Flash Fiction Challenge: Diseased Horror
Last week: horror as spam.
This week:
The country’s in EBOLA PANIC, going so far as to elect an Ebola Czar. (Did you know that vending machines kill 13 people a year? I look forward to our new Vending Machine Czar to address this grave concern.) Disease of course freaks people out. And next Friday? Halloween. The time of horror!
Which means it’s time for you to freak people out with disease.
Write 1000 words of flash fiction.
It should be horror.
It should feature disease as an axis of that horror.
That’s it. That’s the mission.
Write it at your blog or online space.
Link back here.
Due by Halloween, noon, EST.
October 24, 2014 @ 1:02 AM
I’ve never trusted vending machines
October 24, 2014 @ 5:22 PM
^^ Haha
October 24, 2014 @ 3:27 AM
well i know what i am doing after work… or perhabs during….
October 27, 2014 @ 7:13 AM
Enjoyed playing with a few ideas for this one. In the end i went for a post war/during war wasteland in Glasgow!! Again i am new to the game so please critisis and offer advice if you wish. I would appreciate it!
http://adamskistoryblog.wordpress.com/flash-fiction-challenge-disease-horror/
October 24, 2014 @ 3:33 AM
Haha, great idea! I will try to finish by Halloween but I’ve got two exams, three papers and one essay to go (my uni life is a horror story) before 31st October, so…
October 24, 2014 @ 7:08 AM
Hooray for plagues!
October 26, 2014 @ 11:17 PM
I loved the idea at first but struggled to find a direction to take it in. Then it struck me that while bugs that travel through the air or the water or various bodily fluids are horrible enough in their own right, what about one that could travel even more insidiously — through the mind itself, or even just through eye contact?
The only thing I’m not really sure about is the ending. I’d love to hear some alternate thoughts, but I definitely wanted to convey that the disease doesn’t stop with the hero.
This initially came in way over the limit at about 1400 words, and I managed to trim the fat down to a very terse 999. I hope you enjoy it.
Here’s “Self-Inflicted”: http://wp.me/p4p1YR-i2
October 31, 2014 @ 9:09 PM
Very well done. I think your trimming might have elevated the pace so that the you feel the horror palpably! Good stuff.
October 31, 2014 @ 10:16 PM
Thanks man 🙂
October 24, 2014 @ 8:16 AM
Hmmm, definitely want to try this one. Not been feeling the horror vibes lately so this will be a challenge to try and get back into it.
October 24, 2014 @ 9:02 AM
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/the-colony.html
Creepy is as creepy does… and I don’t like diseases… even though I do have one:
Epilepsy… now that’s one disease I don’t ever wish on anyone.
October 27, 2014 @ 7:35 AM
ok i dont know whats scarier. the disease or the fact that someone was intentionally spreading it. i am beging to think something sinister was behind it.
October 27, 2014 @ 8:14 AM
When one of my friends, who used to work in a hospital, read it, his first response was, ‘But that disease isn’t around so much anymore!’ … um… but can you imagine somebody just showing up at a Halloween Party like that (or any costume party) and a week later, you start getting symptoms after you’ve been doing your normal routine? He thought about it, hesitated and then said that would really freak him out… after he re-read it again….
My Mum – who normally reads my flash fiction – has refused to read my stuff this year… 😀
She is so proud of me… but doesn’t like it that I’ve scared her into not turning out her reading lamp at night (which is the only time she gets to read my stuff). 😛
October 24, 2014 @ 9:07 AM
I’ve been bitten by vending machines in the past… perhaps they gave me something contagious?
October 28, 2014 @ 3:44 AM
Do you have an unhealthy compulsion to collect coins and refuse dollar bills that are not pristine?
October 24, 2014 @ 9:28 AM
Threw this together, trying to go for ‘sinister undertones’ as opposed to straight up horror. Hopefully it works!
http://www.literarypancakes.com/2014/10/terribleminds-challenge-diseased-horror.html
October 24, 2014 @ 9:50 AM
Doing this without re-hashing old tropes will be…difficult.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
October 24, 2014 @ 9:53 AM
More people have married Kim Kardashian than have died from Ebola….. think about it…..
October 24, 2014 @ 10:52 AM
No one ELECTED a czar, a czar was appointed. Come on Chuck, words have meanings.
October 24, 2014 @ 11:51 AM
I elect you to be the czar election misconception correction task force. And by “elect,” I mean “point at.”
October 28, 2014 @ 3:46 AM
Hey, we secondhand elected the czar by electing the man who appointed him. I mean, yeah, we don’t directly vote for the President, but, uhh…
October 24, 2014 @ 2:27 PM
Thanks Chuck, this was a fun one!
http://www.cheribaker.com/flash-fiction-eleven-billion/
Flash Fiction: Eleven Billion - CheriBaker.com
October 24, 2014 @ 2:28 PM
[…] posted this story in response to Chuck Wendig’s flash fiction challenge on Terribleminds. Check out the site for some entertaining curse words and writerly wisdom, and […]
October 24, 2014 @ 3:54 PM
I had to stop at 1000 words so I wouldn’t burn out: http://article94.wordpress.com/2014/10/24/the-afflicted-patient-zero/
October 29, 2014 @ 12:42 AM
Nice story. Kept me guessing until the end.
Doom and Gloom in Austin
October 24, 2014 @ 6:15 PM
[…] week’s Flash Fiction challenge from Chuck Wendig? Diseased horror. I ran significantly short on this one, by about 400 […]
October 24, 2014 @ 6:22 PM
Here we go. I took this opportunity to finally tell a story that has been on my mind for nearly a decade. http://wp.me/s2DB77-136
October 24, 2014 @ 9:27 PM
http://adifferentkindofsanity.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/the-scratch/ It ran a little bit over the thousand words but not that much. Here’s hoping it’s good enough to make up for it.
October 25, 2014 @ 2:38 AM
It was so hard to keep this one short. But here it is, Occupied, about a virus on a plane. And, there’s a little video trailer at the beginning. (If you wanna watch. I just discovered animoto LOL)
http://angelacavanaugh.com/2014/10/25/flash-fiction-friday-occupied/
October 25, 2014 @ 1:29 PM
Truly creepy. Thanks for sharing.
October 25, 2014 @ 6:16 PM
Yes, creepy! And, it threw me off a couple of times which is always nice! Thanks for sharing…and cool little video trailer. Going to have to find animoto and mess with it. Gives me another tool for procrastination!
October 28, 2014 @ 12:56 AM
Thanks, I’m glad that you liked it and found it to be successfully creepy 🙂
October 31, 2014 @ 9:15 PM
god work!
October 25, 2014 @ 1:23 PM
I just had to try one more challenge before NaNoWriMo arrived. Here’s mine: http://glipho.com/writingbull/disease-kingdom
October 26, 2014 @ 2:54 PM
Loved it Scott!
October 26, 2014 @ 2:58 PM
Thank you very much.
Under York | Musings & Mischief
October 25, 2014 @ 6:05 PM
[…] Posted for Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge. http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/10/24/flash-fiction-challenge-diseased-horror/ […]
October 25, 2014 @ 6:06 PM
Thanks for the great challenge this week!
http://stephenseibert.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/under-york/
October 29, 2014 @ 12:51 AM
Wow, what a compelling premise! Is it worth staying alive if you can hold your loved ones? Great job!
October 31, 2014 @ 9:21 PM
The beginning of a masterpiece, this one!
October 31, 2014 @ 10:04 PM
Thanks guys!
October 26, 2014 @ 4:11 AM
This was a tough one for me. But I wrote about a disease inspired by Fatal familial Insomnia (but not that disease specifically). Hope it turned out okay!
http://ajbauers.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/wide-awake/
Wide Awake | Scribbles
October 26, 2014 @ 4:14 AM
[…] flash fiction challenge this week from Chuck Wendig over at terribleminds.com was to write a horror story revolving around a disease. So in a thousand words or less, I give […]
Beyond the Blog | 10.26.2014 | manuscripts & marginalia
October 26, 2014 @ 12:29 PM
[…] more thing // Chuck Wendig’s latest flash fiction challenge sounds pretty […]
October 26, 2014 @ 1:06 PM
This isn’t a real entry, in the true sense. I’m breaking rules here: one of Chuck’s, and one of my own.
It is about fear and disease, though. You’re My Bogeyman: http://kevjava.blogspot.com/2014/10/youre-my-bogeyman.html
October 26, 2014 @ 11:13 PM
Thank you. My mother suffers the same demon, and even though she stepped into the light a long time ago, there are still times when the shadows are too much for her. Thanks for writing this, it means a lot.
October 26, 2014 @ 1:23 PM
So I began the Apples Flash Fiction Challenge a couple of weeks ago and didn’t get anywhere near finishing it. As penitence I’ve taken the 3 apples I was allotted by my RNG: Melrose, Jewett Red and Malinda and worked them into this week’s diseased horror FF. So here it goes… “Fall”
http://idreamofgypsies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/flash-fiction-challenge-diseased-horror.html
October 26, 2014 @ 7:32 PM
…I of course meant as PENANCE..!
October 27, 2014 @ 10:33 PM
This is great. I especially like this sentence:
“Breakin’ through the warning biohazard barriers and lurchin’ forward over the roots which fill the forested avenue, shuffling through the undergrowth with their strange jerky limbs.”
October 28, 2014 @ 5:00 AM
Thanks denicide!
October 26, 2014 @ 2:57 PM
OK, just had to pen another response to this great challenge. http://scottabullard.tumblr.com/post/101014360814/first-death
flash fiction challenge: diseased horror | jonah writes
October 26, 2014 @ 7:00 PM
[…] means I haven’t had too much time for sitting, thinking, and writing. I have started my next flash fiction challenge from terribleminds, however. The challenge is as […]
October 27, 2014 @ 1:44 AM
I really hate people tapping away all day long on their fucking phones. Enjoy!
http://johnfreeter.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/viral/
October 27, 2014 @ 9:56 AM
Here’s mine. Sort of a commentary on my feelings about zombie stories.
http://www.jpjuniper.com/stories/2014/10/27/the-21-stages-of-kirkmans-paranoaic-thanatophoria
October 27, 2014 @ 7:05 PM
Wow, I liked the format of your story. Creepy and suspenseful!
October 27, 2014 @ 10:21 PM
This is a really unnerving story, beautifully told. Well done.
October 28, 2014 @ 2:43 PM
Love the structure of your story. One of my favorite things to see in flash fiction is to see small narratives make up a large story in a short space. You accomplished this quite well. Great new viewpoint on the zombie apocalypse, thanks for sharing!
October 31, 2014 @ 9:24 PM
Great choice f format! Pure horror.
October 27, 2014 @ 12:47 PM
Got a short little story I’m calling “Panic”
http://tonij.net/2014/10/panic/
October 27, 2014 @ 2:02 PM
Nice story, and pretty close to how things are now. That’s what’s scary.
October 27, 2014 @ 3:34 PM
I’m reading Ivan’s war (great book BTW), so I imagined the story taking place in a soviet village and the red army swooping in. The mention of of the CDC and WHO shattered my fantasy :(. Great story though, I really liked it!
October 27, 2014 @ 2:01 PM
Nice story, and pretty close to how things are now. That’s what’s scary.
October 27, 2014 @ 2:04 PM
oopsy.
Renovation & Rental Property | Blogatonium
October 27, 2014 @ 10:13 PM
[…] story was written for Chuck Wendig’s challenge Diseased Horror. Happy […]
October 27, 2014 @ 10:16 PM
Renovation & Rental Property, a title that’ll hopefully attract people expecting something completely different:
http://blogatonium.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/renovation-rental-property/
October 28, 2014 @ 10:53 AM
Here’s my submission, with fatal insomina being the main feature.
http://ajbauers.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/wide-awake/
October 28, 2014 @ 6:35 PM
I shall be back on a less sleepy evening to read through some of the entries. Mine can be found here http://mostlyjonah.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/diseased-horror-the-complete-draft/
October 28, 2014 @ 7:44 PM
What if your family hid in a bunker for ten years, hiding from a virus? What would it be like on the outside?http://allisonmaruska.com/2014/10/28/flash-fiction-the-door/
Flash Fiction Friday Challenge - Sabra Kay
October 28, 2014 @ 11:01 PM
[…] am really enjoying Chuck Wendig’s weekly flash fiction challenges! Here is this week’s topic, in 1,000 words or […]
October 28, 2014 @ 11:07 PM
I almost finished one story, scrapped it and started this one. I almost titled it “Running from the cure” but in the end it didn’t quite fit.
http://sabrakay.com/flash-fiction-friday-challenge/
October 31, 2014 @ 9:26 PM
Good job!
Flash Fiction: Click | Coolerbs Reviews
October 29, 2014 @ 5:31 AM
[…] time Chuck Wendig gave us only one assignment: Write a flash fiction about […]
October 29, 2014 @ 9:08 AM
I took a bit of artistic liberties with this one, as he never said the disease couldn’t be intelligent…..
http://coolerbs.com/2014/10/29/flash-fiction-click/
October 29, 2014 @ 7:17 PM
Nice, I loved the interaction between the characters and the little details. The “click” really added to the suspense and the tension.
October 29, 2014 @ 7:20 PM
Thanks! I’m not sure where the “click” idea came from actually, I just put it in on a whim, and it fit.
Flash Fiction: Do Not Read | Faked Tales – Short Stories
October 29, 2014 @ 6:06 PM
[…] is my entry to this week’s Terribleminds Flash Fiction Challenge, in which writers were asked to write 1,000 words about […]
October 29, 2014 @ 6:07 PM
I wasn’t sure what to do with this at first, then the idea of a disease which makes people fictional.
Here’s “Do Not Read”. http://fakedtales.com/short-stories/do-not-read/
October 29, 2014 @ 11:11 PM
What an amazing idea!
October 31, 2014 @ 9:28 PM
Great take!
October 30, 2014 @ 12:10 PM
Here’s mine: http://johnbensink.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/they-bring-it-home-from-school/
October 30, 2014 @ 6:16 PM
And here is my take on horrific diseases:
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2014/10/friday-flash-fiction-disease.html
Hurricane Containment Breach | Windchimes and Dreamcatchers
October 30, 2014 @ 7:59 PM
[…] Written in response to prompt: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/10/24/flash-fiction-challenge-diseased-horror/ […]
October 30, 2014 @ 8:07 PM
Had a great time with this one – different genre for me 🙂 Great prompt!!
http://windchimesanddreamcatchers.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/hurricane-containment-breach/
October 30, 2014 @ 8:21 PM
Here is my offering – not particularly horrific, but I hope you enjoy your Halloween anyway.
The Revenge of the Greenfly – http://jemimapett.com/blog/2014/10/31/halloween-flash-fiction-revenge-of-the-greenfly/
October 31, 2014 @ 12:01 AM
Let holiday shopping begin – Mmwaahaahaa mwaahaahaa mwaahaahaa
Walmart Xmas Ornament Kills
http://aliceekeyes.blogspot.com/p/walmart-xmas-ornament-kills.html