I did this challenge back at the start of the year and kinda adored it.
Therein I described it as follows:
I love that some writers describe their stories — usually in an elevator pitch or to sell the story to an agent, editor or reader — as “THIS STORY meets THAT STORY.” Right? “Oh,” the writer says, “It’s like CATCHER IN THE RYE meets SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS.” And you’re like, whoa, what the fuck does that even mean.
Today, we are going to find out.
Below, you’ll find two columns, each of 20 different fairly well-known properties.
You will randomly choose one from each column either by d20 or random number generator.
Then you will literally fill in the variables of the equation:
IT’S LIKE X MEETS Y.
And you will write the resultant story.
Note: your goal is not to literally mash these up in fan-fiction (though I suppose if that’s where your head goes, hey, I can’t stop you) — the goal is to take the idea, the spirit of the combination and make them into a story all your own. What is the theoretical mash-up look like and feel like? Diggit? So, what’s the story like if you get: “It’s like HARRY POTTER meets INDIANA JONES?” Or, “It’s like GAME OF THRONES meets SCOOBY DOO.”
So, get your random number generator or d20.
Pick one from each column.
Mash them together. See what kind of story squishes out.
You’ve got 2000 words.
Due by next Friday (5/1) at noon EST.
Post at your online space. Link to it here in the comments.
Ready? Steady? Go.
Column X
- Paranormal Activity
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Terminator
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- War Games
- Hunger Games
- Batman
- Goodfellas
- Pokemon
- The Wheel of Time
- Robocop
- Dracula
- The Princess Bride
- Dirty Harry
- The Great Gatsby
- Josie and the Pussycats
- Ender’s Game
- Guardians in the Galaxy
- Twin Peaks
- Dungeons & Dragons
Column Y
- Pulp Fiction
- The Silence of the Lambs
- Toy Story
- Die Hard
- Pacific Rim
- Back to the Future
- To Kill A Mockingbird
- Ghost In The Shell
- Se7en
- The Wire
- Sherlock Holmes
- True Detective
- Monsters, Inc.
- Doctor Who
- The Matrix
- Groundhog Day
- The Lord of the Flies
- The Stand
- Mad Max
- Minecraft
113 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: It’s X Meets Y Again!”
RNG gave me:
X = 12 (Dracula)
Y = 12 (True Detective)
I guess you could call it True Blood?
Holy crap– 2 and 19– Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Mad Max– how can I NOT write this? I’ll be back….
17 and 16. Isn’t Ender’s Game + Groundhog Day already Edge of Tomorrow?
hahaha! Nice!
I got Pokemon meets The Wire. I write gay romance. I have no clue what I could do with that. Maybe inspiration will come.
Pickahu comin’!
Guardians of the Galaxy and The Silence of the Lambs. Groot Soup!
You hurt Groot and a lot of people are going to very displeased with you…just saying….
No Groots were harmed in the making of this story. http://carljshirley.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-silence-of-galaxy.html
Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Groundhog Day. Hoo boy.
I have had that nightmare.
I got The Princess Bride meets To Kill A Mockingbird.
I can already see possibilities.
your going to die in the hunger games, anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you.
I got Batman and Toy Story, but since that’s basically the Lego Side Plot, I re-rolled my second die.
Batman and Groundhog day it is.
I tried re-rolling when one of my options came up Pokemon. I’ve never seen Pokemon so I re-rolled and got 9 again. I think the universe is trying to tell me something – like … no cheating maybe. So Pokemon meets Mad Max it is. Time to do some research.
So glad to see this challenge again! It’s one of my favorites. (I got Rambo meets Friday the 13th last time and a whole book idea came off that…)
Damn you, Random Number Generator. Hunger Games + Doctor Who.
Lost time traveler stumbles into post-apocalyptic adolescent death match. Sounds like a best seller. Two year ago.
Wow..good luck.
Holy Hell that was hard. I went a bit over word count, but fuck it. It was fun and it was a great learning experience. SAFFRON http://jackleetaylor.com/2015/04/30/saffron/
I got “Twin Peaks meets The Stand”
I think Deadly Premonitions already did that.
I think you should take any roll that gives you Twin Peaks.
[…] idea came from fiction powerhouse Chuck Wending over at TerribleMinds. Check out his Flash Fiction Challenge and toss your own hat in the ring. Leave me a link if you decide to […]
Robocop meets Pacific Rim. Well, lots of robots then…
Oh, man. Great Gatsby meets Pulp Fiction. Is it wrong that I absolutely adore both of those in their own right? The two of them together is almost more than I can stand.
Gatsby’s dead, baby. Gatsby’s dead.
I totally want to read that one!
Whew. This one took longer than I wanted, and I’m not sure I got the challenge just right — this is more like I smashed the two stories together rather than smashing two of these “types” of stories together.
Nonetheless, lots of fun ensued. Be warned, there’s language (thanks Pulp Fiction), violence (thanks Pulp Fiction), and debauchery (thanks Gatsby) ahead.
“Collector’s Item” is here: https://pavorisms.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/collectors-item/
I got Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Groundhog Day. I also had some free time so I’m already done? Coming in at 1400 words, I’m pretty pleased with this one. https://awisheraliar.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/flash-fiction-challenge-x-meets-y/#more-284
well done. nice work getting the repetitiveness in there so fast.
I really liked this — the strong visuals, the repetition without being dull, and the creeping paranoia…excellent.
Hello J,
My favorite part of your story is when he was fretting over the 7:34… that’s funny. Thanks for the laugh.
Later,
WG.
Yo, J! I’m brushing my teeth still laughing at your number/time joke… Ha-ha… It reminds me when, about a week ago, I woke up depressed. Because I realized I’ll spend 1/3 of my life sleeping.
HAHAHAha… (who thinks of stuff like that?!)
I’m a fool, jeez.
That was really good. You did a really good job with keeping the repetition from getting boring and tedious.
I got Dirty Harry and Toy Story. Read it here: https://almosthuman1blog.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/billys-room-blues-flash-fiction-challenge/
That was pretty damn funny.
hilarious!
Bravo! Quite entertaining!
well that was dark as hell…I love it!!
This was genius. Laughed my fuzzy purple ass off.
Awesome! Hooked immediately.
I got Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Stand. They go together so well I’m almost disappointed.
I got Toy Story meets Twin Peaks. >:3 My mind has jumped into overdrive at the possibilities.
Well, here’s my piece, just under 2k. I mixed in my Grandma’s old house, 80’s and 90’s toys, and my fear of dolls. https://katethesape.wordpress.com/2015/05/01/nobody-puts-baby-in-the-corner-new-flash-fiction/
The first flash fic challenge I participated in here was this one, from earlier in the year as Chuck mentioned. Let’s see if I can do a better job this time
Well, looks like it’s Goodfellas meets The Matrix. Damn 20 sided die…
Here’s the result.
https://elctrcrngr.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/good-fellas-meets-the-matrix/
Hope you like it.
“Well, at least you’re not talking like a walk-on in The Godfather anymore.” — this made me laugh. Also, the last few lines. I liked the wry snark you put in this piece. Too fun! 😀
Thank you
Hmmm
X= Robocop
Y= Toy Story
Wtf. Josie and the Pussycats meets Pacific Rim.
OOOOOOkay, then.. Josie and the Pussycats v. Mad Max.
I couldn’t have picked two I gag at more. Time for a shot of anti-emetic. On the rocks, please.
Okay… I’ve chosen Paranormal Activity and The Matrix… and here’s what I came up with!
Enjoy!
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/she-is-one.html
Batman + Doctor Who
https://lostturnsoffate.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/hello-world/
very nice. loved the dialouge and the swearing became poetic when it came to ripping off limps.
[…] Wendig posted an X meets Y flash fiction challenge on his blog that involved rolling a D20 to generate an elevator pitch for a story, and I just […]
I got Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Mad Max, and I am giddy with excitement.
I got Pacific Rim, which I’m excited about. I love the concept of that movie and the graphics. Yay! My other pick is Twin Peaks. I have no idea what its about, not even from the trailer. But, I did recently read Pines, which was inspired by Twin Peaks. So I get the whole, everybody has a secret , messing with the mind thing. I think I’ll make the whole town have the secret. I’m little excited.
I’m excited. I got Pacific Rim. I love that movie. The concept is genius to me. Plus it robots with dragon like creatures, like duh! Then I have Twin Peaks, which I’m not sure what its about, not even from the trailer. But, I did recently read Pines which was inspired by Twin Peaks, so lets hope I get it right.
Robocop and Groundhog Day. I’ve never seen the second one – not sure if it was big outside of America – so I rolled the second die again. Silence of the Lambs. Okay. A cyborg named Clarice. I can do that. I went out with one once, so I’ll just strip away all rationality and accountability and tell it from her perspective.
https://p33d33.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/silence-of-the-robocop-a-chuck-wendig-challenge
Batman meets Se7en. The fiction gods just smiled on me.
Dracula meets Pacific Rim. Hmm a challenge – which is what this is all about. Maybe I can do something with that…
Twin Peaks meets The Matrix. The universe might implode if I write that. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow!
[…] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/04/24/flash-fiction-challenge-its-x-meets-y-again […]
[…] Friday YA and speculative fiction author Chuck Wendig has a prompt challenge (I don’t mean it’s timely) I don’t always have a go, and I often abandon attempts halfway through, but they’re […]
Here it is – Buffy meets Mad Max, in Aftermath. – http://andreaspeed.com/2015/flash-fiction-challenge-aftermath/
Very Nice.
I got Princess Bride and Die Hard.
Um. Okay. Here we go!
http://sheltonkeysdunning.blogspot.com/2015/04/if-princess-bride-and-die-hard-had-baby.html
this was pretty awesome. well done!
Thanks! I’ll take awesome.
I got Wheel of Time and Pacific Rim. This actually turned out to be a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy it. http://roktyping.blogspot.kr/
Guardians of the Galaxy meets the Matrix? I am not worthy.
It’s like ‘Terminator’ meets ‘Lord of the Flies’.
Lot of ways I can take that…
I’ve got “The Princess Bride” meets “The Matrix.” They are actually two of my favorites…This could be disastrous is so many ways.
Goodfellas and Ghost in the Shell…Epicness ensues.
I got 5 (War Games) and 19 (Mad Max)!
So here it is: http://www.tmpierson.squarespace.com/coffee-keys/2015/4/27/flash-fiction-entry
[…] our bearded mentor Chuck Wendig has issued another challenge. In which we used a random number generator to pick out two random […]
https://adamskistoryblog.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/the-slayer/
monsters inc. and buffy the vampire slayer. I think i might have caused a code red over at the factory but oh well…
hope you like it.
Oh yeah! And oh dear 🙂
Batman and The Stand
https://maymaysmayhem.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/batchoo/
[…] Chuck Wendig threw up his X meets Y challenge this week and I was so excited! I loved this challenge when he did it in January. I tried a random number generator but ended up with something I wouldn’t even know how to write, so I decided to pick it instead. After reading through the choices, I settled on one I thought could make an interesting story. What you have is Toy Story meets The Great Gatsby in a little over 1,800 words. I hope you enjoyed it. I had a blast writing it! […]
I have to admit that I didn’t random it. My first roll was Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Pacific Rim and I just couldn’t. What I did instead was Toy Story meets The Great Gatsby in a little over 1,800 words.
https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/flash-fiction-jacks-house/
Very nicely done.
That was delightfully depressing.
Uhm, that’s meant as a compliment.
I debated ending it happily, but it’s the Great Gatsby! There had to be a tragedy in there somewhere! And thank you so much! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
That was fantastic! I particularly enjoyed that the ending was sad, but neither maudlin nor melodramatic. You let the terrible event happen and you also let it stand on it’s own; so I ended up feeling rather than simply being told what was happening. Exceptional!
Wow, thank you so much!
[…] has been absolutely bananatown on the work and home front, I had to make time for Chuck Wendig’s latest writing challenge. It was my only solace of the week. Herewith, a mash-up between Twin Peaks and The […]
Two surreal worlds collide in a mash-up between Twin Peaks and The Matrix. I hope it’s suitably creepy! http://www.herravendomain.com/flash-fiction-challenge/