Chuck is the author of the published novels: Blackbirds, Mockingbird, Under the Empyrean Sky, Blue Blazes, Double Dead, Bait Dog, Dinocalypse Now, Beyond Dinocalypse and Gods & Monsters: Unclean Spirits. He also the author of the soon-to-be-published novels: The Cormorant, Blightborn (Heartland Book #2), Heartland Book #3, Dinocalypse Forever, Frack You, and The Hellsblood Bride. Also coming soon is his compilation book of writing advice from this very blog: The Kick-Ass Writer, coming from Writers Digest.
He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is an alum of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter’s Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, showed at the Sundance Film Festival 2011, and their feature film HiM is in development with producers Ted Hope and Anne Carey. Together they co-wrote the digital transmedia drama Collapsus, which was nominated for an International Digital Emmy and a Games 4 Change award.
Chuck has contributed over two million words to the game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP). He was a frequent contributor to The Escapist, writing about games and pop culture.
Much of his writing advice has been collected in various writing- and storytelling-related e-books.
He currently lives in the forests of Pennsyltucky with wife, two dogs, and tiny human.
He is likely drunk and untrustworthy. This blog is NSFW and probably NSFL.
You may reach him at terribleminds [at] gmail [dot] com.
Last week’s challenge: “Doing The Subgenre Twist“
This week –
You’ve got 1000 words to write about bad parents.
Whatever that means to you? Write it down into a story.
Any genre will do.
Write the story at your blog, drop a link in the comments here so we can read it.
And that’s it.
Due by Friday, July 4th, at noon EST.
Mark Gardner
June 27, 2014 at 4:02 PM //
Man, I’m at work for another two hours. I can’t wait to write this.
Mark Gardner
June 27, 2014 at 8:17 PM //
This one got away from me. Still under the 1000 word limit though.
http://article94.wordpress.com/2014/06/27/justice/
colinjkeats
June 28, 2014 at 10:14 PM //
Probably got away because you had something inside you wanted to get out. Well done!
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 3:04 AM //
There’s lots of meat in this one, it seems to come from deep inside you. I think the shortness of the story increases it’s impact. This is damn good writing.
Mr Urban Spaceman
June 27, 2014 at 4:17 PM //
I couldn’t decide on one story, so I wrote eight.
http://mrurbanspaceman.wordpress.com/2014/06/27/i-had-bad-parents/
Mark Gardner
June 27, 2014 at 9:25 PM //
Great take on thus weeks flash fiction challenge!
extremelyirrelevant
June 28, 2014 at 2:02 PM //
I like how you understate having written eight stories ! Good one !
Allison Maruska
June 29, 2014 at 9:59 AM //
Love your take on this!
Pavowski
June 27, 2014 at 4:54 PM //
Oh boy, oh boy. Gonna try not to make this one personal.
Pavowski
June 30, 2014 at 7:07 AM //
I struggled with this one because my parents are actually pretty good ones by virtually every yardstick I have by which to measure them. And, you write what you know, right? So I was stuck. I thought about writing to the news of the week, with the guy who essentially cooked his kid alive in a car, but the thought of getting inside a mind like that turned my stomach. Then I remembered this story which was told to me by a sweet old lady at the mall while we were chatting about my boy about a week ago.
So I decided to steal it and spruce it up.
I don’t feel there’s a whole lot of artfulness in this story, but it does make my blood boil.
Here’s “Just a Sec, Ty”: http://pavorisms.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/just-a-sec-ty/
JP Juniper
June 30, 2014 at 10:31 AM //
Ow. Ow, ow, ow. I’ve met a few Tys lately, and this couldn’t ring more true or feel more like a punch in the heart. Ow.
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 11:02 AM //
You did more than spruce it up, you invented a great little hero in Ty.
He comes across as the kind of kid who can survive any amount of negligent parenting and he’ll grow up to be a Super-hero or a Writer!
JP Juniper
June 27, 2014 at 6:20 PM //
Mashing up Poe and Tregillis and bits of my own sordid educational history… ran a little long.
http://www.jpjuniper.com/stories/2014/6/27/beneath-one-wall-inside-another
colinjkeats
June 28, 2014 at 10:11 PM //
love your stuff. can’t seem to find a way to follow your blog, though,and I am not on Twitter yet.
JP Juniper
June 29, 2014 at 11:16 AM //
Thank you!
There’s an rss feed that’s linked on the “about” page, and is hidden in the stories page’s header: http://www.jpjuniper.com/stories?format=rss … I don’t see a way to make it more prominent, at least not with the template I’m using (squarespace is lovely in many ways, but you pay for the performance and convenience with a lack of flexibility compared to running your own WP site) (still, I would pick SS over WP 99 times out of 100).
colinjkeats
June 30, 2014 at 1:48 AM //
Hmm I must be blog illiterate. When I click on the feed it comes up with ages of html.
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 3:14 AM //
This seems like a twisted version of X Men and it’s a great idea. Binyamin is a sympathetic character and I’d love to know what subject he’s teaching. Thanks for sharing this one.
JP Juniper
June 30, 2014 at 10:23 AM //
Pretty sure his area of expertise would have to be Geology.
(And thank you!)
Angela Cavanaugh
June 27, 2014 at 6:56 PM //
This one might take some thought. The idea of “bad parents” is so subjective. It’ll be interesting to see the various extremes of people’s experience that they bring to thier writing. I know it hits home for me.
chriswhitewrites
June 27, 2014 at 7:23 PM //
Here’s mine for this week, No Such Thing, although it only features one bad parent, and is strictly not autobiographical, although I wish it was…
Mark Gardner
June 27, 2014 at 9:25 PM //
I wish it were autobiographical too!
chriswhitewrites
June 27, 2014 at 10:24 PM //
So do I!
chriswhitewrites
June 27, 2014 at 10:32 PM //
As do I, Mark…as do I!
Suzie
June 28, 2014 at 8:12 AM //
Really interesting story — love that you took the idea and went somewhere completely different with it.
colinjkeats
June 28, 2014 at 10:19 PM //
Liked it a lot. Image and Imagery great!
Kurt Bali
June 27, 2014 at 7:25 PM //
Went a little over the 1000 words, but I think it was worth it. http://sixgunwizard.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-mothers-love.html
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 2:39 AM //
Jenny is a wonderful character, a real super-mom. She should have a whole novel devoted to her, but I think Thomas will need to grow some balls to survive.
Kurt Bali
June 30, 2014 at 1:22 PM //
Thanks for the feedback! Jenny’s character and deeds just sprung from my keyboard in one of those great moments of inspiration. I made Thomas a bit on the needy side because I really wanted to show the huge dichotomy between he and his mother and show how “normal” he is and how utterly not-normal his mother is. At the same time, I wanted Thomas’ views of his mother to be the kind of worship one has for their mother at that age, especially one who goes to any length to protect her son. I may re-visit this world again due to the feedback I’ve received.
Ciaran Quaid
June 27, 2014 at 9:24 PM //
Had an interesting time writing this! Critiques are appreciated!
http://ceaselessevolution.wordpress.com/2014/06/27/flash-fiction-challenge-bad-parents/
colinjkeats
June 28, 2014 at 10:23 PM //
Told from an interesting point of view,and provided perspective on a few different levels. Good job!
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 2:55 AM //
I’m not sure whether your character deserves pity, she doesn’t seem entirely heartless but we don’t really learn a lot about her ‘badness’.
I like your idea a lot and you have some good stuff in there but this mother is a bit equivocal, maybe she’s nicer than she ought to be.
Helen Espinosa
June 27, 2014 at 11:22 PM //
This just might be the dark side of me… Anyway, it’s exactly 1,000 words.
https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2014/06/27/the-day-my-family-fell-apart/
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 10:12 AM //
Chilling.
Mozette
June 28, 2014 at 2:38 AM //
You gotta ask the question: exactly who are worse? The rich or the poor?
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/poor-little-rich-girl.html
Mark Gardner
June 28, 2014 at 1:29 PM //
Creepy. Oh wait, Mozette wrote it? Standard fare for her. When you gonna put out a novel length horror story?
Mozette
June 29, 2014 at 12:21 AM //
I’m working on it… I’m working on it….
colinjkeats
June 28, 2014 at 10:29 PM //
Rich or poor, we all must eat!
Creepy is right, but in a good way.
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 10:18 AM //
Nice people, country folk I’m guessing? It’s a good tale, nicely told, with just a touch of relish.
Mozette
July 3, 2014 at 11:28 PM //
Thank you guys for your great comments! I really appreciate it!
Actually I’m looking at getting some of the ‘greatest hits’ of my flash fiction and putting out an e-book and a proper paperback for all to get creeped out by…
what do you think?
Gry Ranfelt
June 28, 2014 at 2:49 AM //
This is a good one! By FREUD do we all have parent issues, eh, eh? Something we blame them for.
Roger, sir, I shall take you up on this. *Salutes and jumps into water*
Alex
June 28, 2014 at 6:49 AM //
Ooh, this one touched a nerve.
http://justafeverdream.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/deals-with-the-devil/
Suzie
June 28, 2014 at 11:01 AM //
Brilliant and scary story. Could easily see it becoming a reality :/
Alex
June 29, 2014 at 5:25 AM //
Thanks Suzie :). I’m so glad I’ve done my procreating already!
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 11:05 AM //
Thanks Alex, you really involved me with this story. It’s powerful and real. The subject matter makes me admire the telling, it’s restrained which gives it greater impact.
Alex
July 1, 2014 at 8:21 AM //
Thank you :). Glad you enjoyed it!
Allison Maruska
July 1, 2014 at 10:11 PM //
Nice job! I can see this turning into a novel where the characters rebel somehow.
Alex
July 4, 2014 at 10:41 AM //
Thanks :). Writing that would be cathartic, at the moment!
Suzie
June 28, 2014 at 11:04 AM //
Here’s my offering ‘No trouble’. http://suziehunt.co.uk/fiction/flash-fiction/no-trouble
Much easier than last weeks challenge, which I didn’t complete!
JP Juniper
June 28, 2014 at 7:59 PM //
This is so well done. You manage to conjure such tension and emotion out of a chicken dinner. Just marvelous.
Suzie
June 29, 2014 at 1:05 PM //
Thank you!
colinjkeats
June 28, 2014 at 10:36 PM //
Evokes ‘Mommy dearest’!
Pavowski
June 30, 2014 at 7:45 AM //
I recognize that mom. Not MY mom, but I recognize her. And by extension, I recognize that daughter too. Nice job capturing that intractable relationship.
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 10:39 AM //
You write Good stories Suzie.
Anyone who’s spent time with elderly relatives can relate to this one. I was hoping that the worm might turn, but it’s still a strong story.
paulbevanwriter
June 28, 2014 at 1:15 PM //
Never done one of these before…but here goes. My 800 or so words: “PAY ATTENTION”.
I hope you like it.
http://paulbevanwriter.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/bad-parents-flash-fiction/
colinjkeats
June 29, 2014 at 12:00 PM //
Hi Paul, if this is a first effort for one of these for you, well done. Your dialogue is very believable. If you don’t mind some constructive criticism (which is the point of these exercises I think) I have some comments. All only my own opinion as a reader, of course, with the caveat that I have not even self-published, am not an editor or anything other than a starting-off writer. Please take with the appropriate grains of salt.
This might be a typo (or a blog glitch as I have had lines disappear when cut and pasted into my blog space):
but for this line: “…he said, loud enough that it made him.”
Made him what??
Another suggestion: instead of saying “David was her brother.” although there is nothing wrong with it, it reads like a narrator aside and jolted me back to reality and knowing this is a story I am reading. Maybe try putting it into the next line of dialogue. something like:
“She could always move in with David,” he said.
“C’mon,You know my brother has the dog.”
The story itself was a little predictable. I personally would have liked to have more buildup focusing on the daughter (maybe have the daughter being disabled in some way, which makes the parents even worse at the end) and perhaps some foreshadowing, either using the TV show, or having a stranger make an innocous and kind comment about their lovely daughter, giving the possibility that he/she was the ones that took her.
I also wanted more frantic intensity in the last lines when they discover she is gone. You had 200 more words you could have used there.
Keep it up!
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 10:45 AM //
This is a story parents can relate to. I hope it had a happy ending so they could feel guilty and get over it, even change their ways, but maybe it didn’t end nice. You leave it to the reader to mull that over and that is good writing. Thanks, I enjoyed it.
extremelyirrelevant
June 28, 2014 at 1:30 PM //
Thank you Chuck for this opportunity. Here’s my take on Bad Parents http://extremelyirrelevant.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/bad-parents/
vshyacinthe
June 28, 2014 at 3:58 PM //
http://habitualclarity.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/jess/
Here’s my take. Sort of a journal entry style. Hope you enjoy!
LindaGHill
June 28, 2014 at 4:45 PM //
Inspiring prompt – the idea for this came to me immediately: http://lindaghillfiction.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/out-of-the-frying-pan-flash-fiction-challenge-bad-parents/
Hope Floats
June 28, 2014 at 6:18 PM //
Ooooh…I found this by following Linda. I wanted to participate in this one but it was “too close to home” I did write a non-fiction post on the topic though and found it brutally painful. Thank you. No pain no gain right? Great topic and some really great entries as well.
Vee M.
June 28, 2014 at 9:14 PM //
This is my first time doing one of these. I’d appreciate some feedback and if you guys wouldn’t mind checking out my blog. Thanks! http://vanessamedina024.wix.com/the-story-builder#!Unwanted/cmbz/CDF41A6D-66F0-4360-AC4A-1BEC68E8678D
colinjkeats
June 29, 2014 at 12:19 PM //
Hi Vee,
The premise for your story is good- almost a replay of Cinderella. If you don’t mind a suggestion or two, (with the usual caveat that this is just my personal opinion) I would say come at the whole story a different way. The style is too much telling and narration, not enough showing and hinting. Don’t do the whole set up of “From the start I knew …” Start with the trip to grandmas-emphasize the lovely time the girl is having, how much her sisters love her, build descriptions of them and her perfect parents into that lovely time at the beach, and then have her world turned upside down when she overhear the dialogue. Include a descripton of the main character showing her differences in that piece also, perhaps. Spend more time on her actions after that episode – I’m sure you can imagine some things one might do other than simply throwing oneself on the bed and sobbing. Spend more time on the reveal by the mother contrasting her beauty with her cruelty and indifference . Build some tension there so that the ending creates more emotion in the reader. And I would leave off the last line it is unnecessary. “Welcome home” says it all and if you ever decide to expand the story you can have many avenues to go.
Hope you take the comments in the spirit in which they are given. I would love to see the re-write on this!
colinjkeats
June 28, 2014 at 10:04 PM //
Hmm, funny I had just written this, and although it is not about parents being intentionally bad, it is personal, in memoir style and is about my parents. Probably not a good fit here but I’ll plug it in anyway. If I have time this weekend I might try something fictional also.
http://colinjkeats.wordpress.com/2014/06/27/the-sins-of-the-father/
Allison Maruska
June 29, 2014 at 1:27 AM //
I almost didn’t do this one, but came up with something that maybe works with 200 words to spare.
http://allisonmaruska.com/2014/06/28/flash-fiction-challenge-bad-parents/
veemedina
June 29, 2014 at 1:35 AM //
Hey all I wrote on this subject as well on my blog. Come check it out and please leave some feedback. I’m just starting out, Thanks! http://thestorybuilder.wordpress.com/
fadedglories
June 29, 2014 at 12:41 PM //
Just over the 800 words for my story of the struggle not to be a bad mother.
http://nanowrimoroman.blogspot.co.uk/?zx=150ca84e34a3e05e
Please tell me what you think. I really appreciate your comments
Penny Tyler
June 29, 2014 at 1:40 PM //
I couldn’t keep anything about my bad parents under 10,000 words–so this is for anyone who thinks they have Writer’s Block…
http://pennytyler.com/2014/06/writers-block/
extremelyirrelevant
June 29, 2014 at 11:28 PM //
It’s funny coz it’s sad
Penny Tyler
June 30, 2014 at 7:49 AM //
Thanks Ex, The trick is to learn from it and move on
Mari
June 29, 2014 at 2:29 PM //
I chose to focus on my own culture (Japanese) and explore the nuances of what is “a bad parent.” Reactions and/or feedback are welcome.
http://ghostsinthemachines.wordpress.com/2014/06/29/out-of-love/
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 10:56 AM //
You evoke the scene on the beach brilliantly. I felt as if I was standing there watching. I don’t think you need the epilogue, it detracts from the impact of the story. Thank you for sharing, I loved it.
Mari
June 30, 2014 at 11:29 PM //
Thank you very much – I had the same since about the epilogue. I appreciate the feedback.
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 10:34 AM //
Thanks Alex, you really involved me with this story. It’s powerful and real. The subject matter makes me admire the telling, it’s restrained which gives it greater impact.
fadedglories
June 30, 2014 at 11:04 AM //
This ended up in the wrong place. It’s a response to Alex’s story.
adderob
June 30, 2014 at 12:27 PM //
Have never been to the site before, and reading some of Chuck’s posts inspired me to jump in on this. My blog is fairly new and not very fancy (I am a web developer, just bought my own web space to work on some personal projects that I keep procrastinating…), but below is the link to the story I wrote for this. It came out to exactly 1,000 words, which is kind of cool and was not intended.
Enjoy!
http://octivium.com/blogtivium/oh-father/
fadedglories
July 1, 2014 at 2:40 AM //
I certainly did enjoy your story. It’s the kind you have to read twice to get all the detail, smiling as you read it again. I think it’s a great slant and mebbe it’s accurate too.
adderob
July 1, 2014 at 7:37 PM //
I appreciate the feedback! My wife woke me up from sleep to tell me something similar, which was kind of cool of her. I am still working on editing and publishing 114,000 words, so doing this was a nice and challenging change of pace.
litbandit
June 30, 2014 at 1:14 PM //
A little greek twist
http://literarybandit.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/bad-parents/
StaceyHH
July 1, 2014 at 2:06 PM //
http://bumblebeesflight.com/2014/07/01/exactly-half-way/
Thank you for the challenge, it was strangely cathartic.
Megan
July 2, 2014 at 3:16 AM //
I’ve been enjoying the blog and reading everyone else’s challenges the past couple weeks so I thought I’d add my own word-nerdery to the bunch this time. Thanks! I had fun with it.
http://meganandblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/bad-parents-flash-fiction/
Free Jack Klugman
July 2, 2014 at 9:40 PM //
I don’t have much experience with bad parents (mine are wonderful), so instead I went with the story of a boy whose parents are bad, but not necessary at parenting. Here’s the result:
http://www.freejackklugman.com/shorts/vacation-bells
Enjoy!
antipelican
July 3, 2014 at 6:15 AM //
Interesting take! I thought his parents were kind of awesome. I’d love to know what happened to the poor boy – did someone find him, or did he just sit in the car forever? Cos that would be sad.
Tom Reed
July 3, 2014 at 12:38 AM //
A new blog from an old (sometimes) participator. I hope it works. I hope people like. And I hope there is bacon (I really hope for this last part).
http://reed.svbtle.com/lucky
antipelican
July 3, 2014 at 6:13 AM //
Soooo…not sure how successful I was at this, but I took this challenge as an opportunity to expand a little on the universe I’ve created for the novel I’m currently working on. Poor Rollo not only has bad parents, but a very unfortunate phobia.
http://booksishouldhavereadalongtimeago.wordpress.com/other-stuff/flash-fiction/an-unfortunate-fear/
Jemima Pett
July 3, 2014 at 4:23 PM //
Apologies to anyone expecting my usual wit and strangeness this month – I’m doing Camp NaNoWriMo and turning all those short pieces about Big Pete and the Swede, orichalcum asteroid miners, into a full-length book.
Thank you Chuck, for helping me discover orichalcum and my characters
vlazabal6981
July 3, 2014 at 6:19 PM //
This story was cathartic in a sad, strange way. http://veronikalazabal.com/2014/07/03/gulliver/
Topher Ryals
July 3, 2014 at 10:14 PM //
This is the first thing I’ve written in a while. Looking forward to any and all feedback!
momdude
July 4, 2014 at 1:55 AM //
After pondering for a while, I decided that parents who use their kids as pawns and weapons in a contentious divorce are really, really bad parents.
http://pauljwillett.com/2014/07/03/flash-fiction-center-seat-coach-class/
J. C. McKenna
July 4, 2014 at 6:04 AM //
Been a while since I’ve done of of these.
“Tanya and Jerry Get Away”
http://jcmckenna.com/?p=365
Jerry’s rant about never saying no is one of those “things I wish I’d said” years ago when a neighbor kid threw a rock at my daughter’s head. The mom gave me most of that excuse word for word when I asked why she didn’t stop him when she saw it happening.
Other than that, decided to have a little fun with it.
Dana Alyce-Schwarz
July 4, 2014 at 9:58 AM //
Not much to say on this one. “Parentis Draconis”
http://contrastsolution.blogspot.com/2014/07/parentis-draconis.html
epbeaumont
July 4, 2014 at 11:44 AM //
Made the deadline by a hair, writing at CONvergence 2014 no less. Here it is:
http://epbeaumont.com/2014/07/04/flash-fiction-bad-parents/
Nicole Lowe
July 4, 2014 at 11:59 AM //
Bad Parents is something I deal with daily! http://ultrarunningmom.com/2014/07/04/flash-fiction-friday-bad-parents/
Mark Baron
July 4, 2014 at 10:45 PM //
http://wp.me/p4AFse-eb – A tough one to write, and some very dark places, some memories, explored. Trigger warning here.
colinjkeats
July 5, 2014 at 2:01 PM //
Well portrayed, Mark! I can tell you worked hard to get the right words, phrasing and rhythym. I haven;t attempted to cross the gender barrier in writing, so good on ya for that too!
Mark Baron
July 17, 2014 at 3:37 PM //
Thanks Colin! Sorry for the delay in the reply here. It was a real hard one to write, but I wanted to cross the gender barrier and see if I could do it justice.