequently have a glass of something in my hand as I hit the ‘publish’ button ;))
August 9, 2013 @ 6:50 PM
Gold Dyed the Ether
August 9, 2013 @ 6:59 PM
I’ve meant to do these challenges….at least 4 times at this point. We’ll see if I actually do this one. Such fun!
August 9, 2013 @ 7:27 PM
I cannot tell a lie. The titles were just so much fun, I hit the button about six times. Now I have to pick from my six favorites. . .oh, and write the story.
August 10, 2013 @ 11:18 AM
Glad to know I wasn’t the only one. I ended up choosing a title that was fairly drab, but the moment I saw it, the next 1000 words were already in my head. Figured I had to go with it.
August 9, 2013 @ 7:56 PM
Okay, I got several good ones, but this one made my inner writer do a happy dance. “Corpse in a Different Nightmare.” I have no idea what I’m going to do, but that’s freakin’ awesome.
August 12, 2013 @ 5:31 PM
Story complete, and as weird as the name suggests. So far this has been one my favorite challenges.
http://naharavensari.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/corpse-different-nightmare/
Flash Fiction Challenge: Random Story Title Gen...
August 9, 2013 @ 9:21 PM
[…] Last week's challenge: "Somethingpunk." First up, a bit of administrative — I picked three random participants from last week's challenge to get signed hardcovers of my cornpocalypse cornpunk agri… […]
August 9, 2013 @ 10:24 PM
I got the wonderful “A Suicide of Glass”. And I wrote this downer of a story. Seems like a waste of a good title. Alas. http://andreaspeed.com/2013/flash-fic-challenge-a-suicide-of-glass/
August 10, 2013 @ 11:35 AM
Good job. Wonderful last few lines.
August 13, 2013 @ 8:48 AM
Lovely imagery in your story! I can easily imagine how weird it would be watching reruns of reality TV (well, I don’t want reality TV at all, so I’d be spared that fate) and how surreal seeing exotic animals walking down the streets would come across.
My money’s on the aliens, by the way.
August 13, 2013 @ 9:55 AM
very cool! good story. =)
August 13, 2013 @ 10:05 PM
I could imagine the glass landing on roof tops and cars much like a heavy, but gentle rain. Wonderful job at painting a canvas for your world to play out on.
August 14, 2013 @ 3:39 PM
Very enjoyable read. I loved the theme and the simple but strong one-liners!
August 15, 2013 @ 3:49 AM
Thanks everyone! It was the rare case that, as soon as I saw the title, I knew the whole story. (I’d bet on aliens too, but you never know …)
August 9, 2013 @ 11:48 PM
Just for the record, here are the five titles that were generated:
1. Mars, Go
2. Dragging the Plant
3. The Killer that Should See
4. Return the Boy
5. The Awakening of the Gothic Age
I’ve been agonizing for the past eight hours over which of the first three to choose, so I’m just going to make it official here and then figure out the story tomorrow. And the winner is (*drum roll*): Dragging the Plant!
August 9, 2013 @ 11:58 PM
Does it have to be scary or can it be anything normal/crazy/weird?
August 13, 2013 @ 9:57 PM
As far as I know, it can be anything.
“Random Title Generator” Flash Challenge! | JDSFiction
August 10, 2013 @ 3:59 AM
[…] that means that author Chuck Wendig at Terrible Minds has a new Flash Fiction Challenge! This week it’s the “Random Title Generator” Challenge. A […]
August 10, 2013 @ 4:02 AM
So this week I- holy crap were there some real gems in that list- I decided to go with Devil and Train. It was by far the most mundane of the titles but I felt it gave the opportunity to do a crossover of two previous flash stories. So, here it is folks. Enjoy! 🙂
http://jdsfiction.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/random-title-generator-flash-challenge/
August 10, 2013 @ 7:24 AM
I am torn between Riding the Corpse and Grisly Trade, Grisly Satan, and can’t make up my mind.
August 14, 2013 @ 11:58 PM
I chose Riding the Corpse. Here is the resulting story.
http://www.trinetoftschmidt.com/2013/08/flash-fiction-random-story-title-generator/
August 10, 2013 @ 11:23 AM
Okay – This is my first time out of the gate with this site, so here goes. Like others, I was overwhelmed by the choices..had some weird thoughts as I aw them, but this one, even though it was drab by comparison, showed me the whole story – figured I had to go with it. It’s not weird, not fantasy, but from a deeper place.
Daylight Woodcarver, Daylight Women
http://www.gayleglass.net/?page_id=518
August 14, 2013 @ 6:47 PM
Off to a winning pace right out the gate 🙂
August 14, 2013 @ 9:21 PM
Thank you !
August 10, 2013 @ 11:56 AM
Man that thing really does generate some intriguing titles. I think I’m going with:
“Owning the Eternity”
I shall let the mindnado spin on that for a while.
Flash Fiction: 8-10-13 | Musings, Mutterings, and Acts of Mental Mayhem
August 10, 2013 @ 1:41 PM
[…] This weeks TerribleMinds flash fiction challenge? Random title generator (look here!) […]
August 10, 2013 @ 1:42 PM
*Ahem* In The Emperor of the Broken Dog.
http://swsondheimer.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/flash-fiction-8-10-13/
August 10, 2013 @ 7:55 PM
Stop it! You’re making the rest of us look bad!
Seriously though, loved the rhythm of this one. Felt like something out of The Fall (which if it isn’t in your Netflix queue, should be).
August 10, 2013 @ 7:56 PM
Oh, hush now. Your stuff is amazing!
It is not.
Wait, now it is. Wait. Which one?
August 10, 2013 @ 11:14 PM
By “it is not” I meant “it is not in my queue.” Poorly punctuated. Apologies.
August 11, 2013 @ 2:31 AM
That was wonderful! I love it! 😀
August 15, 2013 @ 1:28 PM
Amazing, I love the words you use, they read almost as a poem and flow so well.
August 10, 2013 @ 2:23 PM
I got “The Adventure After the Great Gateway.” I sense a lot of escapism in this one.
August 13, 2013 @ 1:54 PM
Hmm… 1500 words seems a bit too much but I want to keep going. Dammit Chuck, this is hard.
August 14, 2013 @ 3:15 PM
And here it is:
http://thedancingbastard.tumblr.com/post/58261213509/flash-fiction-challenge-random-story-title-generator
August 10, 2013 @ 7:11 PM
Steal the Doors.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/mara-eve-robbins/steal-the-doors/10151664242984822
Worm’s Comet – Super Flash Fiction | Storybook Perfect
August 10, 2013 @ 7:24 PM
[…] little flash fiction inspired to life by Chuck Wendig’s weekly flash fiction challenge (I swear I’m going to go back and do a few old ones since I seem to be raring to go […]
August 10, 2013 @ 9:09 PM
I tried to make this less “real”, but…damn it, here’s “The Strange Damned Jars”.
http://happinessisnotadisease.wordpress.com/2013/08/11/the-strange-damned-jars/
August 10, 2013 @ 10:06 PM
I went around in circles and found one that really got me thinking: ‘Eon’s Creek’…
So, here you are: it’s a little over 1,000 words, but I did manage to cut it down from 1,117 to just under 1,099…
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/eons-creek.html
enjoy!
August 13, 2013 @ 10:18 AM
Great concept! I think this is my favourite of your flash fiction stories so far. The twist at the end took me by surprise, and I enjoyed the history you put into it. Though I don’t think 300 years is all that much history 😉 Guess that’s a very subjective thing though, as history is relative to people and places. Good job on this one!
August 15, 2013 @ 1:00 AM
Hey thanks Spaceman! I appreciate your comment. 😀 Yeah, the history part of it is relative… for me 300 years is a long time as my country is very young (as a nation), however if it was your country, it wouldn’t be that long really, or if we were talking about the UK, 300 years would be a drop in the ocean.
Actually the story took on a life of its own … I didn’t know what I was going to do with the dude in the living room, not until my characters turned to face him… then I remembered I had watched an Agatha Christi mystery based at around just after WWII for a good reason… one of the characters had a tattoo on his wrist from a prison camp which marked him as a Jew… I thought it would be a good idea to mark prisoners with the same thing; mark them so if they escaped people would know no matter what they did with the clothes. 🙂
August 15, 2013 @ 1:48 PM
I think this is my favorite of your stories. I like that it leaves some of the mysteries unsolved. My only little complaint is that the ending with the man felt it didn’t belong with the rest of the story.
August 16, 2013 @ 12:16 AM
You’re the second one to say it’s your favourite 😀 Thank you!
I had to kinda make him not belong because of his place in the story to begin with. He wasn’t supposed to survive… but personally, I think this story could have been turned into a novella and have a life of its own – before and after what happened at Eon’s Creek 😀
August 16, 2013 @ 12:57 AM
I think you are right about the novella. There’s something about the limit of 1000 words, it can be enough for one story, but I find that most times I am itching to write more, give more details and such.
In Final Tesla, We Revolt! | R.J. Keith
August 10, 2013 @ 11:08 PM
[…] is a wonderful place. This flash fiction challenge is courtesy of a random title generator and S.W. Sondheimer’s wonderful brainstorming. […]
August 10, 2013 @ 11:12 PM
Of my five choices, 4 made no sense at all. The fifth was, oddly enough, just two names: Effie and Dawn. It’s as if these two individuals needed to have their story told. So here it is!
http://curiouskermit.wordpress.com/
feedback hugely appreciated! =)
August 10, 2013 @ 11:17 PM
http://accessoriesnotincluded.com/2013/08/10/in-final-tesla-we-revolt/, I give you France in 1783. With electricity. It’s a different sort of revolution.
In Final Tesla, We Revolt!
August 11, 2013 @ 4:39 PM
Spinning complete, story tossed forth.
So here we go, “Owning the Eternity.”
Enjoy.
http://www.jqpdx.com/2013/08/11/owning-the-eternity/
August 12, 2013 @ 1:24 PM
Brilliant. It was better than ‘Cats.’ I could see it again and again. Would recommend to a friend.
August 11, 2013 @ 11:29 PM
Quick ‘n dreamy, like the title: The Moonlight That Should Embrace
http://jodilee.sacredtriskele.net/?p=2640
August 12, 2013 @ 9:06 AM
This is my first challenge, and it was a lot of fun! I picked the one I liked the most. http://melissasosburn.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/the-departed-that-chained-the-ring/
The other titles were:
1). They of Priestess
2).Falling the Neighbors
3). Under the Closing Suicide
4). Changing the Comb
After the Season | Misadventures in Strange Places
August 12, 2013 @ 12:25 PM
[…] traveling in directions you might never have expected. This weeks challenge form Chuck Wendigs blog Terrible Minds poses the challenge of a random […]
August 12, 2013 @ 12:28 PM
Adding my voice to the list of challengers this week…
http://jonjeffersonauthor.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/after-the-season/
August 12, 2013 @ 1:31 PM
Ouch.
August 12, 2013 @ 1:32 PM
Yeah, that was supposed to be a reply to Jon’s story. Sometimes I no internet good.
Magic and Wyatt | Write, Wrote, Written
August 12, 2013 @ 4:51 PM
[…] This story is for the weekly Flash Fiction Challenge posted on the blog of the insanely talented Chuck Wendig. The title is the result of a random title […]
August 12, 2013 @ 4:54 PM
I got “Magic and Wyatt”. Had fun with that.
http://writewrotewritten.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/magic-and-wyatt/
Corpse in a Different Nightmare | Fatma Alici
August 12, 2013 @ 5:29 PM
[…] Chuck Wendig challenge! This was crazy fun. This time we used a random title generator. And, I got Corpse in a […]
The Bullet the Song Embraced | Uri Emram's ramblings
August 12, 2013 @ 6:14 PM
[…] week, Chuck Wendig’s challenge involves creating a story from a random title, using this neat generator. I got: “The bullet […]
August 12, 2013 @ 6:22 PM
A rather gloomy tale: the bullet the song embraced.
http://uriemram.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/the-bullet-the-song-embraced/
Feel free to share your thoughts.
August 12, 2013 @ 9:54 PM
good story, intense! Love the title too.
August 13, 2013 @ 4:28 AM
The generator gives very good titles. I’m very impressed with it.
I’m glad you liked the story.