Last week’s challenge: The Who, The Where, The Uh-Oh
Pick a fairy tale.
Go on, do it.
I’ll wait.
If you don’t know your fairy tales — Google is your friend, of course.
Hell, here’s a pretty good list of the Grimm’s tales.
I want you to pick one — I’ll let you do that — and rewrite it.
Except, wait now, hold on.
I want you to also roll to choose a random subgenre. You will then apply said random subgenre to the fairy tale you have picked for maximum awesome. Get it? Got it? Rad.
You have 1000 words.
You have one week — due Friday, January 31st, noon, EST.
Write it at your online space. Link back here.
Do tell us which fairy tale you’re using by making it the title of your story.
Subgenre
(roll a d20 or go to a random number generator)
- Cyberpunk
- Dystopian
- Erotica
- Spy Thriller
- Southern Gothic
- Satire
- Urban Fantasy
- Space Horror
- Space Opera
- Young Adult Contemporary
- “Grimdark” Fantasy
- Psychological Horror
- Hard Sci-Fi
- Slasher Film
- Ecothriller
- Sword & Sorcery
- Lovecraftian
- Zombie Apocalypse
- Superhero
- Detective
missykierstead says:
My first attempt at a remixed story, and a slasher film. Hope I pulled it off.
http://missykierstead.blogspot.com/2014/01/rumpelstiltskin.html
January 30, 2014 — 10:33 AM
Renee Elizabeths says:
This was soooooooo good. You definitely pulled it off. I might have nightmares! 🙂
February 1, 2014 — 7:15 PM
missykierstead says:
Thanks so much for reading and commenting! Is it bad that I would like for you to have nightmares from my story?
February 2, 2014 — 9:42 PM
Renee Elizabeths says:
Nah. Slasher films are supposed to give you nightmares. If they don’t make you feel like you have to laugh and throw popcorn at the screen so no one notices how jumped and quietly whimpered when the bad guy popped up, they’re doing it wrong.
February 3, 2014 — 7:53 AM
john freeter says:
I wasn’t planning on taking this week’s challenge, but when I rolled “Grimdark fantasy” I just couldn’t help myself. Anyway, here’s the end result: “Hansel and Gretel: Grimmdark Fantasy”
http://johnfreeter.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/hansel-and-gretel-grimmdark-fantasy/
January 30, 2014 — 10:38 AM
Wendy Christopher says:
Okay, this is my first ever go, both at a Chuck Wendig Challenge AND flash fiction of 1,000 words or less. And of course I’ve now looked at everyone else’s and gone “Awww, they’re all soooo much better than mine – I suuuuuuucccck…”
*Stops. Thinks. Pulls out pen and writes “Note to self: in future, don’t do own PR.*
Anyway, I made the deadline AND stuck to the 1,000-word limit, so I’ll allow myself a minor ‘Yay, go me’ for that. I picked ‘Cinderella’ and I rolled ‘Detective’ for my subgenre. And here is my link:
http://wcprawncrackers.blogspot.co.uk/2014_01_01_archive.html
January 30, 2014 — 1:00 PM
Smoph says:
We are always our own harshest critics. Say shhh to the mean little inner voice. I’m coming back tomorrow to read. 🙂 Sounds like an interesting combo!
January 31, 2014 — 2:30 AM
LO says:
Loved it! “Landing barges” haha!
January 31, 2014 — 12:20 PM
Smoph says:
You did well Wendy! You really got the cocky detective voice down. 🙂
January 31, 2014 — 8:57 PM
Wendy Christopher says:
Wow! Thanks reading and for the great feedback – especially after I sold it so crappily as well 😉
And now I’m gonna go read me some more of the others here… sooo many talented writers here…
February 1, 2014 — 3:50 PM
Renee Elizabeths says:
Great retelling. I love the voice.
February 1, 2014 — 7:28 PM
Courtney Cantrell says:
Great voice, and I love the gumshoe setting. The detail about the stepsister with the dye job is priceless. I’d been wondering what I’d do if I rolled “detective” — not my genre at all. The way you told your story is how I would’ve wanted to tell it, but doubt I’d be able to. You did it well!
February 1, 2014 — 11:47 PM
Fabulously Fast Fable says:
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” remixed in hopefully a satirical way…. Fantastic challenge. 🙂
http://wp.me/p4aU9d-S
January 30, 2014 — 4:45 PM
Shawn S. Lealos (@sslealos) says:
My fairy tale was Red Riding Hood and I ended up with the detective genre, although I kind of bent it at the end – http://shawnlealos.net/fiction/1272/red-riding-hood-short-story
January 30, 2014 — 4:57 PM
Renee Elizabeths says:
I chose “The Little Mermaid” and the random number generator gave me a 20 (Detective) for my subgenre. The story ran off in an unexpected direction on me and I had a hard time getting it down to 1000 words, but here it finally is: http://reneeelizabeths.blogspot.com/2014/01/flash-fiction-fairy-tales-remixed.html
January 30, 2014 — 6:58 PM
Wendy Christopher says:
How ever did you come up with this idea? Such a creative twist on the original story. I really enjoyed this, even if it left me feeling a little sad at the end.
February 1, 2014 — 5:13 PM
Renee Elizabeths says:
Thank you. I’m glad you liked it! 🙂
February 1, 2014 — 5:34 PM
John Rickett says:
The Wolf-zombie apocalypse bears it’s teeth at the Three Little Pigs.
http://www.johnrickett.com/?p=14
January 30, 2014 — 8:30 PM
Heather Milne Johnson says:
My fairy tale was The Billy Goats Gruff with the detective subgenre. Loads of fun 🙂 http://wp.me/p3McUV-2o
January 30, 2014 — 9:54 PM
Rebecca Douglass says:
This was a bit hard, and I totally had to fudge everything–the selection process AND the length, which is about 225 words over.
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2014/01/flash-fiction-friday-trapped-aboard.html
January 30, 2014 — 10:05 PM
Smoph says:
Me too Rebecca. Mine would just not tell itself in 1000 words. I may have to rewrite it for fun submission somewhere else sometime… Somewhere without a limit of 1000 words…
January 31, 2014 — 2:29 AM
Rebecca Douglass says:
Yeah, to my surprise I came up with something that can stand on it’s own, and could go in the longer version into a short-story collection that’s percolating in the back of my mind.
February 1, 2014 — 1:03 AM
Courtney Cantrell says:
Very creative and entertaining! I wouldn’t have thought of making Rapunzel the guinea pig for beauty experiments. Nice touch! I enjoyed this, and I bet it was fun to write. : )
February 2, 2014 — 12:11 AM
Sara Crow says:
I chose a lesser-known Grimm’s tale, just to flex my muscles on an out-there type of story: “Our Lady’s Child.” You can find the original here: http://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/our_ladys_child
My version, a hard sci-fi, is living here: http://writingcyborg.blogspot.com/2014/01/our-ladys-child.html
January 30, 2014 — 11:35 PM
Sara Crow says:
So, apparently Blogger ate my last post. New link is here: http://writingcyborg.blogspot.com/2014/01/our-lady-child.html
Still not sure what I think of it. Not my first attempt at flash fiction, but I do feel…maybe, one of my better? I don’t know. Having a difficult time objectively judging this one.
February 2, 2014 — 6:34 PM
momdude says:
This was deliciously vile, just what I needed for my mood tonight.
I rolled a seventeen, which is “Lovecraftian”. I found a Grimm tale called “The Star-Money” which was chipper and upbeat with a happy ending. It’s not that way any more. Enjoy!
http://pauljwillett.com/2014/01/30/flash-fiction-the-star-money/
January 31, 2014 — 12:58 AM
Smoph says:
This is too much fun! I chose a Russian fairytale (I wanted to broaden my fairy tale palate from the Grimm Brothers) called The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa and gave it a little dystopian fun. It’s a little over (300 words :/) but I didn’t have time to do any real edits. And I wanted to get it up on time one week in January! Winning!
Here it is, hope you enjoy it guys: http://prose.smoph.org/2014/01/30/the-firebird-and-princess-vasilisa-dystopian-worlds/
Looking forward to what everyone else got up to tomorrow!
January 31, 2014 — 2:26 AM
Rebecca Douglass says:
That was good. And I read the one from last week, too, as long as I was there, and liked it even better.
February 1, 2014 — 1:13 AM
Smoph says:
Thanks Rebecca! I was pretty late with that one, so it didn’t get much of an audience. It was good because I learnt a bit about the Chinatown here in Vancouver, where I’m living.
February 1, 2014 — 6:09 PM
Katya de Becerra says:
What a great idea to pick a Russian fairytale for the challenge. And Firebird’s one of my favs! Well done.
February 1, 2014 — 3:41 PM
Smoph says:
Yeah, I have to admit, I didn’t know much about the Firebird in Russian fairytales, so did a bit of reading. It’s an amazing theme, a trademark for a quest. I love fairytales, and I am going to have to read more I think.
February 1, 2014 — 6:11 PM
John Rickett says:
Very nice, with the moral still intact. We’ll done!
February 1, 2014 — 8:37 PM
Smoph says:
Thanks John.
February 4, 2014 — 2:52 AM
Courtney Cantrell says:
Okay, so I remember watching a cartoon movie of this story when I was a kid. Ever since I saw you mention it here, I’ve been scouring the internet to find something about that movie, but I’ve come up with nada. It’s driving me crazy!
But. I like your twist on it the story! If I remember correctly, the original tells that the king gets boiled alive and the Huntsman marries Vasilisa. But I think I enjoy her as a schemer staging a coup! Yeah, I feel bad for the Huntsman…but maybe being a bird won’t be so bad. ; ) Great job!
February 2, 2014 — 12:36 AM
Smoph says:
Yeah, you’re right but I wrote the marriage out of the ending because, hey, it’s a new world, and I’m sick of women being the prize. Yay empowerment!
I did feel bad about the Huntsman, but I figured he gets freedom instead of being used by everyone for all the rest of his life. And that maybe that was her kindness to him.
Interestingly, both the Firebird and Vasilisa are Russian fairytale staples, so I feel they’ll meet again. Firebird is the signal for or initiation of a quest, while Vasilisa is the pure woman done over by hardship.
February 2, 2014 — 7:31 PM
Smoph says:
Also, for anyone also looking for other fairytales, Wikipedia was my friend for the list of well known fairytales from several cultures (mostly European, but at least there were some others!).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fairy_tales
January 31, 2014 — 2:28 AM
Elizabeth Ditty says:
I chose Sleeping Beauty (blame all those Maleficent trailers) with subgenre “grimdark fantasy.” Thanks for the extra motivation to get this idea into words! I love fairytales, so I’m looking forward to checking everyone else’s stories!
http://elizabethditty.com/2014/01/31/fridayflash-sleeping-beautys-secret/
January 31, 2014 — 6:23 AM
akhinchey says:
Here’s my attempt ‘Cin’ and I got sword and sorcery. I hope it’s entertaining and I hope you enjoy 🙂 http://wp.me/p252mM-Cw
January 31, 2014 — 6:47 AM
Rob says:
OK, here it is: http://just50000words.blogspot.ca/2014/01/rumpel-redux.html. Rumpel Redux, based on Rumpelstiltskin in the detective genre. As I mentioned in the intro on my blog, the story was easy enough once I got going but the 1,000 word limit was the bigger test for me. I’ve been rewriting, tweaking, excising all week but it’s time to just walk away. Ready for the next challenge.
January 31, 2014 — 6:53 AM
Melissa Osburn says:
Here is my retelling of “The Old Witch” set in a dystopian world http://melissasosburn.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/the-old-witch/
January 31, 2014 — 9:50 AM
nathanael garvison says:
“Goldilocks and the Three Bears” as a grimdark fantasy:
http://natewritesstuff.com/2014/01/goldilocks-and-the-three-bears-flash-fiction-challenge/
January 31, 2014 — 10:30 AM
R.T. Wilder says:
Here is an alternative ending to “Puss in Boots”, told as psychological horror. http://rtwilder.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/under-his-boots/
January 31, 2014 — 10:39 AM
R.T. Wilder says:
I guess technically mine is grimdark fantasy, rather than psychological horror, since I haven’t modernized the setting, and there is a talking cat that isn’t just talking in the p.o.v. character’s head.
January 31, 2014 — 11:05 AM
sarieland says:
The Little Match Girl. I’ll let the remix be a surprise…;)
http://sarieland.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/the-little-match-girl-reanimated/
January 31, 2014 — 10:54 AM
Smoph says:
Good idea for updating it. I had a similar link in my head (as one I wanted to write too, after I had an idea trawling through the fairytales). Good one.
January 31, 2014 — 9:03 PM
mmcnellis says:
Here it is! Just made the deadline! Wrote it this morning…http://mmcnellis.com/2014/01/31/the-little-mermaid-and-the-undead-merfolk/
January 31, 2014 — 10:57 AM
Bookewyrme says:
Forgot to post this yesterday, so just slipping in under the wire.
I decided to go a little bit different direction, and I rewrote an Ancient Egyptian fairy tale in a Sword & Sorcery style.
So here is “The Shipwrecked Sailor”: http://bookewyrme.straydreamers.com/flash-fiction-challenge-the-shipwrecked-sailor/
January 31, 2014 — 11:41 AM
Amanda Helms says:
Um, I posted on Wednesday, but forgot to link back here.
Puss in Boots, superhero style.
http://amandahelms.com/2014/01/29/puss-in-boots/
January 31, 2014 — 12:09 PM
Anna Francis says:
Fashionably late? Sleeping Beauty: Cyberpunk Remix here.
http://irrationalconduct.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/sleeping-beauty-cyberpunk-remix.html
January 31, 2014 — 1:47 PM
Courtney Cantrell says:
Left a comment on your blog, but wanted to mention it here, too: I enjoyed this, especially the twist of giving “Beauty” more control over the story! : )
February 2, 2014 — 12:53 AM
crow365 says:
I rolled “cyberpunk” and decided upon “The Three Little Men in the Wood”:
http://nickegelhoff.com/2014/01/31/flash-fiction-challenge-fairy-tales-remixed/
January 31, 2014 — 2:48 PM
M.R. Dorough says:
Well I’m a bit late, but here it is:
http://mrdorough.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/godfather-death/
I went with the fairy tale “Godfather Death” and the subgenre “Dystopian.”
P.S. In reading Brothers Grimm fairy tales, I found that most of them are the dark, rambling tales of a drunken uncle. I kind of think that “Grimdark Fantasy” is just an invitation to copy and paste.
January 31, 2014 — 2:52 PM
Gina Hay says:
Hey people, i chose the juniper tree because of its bloodshed, and finished the zombie apocalypse version of it JUST before the due date.
January 31, 2014 — 4:00 PM
Smoph says:
Gina! Your link? 🙂
January 31, 2014 — 8:58 PM
Trine Toft Schmidt says:
Being late to the party is apparently my thing now. There’s a new challenge to write and I haven’t even looked at it yet. So I’ll just throw this one into the ether.
I rolled Urban Fantasy and chose Grimm’s Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Hamelin City Blues:
http://www.trinetoftschmidt.com/2014/01/the-fairy-tale-remixed-flash-fiction-challenge/
January 31, 2014 — 6:26 PM
Smoph says:
So I did one more, The Little Matchgirl http://prose.smoph.org/2014/02/03/the-little-matchgirl-zombie-dreaming/
Not sure if anyone is still reading through, but just in case.
February 4, 2014 — 2:53 AM