This’un is another of my favorite challenges, as it’s always a hoot to see the results. Here’s how it works: roll a d20 or use a random number generator, once for each of the two tables below. (Or, if you really want, just pick two that tickle your pink parts.)
Then, take each of the results and mash them together in a flash fiction story.
The goal is not to tell a literal fan-fic story set in those pop culture storyworlds — though, I guess if you wanna do that, hey, YOU DO YOU. The goal is to take the spirit of those two properties and find a story that embodies the weird mashup. (The origins of this particular challenge come from that old Hollywood conceit of pitching your original story to executives as X meets Y — “It’s The Flintstones meets Nightmare on Elm Street ha ha ha right? BOOM NAILED IT.”) So, you might get 50 SHADES OF GREY MEETS D&D or MINECRAFT MEETS THE SHINING or SILENCE OF THE LAMBS MEETS JONNY QUEST and then you have to a tell a story representative of that mashup, not a story that literally mashes up those properties. Dig it? Dug it? Done.
You have, oh, let’s say 2000 words for this one.
Due back by next Friday, 2/19, noon EST.
Post the story at your online space.
Give us a link in the comments below so we can follow it back.
Now, the two tables –
Table X
- Scooby-Doo
- The Wheel of Time
- Die Hard
- Star Wars
- Silence of the Lambs
- Superman
- Batman
- The Martian
- Godzilla
- Friends
- Gone Girl
- Minecraft
- Neuromancer
- 50 Shades of Grey
- X-Men
- World War Z
- Fast and the Furious
- Sherlock Holmes
- Police Academy
- Alice in Wonderland
Table Y
- Orphan Black
- Paranormal Activity
- Looney Tunes
- Jonny Quest
- Jurassic Park/World
- The Hunger Games
- The Shining
- Reservoir Dogs
- Planet of the Apes
- Gilmore Girls
- Friday Night Lights
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Transformers
- When Harry Met Sally
- Rosemary’s Baby
- The Muppets
- The Last Starfighter
- Mad Max
- The Purge
- The Fly
55 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: Revenge Of X Meets Y Pop Culture Mashup”
AHHH I got Alice in Wonderland and Mad Max. I’m usually not one for Alice in Wonderland inspired-stories/spinoffs (mostly just because of overexposure) but this mash-up sounds so, so fun.
I’m not rolling yet; I’m considering which options tickle my pink parts.
And then I’m wondering what that may say about me.
I’m thinking Alice in Wonderland and Hunger Games. That could prove fun.
Fate handed me Godzilla and Orphan Black. It almost writes itself…
It really threatened to run away with me, so I had to cut it a little shorter than I would have liked. A little — okay, maybe a lot — campy.
The Sisters’ Snack is here: http://accidentallyinspired.com/2016/02/15/the-sisters-snack/
I got Die Hard and Gilmore Girls O_O
A mom travels to visit her daughter at college after they had a nasty fight at Thanksgiving, in the hopes of reconciling and bringing her home for Christmas — but when she gets there, this Detective Mom finds her daughter’s college has been taken over by an armed militia bent on robbing the university’s rare coin collection on display in the museum. Throw in lots of snappy banter and a yearning for coffee and you’re golden. 😛
After re rolling twice and having no idea what at least one of them is… I think I might just be too out of touch with pop culture…
Scooby-Doo and Paranormal Activity. That’ll be the first time that Scooby encounters a Ghost who is not just some guy in a mask.
Or it could be that Scooby uncovers that it was all a hoax to sell movies. (Ok Velma uncovers it…)
I got Neuromancer meets The Fly… which is perfect, given my biggest project can be described like that.
Alice and Wonderland and Gilmore Girls… An interesting mash-up, plus it’ll be a challenge to see if I can do Lorelai/Rory’s usual banter justice. *cracks knuckles* Let’s do this 🙂
Hmm, I got Police Academy and Dungeons & Dragons. That’s almost too perfect for me.
http://www.fatmaalici.com/2016/02/15/flash-fiction-challenge-pop-mashup/
As short as this was I found it really funny and contained a good deal of depth.
loved it.
Thanks, I really appreciate it. Been a rough week.
The hammer of inspiration has struck the anvil that is my skull. Thus, here is my The Martian meets The Purge flash fiction: Not Yet Done.
https://wormholelesstraveled.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/not-yet-done/
Shit got dark pretty quick so trigger warnings and all that jazz. Enjoy!
I got Gilmore Girls and Friends… sounds boring, but dunno…
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2016/02/stars-hollow-cafe.html
I so bad wanted to get Friends meets The Hunger Games. I didn’t. I’ll be back in 2,000 words.
Last week, the darn challenge stuck in my mind all week but didn’t come out until too late. This week, I’m getting it over with so my brain can get back to what I’m really supposed to be writing…
Pitch: In a dystopian future where the bioengineered simians and primates have taken over, only those humans with selectively evolved genes survived. Now, both species are caught in an existential struggle for dominance over the world where humans once reigned supreme. Think: X-Men (15) meets Planet of the Apes (9).
http://infamous-scribbler.com/blog/2016/02/13/pop-culture-mash-up-special/
Minecraft and The Purge. Things just got a whole lot nerdier, my friends!
Posted my X-Men/Planet of the Apes mashup … But I think it went to spam due to the link. 🙂 That was fun–thanks for the inspiration kick in the pants.
It’s a shame Buffy isn’t on here. You could pair up Buffy with Scooby Doo for a Scooby Gang megamix.
Ooh! that would have been great! 😀
After skimming the plot of The Purge and knowing who Superman is because I’m the average person with a brain, I’ve churned out 1457 words of a retired old man defending himself against the people he’s lived down the street. Except he’s a retired superhero. And he can kill people.
https://joeharris462blog.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/superman-meets-gore-porn/
Awesome!
fantastic and terrifying in a way.
well done
That was top notch storytelling. Great job, Boring And Unoriginal, because your story certainly wasn’t!
[…] from many prompts (the most recent of which I played fast and loose with), this little tale is not your typical love […]
I got The Martian meets The Purge. At first I thought mixing those two would be impossible. Then I figured it out. The result is this, the flash fiction: Not Yet Done.
https://wormholelesstraveled.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/not-yet-done/
Shit got dark pretty quick so trigger warnings and all that jazz. Enjoy!
Double post! Thought my comment got eaten by the Word Eaters of Blog Space.
Dark is good. Enjoyed it.
Glad you did, Rachel!
oohhhhh i want to hear more of this world. Loved it
I was surprised at how deep this world was when I started writing. Some of it came from ruminating on how to make a Martian/Purge mash-up work, but really there’s just a lot of story hooks and narrative potential there. Thanks for reading!
I used Gilmore Girls and The Fast & the Furious to add a second part to my serial story about a bunch of people at an Anti-Valentine’s Day party.
Part I: http://adanramie.com/2016/02/13/the-drunken-barista-part-1-serial-sunday/
Part II: http://adanramie.com/2016/02/14/the-drunken-barista-part-ii-serial-sunday/
Was hoping to see Downton Abbey on one the tables. Like Downton meets the Muppets could have been interesting — Mr. Carson is kind of a muppet already, as is Mr. Mosley… and of course the Dowager.
[…] this weeks Flash Fiction Challenge I got Police Academy Meets Dungeon and Dragons. The post ended up being a bit on the short side. It […]
[…] This week’s Chuck Wendig flash fiction challenge is to take two different pop-culture story worlds and mash them together to write a new story. It’s not necessarily a fan-fiction challenge, but that’s sort of how mine turned out. I got World War Z and Jurassic Park. There’s really only one place that combo could go. I hope you like it. […]
I got World War Z meets Jurassic Park. There was pretty much only one way this could have gone, I think, even if it is probably Jurassic Park fan-fic,
https://sambrady.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/chuck-wendig-world-war-v/
[…] week’s flash fiction comes to you courtesy of Chuck Wendig’s X meets Y pop-culture mashup. I started with great ideas for this one, but it seemed like too much story for the space allotted, […]
[…] flash fiction challenge from Chuck Wendig’s blog; this one was another mash-up challenge, and I wound up rolling for a combo of Mad Max and The […]
The Martian plus Mad Max equals “Safe Places, Far Away”. https://aimeeogdenwrites.wordpress.com/2016/02/16/fiction-safe-places-far-away/
These are hard for me. I know so few of the shows referenced.
This took me longer than I would have liked, and I’m a bit iffy on how it turned out.
Feedback is very welcome.
https://dcxli.wordpress.com/2016/02/17/superman-x-hunger-games/
Well, dcxli, I thought it was terrific. Always a sucker for superhero/comic stories and this was reminiscent of those battleworld/warworld types you see a lot in comics. Good job!
I’m glad you liked it. I managed to get distracted, as I often do, and I didn’t have enough time to flesh out the world as much as I would have liked.
I got Star Wars and Minecraft – and then returning here I realised I’d taken both off list X. Oh well… I give you Balancing the Buks.
http://jemimapett.com/blog/2016/02/19/friday-flash-fiction-balancing-the-buks/
All right, here you go. DIE HARD meets THE MUPPETS in “Exit Stage Left” https://wordpress.com/post/mxgomez.wordpress.com/289
May have gotten the link wrong. Try this: https://mxgomez.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/exit-stage-left-a-chuck-wendig-challenge/
I had to cheat a bit, not knowing most of the references well enough to distill their essences. I picked a couple I did know, and give you the intersection of Scooby-Doo meets The Hunger Games.
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2016/02/friday-flash-just-another-job.html
Hey y’all! I got Friends meets The Purge. Please tell me what you thing!
http://cubiclemonster.weebly.com/writings
er…*think*. oops.
On his death day, Ina Mae chops wood.
Star Wars meets The Muppets. Hmmmmmm….