Chuck Wendig: Terribleminds

Flash Fiction Challenge: The Dead Body

So many stories begin with a dead body.

A dead body is a gateway to mystery.

A story to be solved.

The aftermath of incident that leads to further incident.

It works across a variety of genres, a plethora of storytelling styles.

Dead bodies: they do a story good.

AND SO, today’s flash fiction is precisely that — I want you to take your story and it must begin with a dead body. That’s it. That’s the only stipulation. In the first paragraph you must introduce a dead body. Doesn’t matter the context or the genre. But you gotta check that box marked

[ ] DEAD BODY.

You get 1000 words, as usual. Due by the 19th, at noon EST. Post the story at your online space, then drop a link in the comments below so we can all go check it out.

Begin.

terribleminds

251 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: The Dead Body”

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    • The only critique I have is right at the beginning. For some reason I thought the narrator’s job was having to watch snuff videos, perhaps looking for evidence, or trying to establish veracity. I didn’t get that it was a time skip until the very end. Is there any way to clarify the jump?

      Reply

  13. As a newby here, I need to know da rulz. Are these supposed to be complete beginning to end stories or can they be ‘chapters’ that might make the reader want to read more to find out what happens? Not that I care much about rules, but I like to know how to best break them.

    Reply

      • Not on terribleminds, no. But I’ve put a few things up in writing.com that did OK, and I’m 400 pages into a novel. The opposite challenge to trying to write a complete detective story in 1000 words. Yikes! Haven’t tried to publish anything yet. Thanks immensely for the compliment, Eva.

        Reply

    • Great story! I enjoyed the humanistic banter, sounded like real people.

      Like you, this challenge was my first stab at writing for others to see, as well as blogs in general. For me, it is a tad overwhelming at first but I am getting the hang of it. Good luck in your writing journey.

      Reply

      • Thanks, CR. I work hard at dialog. My wife thinks I’m nuts, sitting at my computer playing all the parts in different voices. She may be right. But I don’t care, it’s fun. And I have to hear it out loud to get it anywhere close to my take on authentic.

        I’ll look for your work on this site too. It is overwhelming and challenging without a doubt to get naked in public here, but the writers in this community offer a lot of support for each other. Good luck to you as well.

        Reply
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