Last Week’s Challenge: Find Your Favorite Opening Line
Administrative head’s up — still tallying which of the opening lines were used the most in the last challenge (unless, ahem, anyone feels like taking that bullet for me).
This week is going to be the start of a five-part challenge that should take us up to and through Christmas. This is a bit of an experiment, so, who the hell knows if it’s going to work? But it is what it is and hey, I wanna try this out, see what happens.
I want you to write the first 200 words of a story.
This will not be a complete story.
Again: this is just the start of a story.
This is, in fact, 1/5th of a story.
You will finish this by noon EST on the following Friday, which is the 29th of November.
Then — and I’ll remind you of this next Friday — you’ll take someone else’s 200 words and continue that story for 200 more (for a total of 400 words). The goal being to end up with a 1000-word story after five total challenges. Each time around you’ll grab someone else’s story and add 200 words to it. We’ll play this weird narrative whisper-down-the-lane variant until roughly the end of the year. So, for right now…
Post your 200 words at your blog.
Link back here. (That part is critical, obviously.)
You’ve got a week.
Go write!
302 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: 200 Words At A Time, Part One”
What if you don’t have a writing blog? Or any for that matter…
This could be the prompt you needed to start one! Both blogger and wordpress.com are free and easy to set up with a really basic blog that still looks nice. Get going with your flash fiction on that, and who knows what it will turn into! Good luck.
Just make one! I didn’t have one before the last Flash Fiction…it’s easy…and now I think I might actually start blogging…and you know…saying stuff. Blame Chuck Wendig!
WordPress and Blogger both have free options, and lots of free themes for decoration. Might take a few hours, but you can be up and running pretty quickly.
You can get one for free at Tumblr.com, wordpress.com, etc.
Just out of curiosity–where do we stand on titling these babies? I could give mine a title, but since I don’t know the ending that seems arbitrary.
I apologise but I’m going to drop out of this one – just too complicated to do with a pg-rated blog. I wanted to do Christmassy types of flashes during December, so I’ll pick up some of the other themes I liked during the year and pop them on instead. Maybe with Sir Woebegone (from the Glum Empress back in May) or the asteroid miners (from the Orichalcum Library a few weeks ago 🙂 Characters I know and love already! I hope you visit!
Jemima at jemimapett.com
You can have more than one blog per peson, Jemima. I manage 9 blogs – err, 8 now my poor little bird died last year. And the blog you guys read my flash fiction from is adults only and you need a consent form to click through to get to it; and you must be over 18 to get onto it (and if you click through to my blog and you’re not over 18 and your folks bust you reading it, hey, it’s not my fault… read the disclaimer).
So, there you have it. Set up another blog, an adults only one, slot in a consent form (you’ll find that in the settings where you changed everything) and then you’ll be set. And you’ll get more people reading it if you make your blog translatable… I made all of mine like that – and with over 500+ languages all 8 of them can be translated into over the globe, it brings in more traffic for people to read my stuff. 😀
Mozette
I have three for my books, one for my guinea pigs, one for another project and two more for other things. I think I’ll stop there!
Chuck, here is my contribution to this interesting project…
http://paul-feeney.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at.html
Hey Paul,
I gave yours a shot…
http://graymatter-coms.blogspot.com/2013/12/cooperative-flash-fiction-part-ii.html
Cheers mate, left a reply at your blog. I’ll link it to mine as well 😀
Nice. Thank you.
I relay enjoyed cooperative cliffhanger, so this will be fun.
At 205 words, read “Madison:”
http://article94.blogspot.com/2013/11/madison.html?m=1
[…] recently, and that probably won’t change for the next couple of months, but today’s Flash Fiction Challenge, courtesy of Chuck Wendig, was short enough that I thought I could cobble something together that […]
Joe’s Bar – http://mrurbanspaceman.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/joes-bar-flash-fiction-challenge/
You beat me EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.
Haha, sorry! 😉
It mainly just means I have to hurry up and write something and post it so I can go read yours haha it’s good motivation. Although this time, I was fiddling with formatting.
Hey Urban Spaceman… you left me hanging about a month or so ago… we did the cliffhanger two-parter flash fiction and you said you were going to use my first half the story and we never heard back from you………….sooo?
didja use it? I’d love to know how my half of the story turned out with somebody else’s ending. 🙂
Just curious as hell, that’s all. 😀
[…] Friday Challenge from Chuck Wendig in a while because…well…see previous post. However, this one is just too fun to pass up. It’s a written version of the game […]
I’m calling it Easy Street http://secondstaronther.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/a-twist-on-telephone/
I think I’ll try yours. I’ll post you a link when I’m done. 🙂
Here’s where I went with it: http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/2013/11/chuck-wendigs-flash-fiction-challenge_27.html
Thank you! Glad you liked it!
Here’s mine. I’m calling it ‘Lost’: http://arrawyn.wix.com/caitlinmccoll#!blog/ckky
hope you enjoy.
This sounds like fun. Does the story opening have to be exactly two hundred words?
Oh yay, something to ease back in with once I’ve hit my 50k for NaNoWriMo! (BookThing done? Hell no. Hitting 50k? Hell yes; broke 40k last night.)
congrats on hitting 40k on Nano! 🙂
I second that!
Thank you kindly. 🙂
Thank you very much! 🙂
My contribution. Let’s call it ‘Silver Bullet’ for lack of a better title: http://auguris.dreamwidth.org/959684.html
Here’s mine http://mattycash1979.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/angel.html?m=1
Interesting. I’ll have to put this on my list of candidates.
…and done. Find part deux here
Untitled, but exactly 200 words, for anyone who wants a sc-fi/action challenge: http://andreaspeed.com/2013/flash-fic-challenge-200-words/
Ooh, I like the brain-AI idea. Your explanation did have the unfortunate effect of separating me emotionally from the explosion which had happened just before it, but I think in the right hands this little piece could have an excellent follow-up!
Thus far Untitled (but hopefully I get points for participation):
http://graymatter-coms.blogspot.com/2013/11/flash-fiction-participation-is-half.html
I added 205 words…don’t know if I did you credit for your great writing but hope you can work with it Cheers Hank
200 hundred words of farcical winter fantasy. The Helping Hat:
http://aaronswordtree.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-helping-hat.html
[…] is part of another flash fiction challenge from Chuck Wendig at terribleminds. The task this week is to write the first 200 words of a story. Next week, and the three weeks after […]
I’m calling this “Blackout,” but who knows what it will end up as.
http://dangerdean.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-one/
Great cooperation leaving someone with a little cliffhanger. Ew rats.
=)
Here’s mine “Accidental Apocalypse”
http://theshadowportal.blogspot.com/2013/11/flash-fiction-challenge_22.html
Kyra, I took over from your start. Hope you like it: http://gwinnydedanann.livejournal.com/
I tried to post a comment to your blog when I wrote Part 2, but when I entered my livejournal ID, your blog page wouldn’t authenticate me. Don’t know why – I’m quite authentic…
Oh this is going to be fun! I did something similar in a playwriting class: write dialogue or five minutes, fold the paper to sow the last line only and pass it right and repeat. So fun and we ended up with some craziness that somehow worked as a whole.
Okay… here’s mine… I hope somebody takes it up. 😀
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/apocalyptic-bounty-hunter.html
And I was just starting to get into it too. 😛
Smells like sci-fi! Sounds like you’ve created an interesting protagonist. I love a good heroine (though I see potential for her as an anti-hero or even a gun-toting villain!)
Hahahahaaa… you’ve made my night/day! 😀
I thought anti-hero… but gun-toting villian? Hahahaaa… thanks! 😀
I got the idea of hiding everything behind the wall from a Supernatural episode, and just had to use it! 😀
[…] posted earlier. Over on Chuck Wendig’s Terribleminds site he’s running a unique kind of Flash Fiction Challenge. Post 200 words this week. Next five weeks someone else will (hopefully) add 200 words to your […]
So, here’s my bit. 200 words. Gangsters and Zombies. What ya gonna do?
Untitled
Wow – to me, this is a complete story in its own right.
Thank you. I can’t wait to see how another author “Writes it Forward.”
Hey, I responded to you. Your premise was just awesome so I rolled with it.
Sounds like fun. This could be SciFi, Spy Thriller, Mystery, you choose. It’s untitled and 200 words exactly. http://wp.me/p2AyuM-fg
Hi Connie! I’ve got your next 200.
Thanks, have fun with it.
Here it is, Connie. Still untitled. It’ll be fun to watch where it goes.
http://brickhousepiggy.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/terribleminds-com-flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-two/
Love it!
Did you post this on the Part 2 page? That’s where I’ll be looking for my Part 3 story.
Yes, Connie – left it on both pages because I didn’t know where you’d be looking for it. [:)}
I like this game. Innovative twist on the “Let’s make a story together”. Did I ever mention you are da bomb?
https://www.facebook.com/ACarinaBarry/posts/542172639205206?comment_id=3308427&offset=0&total_comments=1
I picked yours up…very well written and engrossing…hopefully it adds to your start. Just click on my name and scroll down slightly. cheers Hank
Hello Mozette! Unfortunately some RL stuff happened, so I didn’t get to write anything for that challenge. I have been reading Chuck’s posts on my emails when I’ve had the chance, but this is the first thing I’ve written since September. Sorry for standing you up 🙂
Stupid browser. This reply is aimed at Mozette’s comment up yonder ^
Hey no probs… I was just wondering. 😀
Thanks for replying 😀
….and dontcha hate it when RL interrupts the life you’ve created inside your head and the fictional stuff is better than RL?
…. yeah me too. 😛
My fictional RL is ALWAYS better than my real RL. Stupid real RL. Wish I could stab it in the head.
[…] Found a challenge on the Chuck Wendig site: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/11/22/flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-one/ […]
My own contribution to this delightful experiment. Forgive the blog, I only just set it up! http://writesomethingsmidge.blogspot.ie/
Shane, I’ve continued your story here: http://courtcan.com/writing/flash-fiction-challenge-continuing-someone-elses-story-part-2/
Thanks for the inspiring start! : )
Here are the first 200 words of a draft under the working title ‘Unicornocalypse’.
http://verisimilitudekayfabe.blogspot.jp/2013/11/chuck-wendig-flash-fiction-assignment.html
I can’t tell if my comment on your piece went through on your site (blogspot hates me, for some reason) so here it is again:
Very nice imagery! I wonder, have you ever watched The Last Unicorn? It’s animated, but worth a look if you like unicorns. Or even if you don’t like unicorns. It’s sort of a Watership Down of the unicorn world.
Also, I like your title. Unicornocalypse should be in every person’s dictionary.
Here’s my 200 titled “Worth a Thousand” 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/notes/mildred-achoch/worth-a-thousand/10151797717606527
Think I’ll give this one a try. Something about it seemed Lovecraftian to me 🙂
[…] NaNoWriMo Tuesday, and guess what? I haven’t stopped writing since! Today, I am joining a writing challenge hosted by Chuck Wendig over at the TerribleMinds blog. It’s a five part challenge in which […]
This was so much harder than I thought it would be! I’ve never attempted flash fiction before. Last night, I scribbled something out in my notebook while I lay in bed. I worried it would be too short, but now that I’m typing it up, it turns out I wrote over 600 words. Ouch. Needless to say, this is the stripped-down version of my original piece. I managed to cut it down to 202 words. I think it’s a thriller, but I could be wrong. You tell me: http://writeontheworld.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/whos-up-for-a-200-word-piggy-back-ride/
If that’s the stripped down version, I’d love to know what the 600 word version was! 😀 Very good, nice start to a noir/hard-boiled story, that could go off in any direction…
Thanks, I really hope it gets an ending. I want to find out what happens next!
My contribution to the experiment: http://www.paulthem.com/
The first 200 words are on the homepage.
Howdy! Here, 200 words at: http://feralbulb.wordpress.com/blurb-1/ (‘Tis about God’s management skills).
[…] Fiction Challenge! I couldn’t resist this one, it sounded way too fun! The challenge: write the first 200 words […]
This challenge sounds like too much fun to pass up! Here is mine, currently untitled. I can’t wait to see where all these beginnings end.
http://thepaddedcastle.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/challenge-200-words-to-begin/
I decided to do yours. Will probably be the first of several to do so, hah! Was pretty fun! Great place to start, you set the stage really well! http://nitromidget.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/terrible-minds-challenge-continuation-of-the-padded-castles-200-words/
[…] Flash Fiction Challenge: 200 Words at a Time November 23, 2013 · by linderan · in General Post. · I’ve decided to do one of awesome author Chuck Wendig’s writing exercises. […]
Here’s mine! “A Gifted Wizard”
http://creativehappyplace.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time/
This is gonna be awesome.
i’m gonna choose yours to continue! 🙂
Here is my opening. This is my first challenge I am taking up, just getting back into writing for fun after like 20 years, you’ll notice my blog is not cool at all. Anyway here is the link…
http://sexortv.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/the-rainstorm-200-word-flash-fiction-challenge/
http://fallingintotheabyss.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/terribleminds-flash-fiction-challenge-part-one/
I’d like to take a crack at the next 200 words for this one.
Alright, I am paying forward a 100-word contest entry from the divine Ms. Janet Reid’s blog. This is my blog that comes along with the job of being chief editorial cook and bottle-washer of a small town digital newspaper, so there is also a shoutout to our utterly cool local coffee house. It is a new blog, they were only able to recently get the net over me.
http://www.thebocoreview.com/2013/11/23/writers-life-terribleminds-flash-fiction-challenge/
I can’t wait to see what next week brings! Terri
I picked this up and added 200 and threw in a wrench…hope you don’t mind.
[…] New Flash Fiction Challenge!by Courtney Cantrell on November 23, 2013 • 0 CommentsBelow, please find my entry in Chuck Wendig’s latest flash fiction challenge: writing the first 200 words of a story which other writers will finish. […]
[…] New Flash Fiction Challenge: 200 Words!by Courtney Cantrell on November 23, 2013 • 0 CommentsBelow, please find my entry in Chuck Wendig’s latest flash fiction challenge: writing the first 200 words of a story which other writers will finish. […]
Here’s my entry! I think it’s fantasy. http://courtcan.com/writing/new-flash-fiction-challenge-200-words/
Oh, and it’s entitled “House of Memory.”
I’ll take a stab at this one. Hopefully I’ll have it up sometime today or tomorrow.
Thank so much, Renee! I love what you did with it!
My first attempt at writing.
Do you have a link, Kirsten?
…and, apparently figuring out how to publish the link…. It did make its way on further down the page…
http://hankpetterson2.blogspot.fr/2013/11/terribleminds-flash-fiction-challenge.html
There isn’t really a title…it will show itself as it progresses… perhaps!
For some f-ing reason it looks like a grey background on my blog….hope it’s just my loopy wifi connection and loading speed. If not I do apologize.
Go down two submittals…it is Sci-Fi and replaces the faulty blog page above. Thanks
Here’s my contribution. I think I’m calling it “Plotting”. http://reneeelizabeths.blogspot.com/2013/11/flash-fiction-200-words-at-time-part-one.html
This is a new blog that replaces the one two lines above…
This is a submission for the two hundred word flash fiction five part…