Flash Fiction Challenge: “Roll For Title!”
Smell that?
*takes long sniff*
It is the first flash fiction challenge of the year.
I’VE THAT SCENT OF SHEER STORY POTENTIAL CLINGING TO THE INSIDE OF MY NOSE.
And it is wonderfully sweet.
I’d actually like to take a little moment to say I’m so happy that these challenges seem to get people writing and I’ve seen more than a few folks sell-through stories based on these challenges, which makes the brittle broken snow-globe that I call my heart twitch and shine for one second.
Anyway, let’s get to it.
All you need to do this week is to use a d20 or a random number generator to consult the table at the bottom of the document to roll for a story’s title. It’s a two-part title (meaning, two random numbers 1-20) and whatever title you get must fit the story you write for it.
You’ll have 1000 words, par usual. Post at your blog, link back here. Due in one week — January 17th, Friday — by noon EST. Easy-peasy story-squeezy.
(Example of an earlier, similar challenge here.)
The title tables are (and you’re free to put the word “The” in front of your title):
Column One
- Snowbound
- Devil’s
- Accursed
- Whispering
- Amethyst
- Griefstruck
- Lovestruck
- Red
- Cartographer’s
- Chaos
- Orbital
- Jackdaw’s
- Minotaur
- Invisible
- Dog Star
- Helical
- Flight of the
- Cerulean
- Seamstress’
- Ten-Year
Column Two
- Murders
- Kid’s Club
- Angel
- Vault
- Bookshop
- Champion
- Palace
- Fear
- Skull
- Potion
- Birdhouse
- Encyclopedia
- Peacock
- Prison
- Wire
- Rider
- Story
- God
- Parasite
- Earth
January 10, 2014 @ 8:49 AM
Hmmm…. 6 & 17. “The Griefstruck Story.”
January 10, 2014 @ 10:49 AM
http://article94.blogspot.com/2014/01/griefstruck-story.html
January 10, 2014 @ 8:53 AM
“Amethyst Angel”, ooo alliteration.
January 10, 2014 @ 8:54 AM
“The Helical Potion”… I might have difficulty here…
Hang on….
That’s better…
January 10, 2014 @ 9:35 AM
Note to self: angle brackets don’t work. The missing sentence has kinda made my comment a little creepy.
January 10, 2014 @ 8:59 AM
Quick question. Where did you come up with the words in each column … a random word generator or enigmatic brilliance?
January 10, 2014 @ 9:01 AM
I just sit and think of cool words.
January 10, 2014 @ 9:03 AM
The Accursed Bookshop 🙂 Oh yes!
January 10, 2014 @ 10:28 AM
Ooo! I’m making a note of that one for sometime when I need a prompt and Chuck isn’t obliging!
January 10, 2014 @ 11:51 AM
I hope that’s not the Devil’s Birdhouse!
January 10, 2014 @ 2:12 PM
Hah! You got bookshop too. That’s fantastic. Can’t wait to see what you write.
January 10, 2014 @ 2:15 PM
I’m reading yours now 🙂 Hoping to get mine finished today. We’ll see!
January 10, 2014 @ 3:17 PM
Alrighty then – Not sure if my link will kick back here or not so here is the post if anyone cares to read:
http://ardenrr.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/the-accursed-bookshop/
January 10, 2014 @ 9:10 AM
The Accursed God. 🙂 should be fun
January 10, 2014 @ 9:28 AM
This could be interesting. I need to think about what I’m going to do with this.
“Flight of the Birdhouse”
January 11, 2014 @ 1:48 AM
I’m not sure what the story would be, but it’s a lovely title.
January 10, 2014 @ 9:42 AM
The Devil’s Rider.
Please be gentle…this is my first flash fiction 🙂
January 10, 2014 @ 9:45 AM
8/18: “Red God.”
I don’t know if that’s a gimmie, or a trap. Reversed, it would have been “Cerulean Fear,” which might be even less biguous.
January 10, 2014 @ 9:47 AM
Hell yeah, I’m all over this like cream cheese on a bagel!
January 10, 2014 @ 9:50 AM
Lovestruck Birdhouse, ok then!
January 10, 2014 @ 9:50 AM
Helical Murders. Well, this could be interesting.
January 10, 2014 @ 9:59 AM
15&8 “The Dog Star Fear”, that sounds interesting.
January 10, 2014 @ 10:12 AM
“The Dogstar Bookstore”. Huh. I am not sure. Do pirates read? Would they have a bookstore? A FLOATING bookstore in an old galleon? Gasp! Could you imagine?
January 10, 2014 @ 10:17 AM
Flight of the Vault… i can’t even come up with a smart-ass response.
January 10, 2014 @ 11:27 AM
Not even a safe being thrown out a window?
January 10, 2014 @ 12:56 PM
Ha!
January 10, 2014 @ 12:58 PM
Generation/Seed ship. WITH A DARK AND TERRIBLE SECRET.
January 10, 2014 @ 10:29 AM
Have you ever thought of compiling all of the Random Table posts from the blog into an ebook or PDF? There’s lots of great stuff here to stir the imagination.
Ah…. “The Cartographer’s Peacock”
January 10, 2014 @ 10:42 AM
No, but my sincerest hope is to one day put all of these in a giant website with a ton of cool random story generators.
January 10, 2014 @ 10:30 AM
Snowbound Angel. This could be cool. Out of curiosity, do people who sell stories based on these challenges ever have issues with them (or a core version) having spent time publicly posted on a blog?
January 10, 2014 @ 10:41 AM
Not that I know of? I dunno.
January 10, 2014 @ 10:51 AM
Okay. At this point it’s pure hubris for me to worry about it anyway. 🙂
January 11, 2014 @ 12:39 AM
Having read the work from this prompt, it seems a pressing concern. The story was excellent.
January 10, 2014 @ 11:19 AM
It’s still your copyright. You can do what you want with the story even after it is publicly posted. Unless Chuck changes his terms of service and makes everybody assign their copyrights to him, like Facebook does.
January 10, 2014 @ 12:22 PM
Right, but many publishers want first internet publication and chuck’s blog counts as internet publication.
January 10, 2014 @ 12:25 PM
I sincerely doubt any publisher would count this as that unless I literally posted the story on my blog. This is why I ask that people post their stories at their blogs. I don’t own it and claim zero rights to it.
January 10, 2014 @ 2:18 PM
You may indeed be right, but I’ve had shorts rejected since they were on my blog. Plus, the evil amazon spee-ider bot sometimes flags self-pub stories that are enrolled in KDP and available for free on a blog.
January 10, 2014 @ 2:31 PM
These were the kind of issues I was considering. I guess if I was pitching something I’d already posted I’d probably extend or tweak it somewhat.
January 11, 2014 @ 1:50 AM
I would want to expand and tweak my FF in any case, to make stories more in keeping with standard short story length. Actually, doing that to a bunch of my flash fiction blog posts is on my to-do list for this year.
January 10, 2014 @ 10:30 AM
“Cartographer’s Potion.” I will have some fun with this.
Great collection of words this week, Chuck–almost every title people have come up with is something I would like to write!
January 11, 2014 @ 1:47 AM
It will take me all week to get this one written, but I posted a story today based on the older prompt Chuck referenced:
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2014/01/flash-fiction-friday-forgotten-library.html
January 17, 2014 @ 12:53 AM
And finally the current story: The Cartographer’s Potion
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2014/01/flash-fiction-friday-cartographers.html
January 10, 2014 @ 10:35 AM
“The Cartographer’s Parasite.” Map mites. Got it.
January 10, 2014 @ 10:40 AM
I truly hope someone gets Lovestruck Encyclopedia!
January 10, 2014 @ 10:49 AM
“Flight of the Parasite”! Excellent…
January 10, 2014 @ 10:50 AM
The Devil’s Skull. That’s almost dull.
January 10, 2014 @ 11:09 AM
Griefstruck Cerulean…
I think I can work with that.
Thanks for the Random.org loveliness, Chuck
January 10, 2014 @ 11:16 AM
Far be it for me to be a rules lawyer (you write what you wanna write!), but you’ve chosen two words from one list, when the letter of the law is to choose one from each and pair them together. But if you got a story for “Griefstruck Cerulean,” by the gods, write it.
January 10, 2014 @ 11:53 AM
This is how revolutions begin.
January 12, 2014 @ 11:42 AM
🙂
January 12, 2014 @ 11:42 AM
Thanks for pointing out my faux pas with the letter of the law, but far be it from me to mess with serendipity.
Here’s the link for The Griefstruck Cerulean:
http://paulamillhouse.com/2014/01/12/flash-fiction-challenge-roll-for-title-chuck-wendigs-terrible-minds-and-the-griefstruck-cerulean/
January 14, 2014 @ 4:33 PM
That was pretty good. I really liked the fairy.
January 14, 2014 @ 10:08 PM
What’s cool six days in are the comments in favor of my sticking to my guns on the extra-exuberant choice to stay with my violation of the rules.
How cool is that…?
January 14, 2014 @ 10:21 PM
Well, Paula, you may think it’s cool now, but you might be headed for Andy Cowley’s Chaos Prison for breaking the rules and you don’t even know it.
January 10, 2014 @ 11:25 AM
4 & 12. Whispering Encyclopedia. This will be my first try, as well.
January 12, 2014 @ 3:33 PM
Here’s my first story, ever: Whispering Encyclopedia.
January 12, 2014 @ 4:21 PM
I liked it, Kathryn!
January 12, 2014 @ 4:26 PM
Thank you.
January 14, 2014 @ 4:44 PM
That was neat. I liked it.
January 14, 2014 @ 4:54 PM
Thanks, Kyra. It’s a little intimidating posting a story when surrounded by all this talent, I must say.
January 14, 2014 @ 8:06 PM
I liked it, too – sweet idea, well executed. I can picture the characters, the Encyclopedia included, and I really enjoyed picturing James’s face when he got “Breaker Morant” right. I would not have guessed it was your first time out.
January 14, 2014 @ 10:01 PM
Thanks, Joanna. I’m glad you liked it. I might have to write another. Chuck may have gotten me hooked on a nasty, ill-paying habit.
January 14, 2014 @ 9:54 PM
I liked the beautiful comfort of this story. The established setting at the beginning of the story was strong and I liked how you showed us that before you revealed that it was the day of the funeral – good job for your first story ever!
January 14, 2014 @ 9:58 PM
Thank you, AJ. I appreciate your kind words.
January 15, 2014 @ 12:57 PM
Congratulations on your first story! I truly enjoyed it.
January 15, 2014 @ 1:23 PM
really enjoyed this. it was beautiful! thanks for sharing it!
January 14, 2014 @ 7:40 PM
Nicely done.
January 14, 2014 @ 9:55 PM
Thank you, Bill. And The Flight of the Birdhouse is pitch-perfect.
January 10, 2014 @ 11:25 AM
Hm, “Minotaur Angel.” I don’t know what that’s about.
Can’t wait to find out.
January 10, 2014 @ 11:37 AM
Lovestruck Encyclopedia for me!
January 11, 2014 @ 1:51 AM
I’m pretty sure that one has to be comedy! Can’t wait to read it 🙂
January 10, 2014 @ 11:37 AM
I got 10,14: “Chaos Prison” and, as I’m sitting at home, off my tits on painkillers due to a back injury, my mind rapidly farted out the following:
http://infinitegibbons.wordpress.com/short-stories/chaos-prison/
1,000 words, right on the button… Somehow
January 10, 2014 @ 12:30 PM
I liked it. The pain killers must be working.
January 10, 2014 @ 12:46 PM
Thanks dude 🙂
January 10, 2014 @ 12:55 PM
Gah! That ending is quite chilling. Nice work.
January 10, 2014 @ 1:00 PM
Cheers 🙂
January 10, 2014 @ 1:18 PM
Oh wow… intense! Great job!
January 10, 2014 @ 1:40 PM
Thank you!
January 11, 2014 @ 1:10 AM
That sir, was well done. Even if I guessed the ending. Would work well as a start to something longer, I think.
January 11, 2014 @ 9:54 AM
Yeah, it was telegraphed a bit. I wanted to try and double cross it, but the other ending I wrote was really flat. I think it might make a slightly longer short story.
Thanks for the feedback!
January 14, 2014 @ 12:16 PM
I came. I read. I loved.
Great job, man.
January 14, 2014 @ 12:29 PM
Cheers dude
January 10, 2014 @ 11:38 AM
(17,18)Flight of the God. Wow, talk about possibilities
Flash Fiction Challenge: Chaos Prison | Musical Gibbon
January 10, 2014 @ 11:44 AM
[…] Captain of the Penmonkeys, Chuck Wendig, has set a writing challenge this month and I wanted to have a go. Follow the link for details, but the premise is, roll a die twice to […]
January 10, 2014 @ 11:49 AM
19, 3. Seamstress’ Angel. I actually wrote something for it in a rush, but it came up to under 1000 words and I don’t want to pad. Is 1k the upper limit?
January 10, 2014 @ 12:05 PM
“For Sale, Christening Dress, NEARLY NEVER USED.”
There you go.
January 10, 2014 @ 5:21 PM
well anyway, it’s here. http://gloriousmonsters.tumblr.com/post/72878405893/the-seamstress-angel
It turned out to be an odd sort of fairy tale, almost.
January 11, 2014 @ 1:53 AM
Yeah, 1000 is the upper limit. You don’t have to hit it. What’s more, no one is giving grades on these. I’ve been known to hit 1200 words and Chuck hasn’t come and hunted me down yet. Mostly, I think 1000 words is about as much as most people are willing to read on a blog.
January 14, 2014 @ 8:00 PM
Great concept. I enjoyed it.
January 10, 2014 @ 11:54 AM
Amethyst God….
Like Rebecca, I keep old lists for missing weeks… you can find The Horse-drawn Lighthouse on my blog today 🙂 http://jemimapett.com/blog/2014/01/10/flash-fiction-friday-the-horse-drawn-lighthouse/
Angel Chaos | Quantum Of Thought
January 10, 2014 @ 11:57 AM
[…] I’ve been waving my D20 around at Chuck Wendig’s behest. Here’s the 1,000 words that […]
January 10, 2014 @ 11:59 AM
Helical Earth — good words on this list. Makes for a a solid and challenging prompt.
January 10, 2014 @ 3:34 PM
http://fantasy-schmantasy.blogspot.com/2014/01/flash-fiction-challenge-helical-earth.html
January 10, 2014 @ 12:00 PM
Yo, Wendigo! Angel Chaos hit me right in the Tom Holt happy place. I’d never have written anything like this without the prompt. Maybe you’re my guardian angel. My drunk, profane, poop-noise-making guardian angel:
http://quantumofthought.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/angel-chaos/
January 10, 2014 @ 12:16 PM
Amethyst and God. Now, what the heck does amethyst mean?
January 10, 2014 @ 12:18 PM
18 & 18: Cerulean God… Fantastic!!!
January 10, 2014 @ 1:00 PM
I see the potential for some shared-world action here. Red God. Amethyst God. Cerulean God. IT’S A RAINBOW OF DIVINE WRATH.
January 11, 2014 @ 8:35 AM
Hmmm that notion is sounding quite agreeable 🙂
January 10, 2014 @ 12:25 PM
Chaos Rider… on the surface, probably the easiest combination to work with.. on the other hand, new and interesting….game on!
January 10, 2014 @ 12:54 PM
Cerulean Palace… awesome!
January 10, 2014 @ 12:56 PM
Griefstruck Earth…Challenge accepted!
January 11, 2014 @ 10:45 PM
I got that too! 🙂 am interested to read what you do with it as a title 🙂 i went sci fi
January 10, 2014 @ 12:57 PM
I have been absent from these contests for the last six months or so, working on my next manuscript, but that’s done and I have a little free time and I hadn’t written a Thor Slaymaster story in ages, so here’s THOR SLAYMASTER’S SNOWBOUND ANGEL: http://www.curtisedmonds.com/thor-slaymasters-snowbound-angel/
These are always lots of fun. God bless Chuck Wendig’s beard crumbs.
January 10, 2014 @ 12:58 PM
19 and 13 – the seamstress’ Peacock.
By jove I had fun with this one: a poor factory worker, an injured peacock and something about the Indian God of War and Violence. Read on, dear monkies, dear on!
http://writesomethingsmidge.blogspot.ie/
January 10, 2014 @ 3:09 PM
Ha! Love it! Very silly indeed 🙂
January 10, 2014 @ 9:59 PM
Thanks Andy! 😀
January 10, 2014 @ 12:59 PM
Mine’s The Red Prison, Other people drew Red God and Chaos Prison, so I see two anthologies in the making – red things and sub-specialty prisons,
January 10, 2014 @ 1:11 PM
WHOO-HOO! Back in the saddle! Thanks Chuck for taking the time to provide these awesome challenges.
My title? “Seamstress’ God”
I can feel the gears turning already…
January 10, 2014 @ 1:55 PM
“The Devil’s Encyclopedia”… hmmm… 🙂
January 10, 2014 @ 1:55 PM
Cerulean Palace.
It took my brain roughly half a second to figure out what I was going to do for this one. And in 2nd person. Maybe. A first for me if I have the balls to go through with it. We’ll see.
Jackdaw’s Bookshop | The Matticus Kingdom
January 10, 2014 @ 2:10 PM
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January 10, 2014 @ 2:13 PM
Jackdaw’s Bookshop. Sounded so tame when I started it, but… well, you’ll just have to read it to see what happened: http://thematticuskingdom.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/jackdaws-bookshop/
Thanks for the prompt/challenge.
January 10, 2014 @ 3:14 PM
That was good fun. I enjoyed the mystery.
January 10, 2014 @ 3:49 PM
Glad you liked it!
January 10, 2014 @ 2:56 PM
10, 6. Chaos Champion! Yeah, I can get on board with that! And write!
January 10, 2014 @ 3:10 PM
I rolled “Snowbound Bookstore”. Now that sounds positively mundane. Or maybe chick-littish. But we will see.
The Accursed Bookshop | Musings of a Dancing Wino
January 10, 2014 @ 3:12 PM
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