Flickr has a function called INTERESTINGNESS.
Click that link. Go on, do it.
It will be the basis of this week’s challenge.
Click that link, and you’ll get a page of recent “interesting” photos.
Choose one, and use it as the basis for a 1000-word story.
Due next Friday (5/29), noon EST.
Write it at your online space.
Give us a link so we can see it.
Choose a photo.
Write.
Mark Gardner says:
I found this wood-grain stump thing: https://www.flickr.com/photos/borruga/17345285803/
So here’s an ‘adult’ flash for you all: https://article94.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/stirring/
May 22, 2015 — 3:53 PM
Catastrophe Jones says:
Quick on the draw, there; you just like to write smut don’t you? 😉
May 29, 2015 — 9:29 AM
Mark Gardner says:
Like all the best, right?
May 29, 2015 — 9:30 AM
Catastrophe Jones says:
Haha, exactly! 😀
May 29, 2015 — 10:29 AM
J. Grace says:
Here is mine. Thanks for the challenge.
https://gatheringmypieces.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/overdrawn/
May 22, 2015 — 5:17 PM
Haga Degrim says:
Really liked this one!
May 22, 2015 — 9:32 PM
J. Grace says:
Thanks!
May 29, 2015 — 1:15 PM
StarNinja says:
Powerful stuff. I also really liked this one! Thanks for sharing, J. Grace.
May 26, 2015 — 12:51 AM
J. Grace says:
Glad you loved it.
May 29, 2015 — 1:15 PM
Catastrophe Jones says:
Nicely done. Brings up a lot of memories.
May 29, 2015 — 9:30 AM
J. Grace says:
Good memories, I hope, or at least bittersweet ones.
May 29, 2015 — 1:16 PM
Allison Maruska says:
Great challenge. One pic jumped out at me right away.
http://allisonmaruska.com/2015/05/22/flash-fiction-talus/
May 22, 2015 — 7:57 PM
Catastrophe Jones says:
This one was awesome! OMG, Chet!
May 29, 2015 — 9:31 AM
Mozette says:
I couldn’t download my photo, so I had to describe it… sorry, but the owner of the photo disabled the downloading abilities on flickr… oh well. I hope this works out just as well. 😀
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2015/05/the-meeting-place.html
May 22, 2015 — 9:02 PM
thedebc says:
So sad, so sweet. Reminded me of “The Notebook.”
Well done.
May 23, 2015 — 10:35 AM
Mozette says:
Thank you. My Grandpa had Dementia, so I knew how to write it as I watched him slip away from us over a few years. It’s very sad to watch somebody do that… and yet, you wish they wouldn’t.
May 25, 2015 — 7:41 AM
SamKD says:
Yes I agree very well done. Good stuff there.
May 28, 2015 — 12:58 PM
Mozette says:
Thank you so much… I appreciate everyone’s feedback. 😀
May 28, 2015 — 8:06 PM
Catastrophe Jones says:
Heartbreaking.
May 29, 2015 — 9:32 AM
Ebonstorm says:
An image of Times Square:
We Now Return You to Our Scheduled Advertising:
http://hubcityblues.com/2014/09/30/our-scheduled-advertising/
May 22, 2015 — 9:33 PM
elctrcrngr says:
This is brilliant. I loved it!
May 22, 2015 — 11:12 PM
Mozette says:
Love it too! Reminds me of Gattica crossed with A.I and Total Recall.
May 22, 2015 — 11:17 PM
Mark Gardner says:
I’ll echo the other comments: excellent!
May 23, 2015 — 12:46 AM
Haga Degrim says:
This is awesome!
May 23, 2015 — 12:47 AM
thedebc says:
Okay, so this started off funny. I was laughing. But the more I read, the scarier it got. This is too close to actual possibility. Very well done, you scared the crap out of me lol.
May 23, 2015 — 10:34 AM
SamKD says:
Joining the choir–this is great!
May 28, 2015 — 1:06 PM
Catastrophe Jones says:
Dude. This is fucking *AWESOME*. Seriously. Now I want to adblock everything in the known universe.
May 29, 2015 — 9:32 AM
Ebonstorm says:
I already do. I listen to no advertising I can avoid. The older I get, the more distrustful of advertising I’ve become. I am glad the story reached so many. Thank you for the kind words.
May 29, 2015 — 10:20 AM
thedebc says:
Okay, so this is totally cheating. I admit it. But since I was late on the last challenge, I chose a picture from the site to match the story I wrote for the chase challenge! Cut me some slack, I’m a newbie to blogging, and it’s my very first post. Hope the link works … And hope you think the story is fun (campy, cheesy, cool-io daddy-o, or something)
Btw the picture website is awesome, thx Chuck!
http://wp.me/s6e1eO-curves
May 22, 2015 — 11:34 PM
Catastrophe Jones says:
Makes me want to go drag racing!
May 29, 2015 — 9:36 AM
Haga Degrim says:
Good challenge! It took me some time to decide which picture to use.
Monochromatic: https://hdegrim.wordpress.com/2015/05/23/monochromatic/
May 23, 2015 — 12:35 AM
StarNinja says:
Wow. That was… wow. The lack of information about what was happening just added to the anxiety and the creepiness factor. Very nicely done, Haga Degrim!
May 26, 2015 — 12:39 AM
Haga Degrim says:
Thanks! :DDD
May 28, 2015 — 10:44 AM
Catastrophe Jones says:
The crazy confusion and terror-factor make this one a fun read.
May 29, 2015 — 9:39 AM
thedebc says:
http://wp.me/s6e1eO-curves
Hope this works :0
May 23, 2015 — 5:29 PM
Pavowski says:
This one took me in an unusual direction. I settled on the photo found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/50242695@N04/17851066665/in/photostream/
I found the photo sort of captivating and vaguely haunting, though there’s nothing creepy about it at all, really. Anyway…
Here’s “Solo Shot”: https://pavorisms.wordpress.com/2015/05/23/solo-shot/
May 23, 2015 — 10:18 PM
elctrcrngr says:
Excellent writing as always. I’m at an age where I find myself going to many funerals, and this story really touched me.
May 28, 2015 — 10:12 AM
Pavowski says:
Thanks. Different is good sometimes.
May 28, 2015 — 1:46 PM
Catastrophe Jones says:
Man, like always, well done — I looked at the photo, too, and found it entirely haunting and I love the direction you went with it!
May 29, 2015 — 9:43 AM
Pavowski says:
I posted once but I think I overdid it with the links. Hope I don’t end up in the spam oubliette.
I found a photo sort of captivating and vaguely haunting, though there’s nothing creepy about it at all, really. The photo can be found in my post, but it’s an image of a lovely lady looking over the photographer’s shoulder as he/she shoots a picture of a mirror.
Here’s “Solo Shot”: https://pavorisms.wordpress.com/2015/05/23/solo-shot/
May 23, 2015 — 10:21 PM
Mark Gardner says:
I also posted yesterday and something ate my post, so repost: https://article94.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/stirring/
May 23, 2015 — 10:35 PM
Mozette says:
Well… very… wow!
May 28, 2015 — 9:15 PM
Mark Gardner says:
*grin*
May 28, 2015 — 10:05 PM
Haga Degrim says:
I’m reposting too, my last post didn’t work… Well, second try! Monochromatic: https://hdegrim.wordpress.com/2015/05/23/monochromatic/
May 23, 2015 — 11:03 PM
warjna says:
Okay, I hit the Flickr, and this was the first picture I saw. I liked it, so I clicked it to make it bigger and easier to see, and then hit the back button–and my picture went away! ;-( So I kept going through the pages, and didn’t see anything I liked better, and luckily it showed up again. This time I trapped it and kept it!
So here’s my story, and here’s the link:
https://warjna.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/the-tunnel/
Hope you like it!
BTW, can anyone tell me how to upload a picture to WordPress? Cause I can’t figure it out. And apparently I don’t know how to add a link here, either…
May 24, 2015 — 3:32 AM
StarNinja says:
It was hard to follow at first, but as I got used to Cass’ style of speech, I found it to be very engrossing. What would happen? What would she find? Me want know her finding! Nice story, nice plotting, nice ending, Five gold stars says I!
May 26, 2015 — 12:46 AM
J. Grace says:
Nice inner monologue 🙂
May 26, 2015 — 10:14 PM
Catastrophe Jones says:
Oh man. I love the syntax/diction. The inner monologue of Cass’s own way of thinking/talking was awesome.
May 29, 2015 — 9:47 AM
warjna says:
Thank you all! Yes, I do like playing with dialects, A LOT. I think Cass came out somewhat from recently seeing Mad Max: Fury Road, and remembering the child colony from Mad Max: Thunderdome. Wow, I REALLY loved what they did with their language there! “Listen, and ‘member.” Children tend to do that, elide parts of words and do strange things with syntax until adults teach them otherwise. But if there are no grown-ups to do that, they evolve their own from imperfectly remembered speech.
That’s what I was trying to do with Cass. Whatever happened, there was a breakdown of society to the point that there became two different stratified societies — Eloi and Morlocks, if you will. I don’t usually have a problem with that kind of thing, but this time it was hard — I had to keep going back and “correcting” the proper grammar in the story to fit with how Cass thought and spoke. Not her words — the story’s!
Thanks for the gold stars, StarNinja! I had no idea at all what I was going to write, I just started and let Cass tell me. I’m sort of a pantser with suspenders and a belt, meaning I generally start off as a pantser and then when I know what the story is I start to organize and see where it needs to go.
Something in the picture just struck a chord, I guess. That, and hearing some of the doom-saying from Stansberry Research about how the economy is going to crash and burn, and the fact that I’ve been out of work for — dear god! — five years and getting desperate for a job before MY economy goes down in flames. I think that the people in the Towers have some way of knowing who outside has skills they need. That’s where the “You get your Summons, you pack your bag, and you show.” came from. I don’t know what happens if you DON’T show; maybe they just go on to the next on their list. Or maybe there’s some security types Outside who enforce the Summons? More likely. It hadn’t been relevant to the original story, so I didn’t need to go there. Maybe I’ll come back to it later, though. It feels like the kind of thing that sticks in my mind like a sandspur. I do know that the City is based on my memories of Brooklyn and NYC, and the waterfall in the Atrium is a vague memory from some fancy hotel I saw somewhere. They do say ‘write what you know,’ yep!
June 8, 2015 — 6:44 AM
Helen Espinosa says:
Here’s my story and the photo I picked. https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/flash-fiction-the-beach-house-part-3/
May 25, 2015 — 12:22 AM
Catastrophe Jones says:
YOW. Love your taste for chilling descriptions.
May 29, 2015 — 9:50 AM
StarNinja says:
I got a lovely picture of Chicago called Blue Awakening and it got my brain gears turning. (Reminder to self: pick up Brain Gear oil on the way home from work.)
It ran a little over 1000 words, but most of those were variations on the word “fuck” so I called it good. Here it is on my brand spanking new WordPress blog thing: Wormhole Less Traveled. Enjoy!
https://wormholelesstraveled.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/blue-awakening/
May 26, 2015 — 12:30 AM
tonijnet says:
I really enjoyed this.
May 28, 2015 — 5:09 PM
StarNinja says:
I’m glad you did 🙂
May 28, 2015 — 9:46 PM
john freeter says:
I’ve been watching a lot of bad stuff on the news, so this story’s a bit of a downer–even if I like how it turned out.
https://johnfreeter.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/strictly-business/
May 27, 2015 — 12:29 AM
john freeter says:
BTW, I’d be careful about posting copyrighted images straight to your blog.
May 27, 2015 — 12:32 AM
PJ Carambia says:
Here is my random photo story. I liked this challenge because I have a hard time keeping things 1000 words or less. I managed to do it here. Hope everyone enjoys.
https://crazyphils.wordpress.com/2015/05/27/chuck-wendig-flash-fiction-challenge-random-pictures/
May 27, 2015 — 5:01 PM
SamKD says:
Still struggling with the 1000 word limit but not quite as awkwardly I hope:
http://samkdsonlinepace.blogspot.com/2015/05/flickr-photo-1000-word-challenge.html#!/2015/05/flickr-photo-1000-word-challenge.html
May 28, 2015 — 12:52 PM
StarNinja says:
That was very entertaining, SamKD. Great job! It reminded me a bit of the classic movie, The Sword in the Stone for some reason. Minus the tentacles of course.
May 28, 2015 — 4:57 PM
SamKD says:
Thanks! 🙂
May 28, 2015 — 5:41 PM
Ebonstorm says:
Holy cow! This thing is wild, untamed and yet even as it bucked, I felt compelled to understand what was happening. We never get the whole story, it just escalated into full-fledged pandemonium. Keep writing this, it has seeds of greatness within.
May 29, 2015 — 4:36 AM
SamKD says:
Thanks 🙂 In a small way you’ve endorsed the Actual Novel idea kicking around the back of my head for years.
May 29, 2015 — 9:07 AM
Henry says:
I found this beautiful picture of a building’s atrium: https://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_hamburg/18009740635/
And that, of course, made me think of noir and spies and eventually Carmen Sandiego, though that’s not exactly how it turned out.
Here’s 999 words of the good stuff: http://fistfulofwits.com/2015/05/28/flash-fiction-the-long-way-down/
May 28, 2015 — 2:58 PM
Alex Dunne (@alexbdunne) says:
Hello! I have been lurking around these parts for a while but decided to finally take the plunge and join in the flash-y fun. I’m a bit of a reluctant blogger, but I’m trying to get better! Anyway, here is my story:
http://codenameprocrastinator.blogspot.ca/2015/05/terrible-minds-flash-fiction-challenge.html
And here is the photo that inspired it:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnkok/17881770710/
Enjoy!
May 28, 2015 — 4:25 PM
Alex Dunne (@alexbdunne) says:
I tried posting this yesterday but it seems that I’m still under moderation for some reason…Was it something I said? Eek… Anyway, let’s try this again…
Hello! I have been lurking around these parts for a while but decided to finally take the plunge and join in the flash-y fun. I’m a bit of a reluctant blogger, but I’m trying to get better! Anyway, here is my story:
http://codenameprocrastinator.blogspot.ca/2015/05/terrible-minds-flash-fiction-challenge.html
And here is the photo that inspired it:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnkok/17881770710/
Enjoy!
May 29, 2015 — 8:52 AM
Catastrophe Jones says:
It’s the links. More than 1 in your reply and you end up in a moderation queue, I believe.
May 29, 2015 — 2:49 PM
Alex Dunne (@alexbdunne) says:
Lesson learned!!
May 29, 2015 — 2:50 PM
tonijnet says:
I got this ethereal photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottbaldock/17601415068/
and made a little horror-ish story for it: https://tonij.net/2015/05/28/tears/
May 28, 2015 — 4:38 PM
Rebecca Douglass says:
I embraced brevity, as it’s been a very busy week. My not-quite-500-word flash:
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2015/05/friday-flash-fiction-bench.html
I linked to the photo, as I’m not sure of protocol regarding copying.
May 28, 2015 — 4:48 PM
AlanWalker says:
I’m a brand new writer, so this was a great lesson. Thanks Chuck!
May 28, 2015 — 10:00 PM
AlanWalker says:
and I’m so n00b, I forgot to leave a link back to my blog. Here ya go!
http://withapologiestojt.blogspot.com/2015/05/flash-fiction-challenge-from-chuck.html
May 28, 2015 — 10:02 PM
nmdela says:
I broke the rules. It’s over 2k words and the picture doesn’t come into play until almost the end. Nonetheless:
https://storiesaboutnorah.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/the-arches-in-jerusalem/
May 28, 2015 — 11:07 PM
Jemima Pett says:
Really enjoyed that picture site, thank you Chuck.
I’ve got a Pete and the Swede story out of it, ⌗viridiansystem and I hope you like it. I went long, too – 1700
http://jemimapett.com/blog/2015/05/29/friday-flash-fiction-the-alien-among-us/
May 29, 2015 — 1:07 AM
Debbie says:
Here’s my story inspired by one of the Flickr pictures. I fictionalized something that actually happened.
http://www.mymothersbooks.com/five-hundred-books-in-a-convertible/
May 29, 2015 — 1:47 AM
Ebonstorm says:
So beautiful. My mother-in-law just passed away and we were confronted with the same dilemma. You captured it flawlessly. Thank you for sharing.
May 29, 2015 — 4:15 AM
SamKD says:
I agree–this really sings. I watered up a bit in the reading which is a sure sign of success.
(When my mother died a couple years ago I too canceled a return ticket in favor of driving her car home.)
May 29, 2015 — 9:30 AM
lissainkslinger says:
Some pictures leave the door wide open.
Thank you Chuck.
http://lissaword.blogspot.com/2015/05/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html
May 29, 2015 — 2:31 AM
Ebonstorm says:
A romp with characters as colorful as that photo demanded there be. Sympathetic, yet oh so gross… Well done. You may have to take this show on the road; it’s a tale which deserves an expansive treatment.
May 29, 2015 — 4:29 AM
SamKD says:
Wow, cool! All manner of potential…
May 29, 2015 — 9:35 AM
Alex Dunne (@alexbdunne) says:
I loved everything about this! From the photo that made me shudder slightly to the third paragraph about Rocinante the Wonder Horse which actually made me laugh out loud! Great stuff.
May 29, 2015 — 3:03 PM
momdude says:
It’s short, just over 500 words, feels like the opening scene of the opening chapter of something. I like it.
http://pauljwillett.com/2015/05/28/flash-fiction-deluge/
May 29, 2015 — 2:51 AM
Ebonstorm says:
An intriguing open. The scene was skillfully crafted and strongly visceral. I could FEEL the devastation all around me. You’re right. This has the taste of something bigger. Chase it!
May 29, 2015 — 4:20 AM
momdude says:
Thanks! I will!
May 29, 2015 — 8:34 AM
crow365 says:
Here’s my stab at it, “It’s Not Easy”: http://nickegelhoff.com/2015/05/29/flash-fiction-challenge-random-photo-challenge/
May 29, 2015 — 8:07 AM
SamKD says:
Neat twist on the image.
May 29, 2015 — 9:40 AM
cwdykes says:
Here’s mine!
http://www.loudlyintroverted.com/beach-brothers/
May 29, 2015 — 8:23 AM
Catastrophe Jones says:
I love this!
I have one tiny bit of criticism — the only bit that niggled at me.
You state he didn’t talk, and I felt like that was half the point — that he didn’t talk, but right after that, before the beach, you have him ask his brother if Iron Man can come.
Other than that, it’s a real heart-wrencher, and I loved reading it!
May 29, 2015 — 2:43 PM
cwdykes says:
Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the feedback! Maybe some rewriting is in order 🙂
June 1, 2015 — 12:25 PM
Catastrophe Jones says:
Here we go: http://wp.me/p1wqZB-OK
May 29, 2015 — 9:28 AM
J. Grace says:
Sweatslicked, feverdreamed, whitesunspace… what beautiful language. I can’t wait to read more of your work.
May 30, 2015 — 4:31 PM
Brad Peirson says:
Got tied up over the weekend. This actually went up on Thursday…
http://www.bradpeirson.com/flash-fiction-outcasts/
June 1, 2015 — 10:11 PM