Flash Fiction Challenge: WTF Is This Thing?
Last week’s challenge: “Choose Your Setting.”
I love it. Totally bizarre. Utterly unexplained.
Probably something boring, but that’s not our area of expertise.
We are writers and storytellers. It is our job to explain. And more importantly, to make stuff totally awesome. So, your job is: write a ~1000 short story of any genre including and explaining this weird little web-towers. You’ve got till next week to get it done, due by Friday the 13th at noon EST. Write the story at your online space, link back here so we all can read it.
Include it. Explain it (to whatever degree you are comfortable). What is it? What made it? Where does it come from? What is its purpose? What madness is this?
Go forth and write.
See you on the other side.
Mark Gardner
September 6, 2013 at 1:31 PM //
Interesting challenge this week.
Mark Gardner
September 7, 2013 at 11:49 AM //
I really wanted to do something special for this one so you had to wait until Saturday. I think at 1067 words it was worth the wait:
http://article94.blogspot.com/2013/09/ffc-wtf-is-this-thing.html
jreinmiller
September 8, 2013 at 4:42 PM //
You really packed a lot in for the 1000 words. I thought it told a good story and developed the characters pretty well before the reveal at the end.
Mark Gardner
September 8, 2013 at 11:09 PM //
The reveal was the most difficult. I’m glad you liked it!
aetherwrought
September 9, 2013 at 2:33 AM //
Wow. I agree with jreinmiller – you pack in a lot for only 1000 words. I’m not half so economical
I especially liked the time-skips. Usually I find them really awkward. Here they work well though, giving us little snippets of Ojai’s life.
markgardnerauthor
September 10, 2013 at 10:53 AM //
I’m glad you like it! Originally I had envisioned the mother trying to hide her pregnancy because she was certain her baby would be a boy, but it ended up unessisary for the story.
Paul Weimer
September 6, 2013 at 2:00 PM //
Ha, great minds think alike. I openly mused on twitter today that someone needed to use this as story fuel.
Jim Franklin
September 6, 2013 at 2:30 PM //
Hmmmm, I’m sure my highly caffeinated brain can think of something… Think, damn you. Think!
S.W. Sondheimer
September 6, 2013 at 3:01 PM //
“Caffeine and Righteous Indignation.”
http://swsondheimer.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/flash-fiction-9-5-13-caffeine-and-righteous-indignation/
I’m sorry…
David Coventry (@DWCoventry)
September 6, 2013 at 8:38 PM //
You and I both know you are not that sorry.
Mark Gardner
September 7, 2013 at 11:52 AM //
I second the notion of the disingenuous apology.
Mike N.
September 7, 2013 at 1:16 PM //
Really enjoyed your piece! The dialogue was snappy and I loved the idea that this was some other sentient life form putting on a show to mess with the humans.
My one criticism is putting laughter into your dialogue. Having a bunch of laughter written out in capital letters was pretty uncomfortable to read in my opinion. Your piece doesn’t use anything but dialogue so that poses a challenge, but is it possible to achieve the same effect through more clever use of dialogue?
Nice work.
S.W. Sondheimer
September 7, 2013 at 3:41 PM //
thanks for the suggestion. Perhaps a revised version later this week if I have a moment…
jreinmiller
September 8, 2013 at 4:45 PM //
Nice concept. It was cool to see someone go in a very different direction on this one. I thought it worked well.
S.W. Sondheimer
September 8, 2013 at 5:05 PM //
Thanks! It was hard to resist spiders, but I have it my best effort.
aetherwrought
September 9, 2013 at 2:23 AM //
Nice piece. I think the opening is especially solid. The back-and-forth dialogue is really good there.
Tammy Sparks
September 6, 2013 at 3:37 PM //
Thanks for creeping me out…this makes the hairs on my arms stand on end:0
Mozette
September 6, 2013 at 9:28 PM //
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/curiosity-killed-cat.html
Okay… I’ve written a story that’s kinda weird. But the article said it might have been built by a butterfly – so I went with that. I did a painting called ’18 Butterflies’ and had to find out about the critters… they can’t see and are mostly deaf. So, they see through their feet, hear through their antenna and fly through wind currents through the hair on their bodies… amazing little creatures. Amazing as most butterflies have a life span of 3 days to 2 weeks…
aetherwrought
September 9, 2013 at 2:37 AM //
Mozette. This is well-written. The plot is just the butterfly laying its eggs, but it flows really nicely. I enjoyed it. Good job!
Mozette
September 10, 2013 at 8:12 AM //
Thanks! I saw it and thought ‘butterfly’ immediately before reading the article.
It took a bit getting the description right though
Mike Berkey
September 12, 2013 at 10:28 AM //
Beautifully written. It never would’ve occurred to me to write this completely straight and non-genre.
jreinmiller
September 7, 2013 at 1:36 PM //
Scratched out dire, and inserted whimsy this week. Had fun writing it. Here you go.
http://www.jqpdx.com/2013/09/07/but-not-the-pixies/
curiouskermit
September 7, 2013 at 5:13 PM //
awesome! very fun read.
Mike N.
September 7, 2013 at 8:52 PM //
Clever and very creative. Using the web tower as a music venue was a really enjoyable way of looking at it that hadn’t occurred to me previously. The dialogue between Cray and Landsy was really enjoyable as well. Cray played the part of a curious onlooker very well, and poor Landsy was hardly able to derive any kind of pleasure from her work after the numerous setbacks the project faced.
Great job!
Siddhartha
September 8, 2013 at 5:07 AM //
I loved the concept and the ending. Awesome!
Justice
September 8, 2013 at 1:58 PM //
Nicely done! I have a similar (ish) idea in mind, but I love how yours was executed. And the ending – pitch perfect!
jreinmiller
September 8, 2013 at 6:00 PM //
Thanks for the kind words. Glad to see some people enjoyed what I scribbled down.
aetherwrought
September 9, 2013 at 2:13 AM //
I have to admit, I took one look at that link and went “Post-Modern Faerie Ring” so that was spot on. Landsy’s “foreman-like” attitude and dialogue is fun, as well.
Mike Berkey
September 12, 2013 at 10:27 AM //
Tiny little concert venues. This wouldn’t have been first second, second or probably two-hundredth guess what this one was going to be about. Very awesome.
Smoph
September 14, 2013 at 5:24 PM //
Loved the mythological integration. Good fun!
Mike N.
September 8, 2013 at 8:26 AM //
Just wrapped up some minor revisions on my piece. These flash fiction challenges are really great for helping me get back into the habit of writing. Thanks for putting these together.
http://mikewriteson.tumblr.com/post/60643171011/flash-fiction-challenge-wtf-is-this-thing
jreinmiller
September 8, 2013 at 4:36 PM //
Hah, cute. I enjoyed the characterizations and the revelation at the end. Nice story.
Mike N.
September 8, 2013 at 7:40 PM //
Thanks for the feedback!
Siddhartha
September 8, 2013 at 12:17 PM //
This is the first story I have ever finished. I am inordinately proud of the fact, even though it is only 1,000-word long.
http://ssbasu.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/flash-fiction-challenge-wtf-is-this-thing/
Hope you enjoy.
jreinmiller
September 8, 2013 at 4:31 PM //
I liked it.
Very alien and abstract, but still solid so that it got the story and characters across. Keep it up.
aetherwrought
September 9, 2013 at 2:19 AM //
Congrats on the your first story! You do a pretty good job with getting a mood across, as well as Vij’s varied fears.
Fatma Alici
September 13, 2013 at 3:04 AM //
What a wonderful story for your first one ever. Congrats! I like the inner dialog of Jenkins, and his interactions with the boy-king.
Siddhartha
September 13, 2013 at 3:35 AM //
You seem to have – er – confused my story with Mike’s.
I did not write remotely as well.
Fatma Alici
September 13, 2013 at 4:16 AM //
My apolgies, my wordpress app on my phone opened Mike’s story instead of yours.
However, I made the effort to go and read your story on my laptop instead of my phone. I enjoyed it a great deal. A man put in a position he didn’t care for, made to do things he wasn’t used to. It was very good. Much more creative than my own post this week.
jreinmiller
September 8, 2013 at 4:50 PM //
A lot of us took fantastical, or strange directions on this, so I’m glad someone went with a straight up story explaining these little mysteries. I especially liked the ending explaining why humans hadn’t seen them before.
jreinmiller
September 8, 2013 at 4:51 PM //
Argh, stupid miss post. *shakes fist in general direction of blog gremlins* This was for Mozette’s story.
Justice
September 8, 2013 at 7:53 PM //
I’ll bite. Here’s mine: http://erinmjustice.com/2013/09/08/flash-fiction-fairy-rings/
Smoph
September 14, 2013 at 5:31 PM //
Good story. I really liked the siren comment slipped in there.
Francesca Carrillo
September 9, 2013 at 4:49 AM //
Interesting challenge this week.
Here’s mine:
Broken Things
Fatma Alici
September 13, 2013 at 3:12 AM //
You used some very vivid, and creative descriptions in this. I like the concept reminds me a bit of Poe.
Josh Loomis
September 9, 2013 at 9:18 AM //
This turned out interestingly.
Reports from the Surface
Jon Jefferson
September 9, 2013 at 5:32 PM //
My contribution to this week’s challenge.
http://jonjeffersonauthor.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/mother-of-us-all/
Smoph
September 14, 2013 at 5:37 PM //
I found the language of the ending a bit confusing in the way it turned, but a good idea for the prompt.
Kirstie
September 9, 2013 at 9:09 PM //
Perhaps not the most original idea, but I had fun writing it, and if people have fun reading it, that’s what really matters, right?
http://www.storybookperfect.com/flash-fiction-kinas-climb/
Smoph
September 14, 2013 at 5:45 PM //
I liked its simplicity. Sometimes too many complications ruin a story. Good idea. Left me wondering about the others though.
Michaela Hutfles
September 10, 2013 at 1:08 AM //
Hard Bitten Crime Drama: http://3countylaugh.tumblr.com/post/60822043864/down-and-out
In my usual “it’s about the atmosphere, not the story” style, 380 words.
Mike Berkey
September 12, 2013 at 10:17 AM //
“miniaturized and and thrown into the puffball prison” I’m laughing out loud here. This is great stuff.
jodilee
September 10, 2013 at 3:41 PM //
Here';s my go at it…
http://jodilee.sacredtriskele.net/?p=2753
Fatma Alici
September 10, 2013 at 8:11 PM //
Mine ended up a little horrorish, though mostly realistic. Not sure how I feel about it. I dislike horror as a genre in pretty much any format.
http://naharavensari.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/umm-wth/
Mike Berkey
September 12, 2013 at 10:14 AM //
Gross! I think it’d be great if he burst into chunks and wherever one landed, a little white ring started to grow.
Fatma Alici
September 12, 2013 at 8:26 PM //
Not a bad idea. Could have been fun, if I thought of it.
C.M. Simpson
September 11, 2013 at 6:52 AM //
Light paranormal fantasy with an Australian outback setting and some fey lore. Story was 1k exactly and this is as near to first draft as it comes. I love these challenges
Oops, nearly forgot the link: http://cmsimpson.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/flash-fiction-challenge-choice-of-colour.html
Smoph
September 14, 2013 at 6:09 PM //
I liked that you turned part of it into a love story.
Also, silly blogger made it hard to comment.
C.M. Simpson
September 14, 2013 at 6:26 PM //
Nicely done. I liked the transference angle and the glimpses we get into the alien thought processes.
Smoph
September 15, 2013 at 1:42 AM //
Thanks!
crow365
September 12, 2013 at 7:31 AM //
“The Black Mangrove”: http://nickegelhoff.com/2013/09/12/flash-fiction-challenge-wtf-is-this-thing/
Mike Berkey
September 12, 2013 at 10:00 AM //
980 words. Spring-heeled Jack, Bloody Mary, Pecos Bill, and a bunch of fucking parrots.
http://billionmonkeys.blogspot.com/p/legends.html
I honestly didn’t think I’d get much out of this one. The answer hit me while I was taking a shower a few days ago, hard enough to make me laugh out loud when it came to me.
Ian Brown
September 12, 2013 at 4:35 PM //
“The Spider’s Spire” – http://www.humming-rain.com/2013/09/12/the-spiders-spire/
Hope you all enjoy it! Let me know what you think.
Smoph
September 14, 2013 at 6:03 PM //
I like the idea of it as a warning!
marlanesque
September 12, 2013 at 9:40 PM //
It’s bloom.
http://marlanesque.com/2013/09/12/echoes-of-scheherazade/
marlanesque
September 12, 2013 at 11:31 PM //
Also, sorry for being so late to the game. This summer has been nuts.
benjaminryant
September 13, 2013 at 1:18 AM //
This is me tipping my hat to The Blue Blazes.
The White Fire: http://benjaminryant.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/flash-fiction-thursday-the-white-fire/
momdude
September 13, 2013 at 2:58 AM //
“Identity Theft” A little long. At it’s core I think there’s a good idea but I’m not sure I did a good enough job with it. As always, any comments and constructive criticisms are appreciated.
http://wp.me/p3tdUw-jy
momdude
September 13, 2013 at 2:58 AM //
Gaaah! “Its”, not “it’s”!! Damn, it’s late…
agirlwhowrites
September 13, 2013 at 4:10 AM //
https://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-shackleford/short-story-into-the-web/709994975683891
angelacavanaugh.wordpress.com
September 13, 2013 at 4:10 AM //
A Cocoon of Madness
This might be a little on the dark side….
http://angelacavanaugh.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/flash-fiction-friday-a-cocoon-of-madness/
Jemima Pett
September 13, 2013 at 6:17 AM //
Oops, I nearly forgot to post my link. I saw this and it immediately reminded me of someone else’s tale, probably in the 1960s. Here’s my version of what happened: The Next Generation…
http://jemimapett.com/2013/09/13/friday-flash-fiction-the-next-generation/
Andrew Hilmer
September 13, 2013 at 9:42 AM //
The second short story I’ve ever finished, and my first flash attempt.
http://andrewhilmer.com/2013/09/13/flash-fiction-for-terrible-minds/
Jessica
September 13, 2013 at 10:37 AM //
Skidding in with an hour and a half left. 738 words.
http://anunperfectlife.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/flash-fiction-the-spire-clan/
Andrew Hilmer
September 13, 2013 at 2:47 PM //
I think I felt like your Korin, closing in on the wordcount. You really captured that moment of desperation, then confidence.
curiouskermit
September 14, 2013 at 10:18 PM //
Loved it! In such a short time you really had me cheering for Korin. Good job, great story.
Smoph
September 13, 2013 at 9:34 PM //
I am late, I know, but this one took a while to come to me. Damn muse.
It’s called Spinner. Hope you enjoy it!
http://prose.smoph.org/2013/09/13/spinner/
curiouskermit
September 14, 2013 at 10:14 PM //
awesome! loved it.
Smoph
September 15, 2013 at 1:43 AM //
Thank you!