Flash Fiction Challenge: Ten More Titles (Round Two!)


Okay, so, a couple weeks ago I asked you guys to come up with three-word titles, and you did, in spectacular fashion. It fueled last week’s challenge.

And, because you were prolific and I am nothing if not a tremendously lazy human being, I’m going to dip back into the well for another ten titles. Pick one or use a random number generator to choose, then write a piece of short fiction to go along with the title.

One change this time around is my picks for title are not random —

I’m hand-picking ten that sound interesting.

Also, we’ll up the word count a little.

Get writing, word-nerds.

Length: ~1500 words

Due by: Friday, Feb 24th, noon EST

Post online, give us a link in the comments.

Your ten titles to choose from (title creators in parentheses) are:

  1. She Broke Gods (thomasmhewlett)
  2. Gunslinger Ridge Experiment (EGUW)
  3. Wolves of Sorrow (powerjacob)
  4. Tomorrow’s Mirror Today (stephen cowles)
  5. Stars That Bleed (kirajessup)
  6. To Forbidden Passengers (lydie h)
  7. The Porcelain Cat (d.moulou)
  8. It Wants In (mollons)
  9. Sincerely, Your Mortician (AN)
  10. Burr Edge Jitterbug (m. oniker)

79 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: Ten More Titles (Round Two!)”

    • I enjoyed this story a lot! It touches on some of my favourite themes, and you did a great job of conveying a mythological allegory to the questions of existence and the inevitability of human civilization’s evolution. Nicely done!

      • Thanks!
        (And apologies to others for not having been very good at doing similar critiques/praise this week. Been a hard week)

    • Brilliant! I like how the physical act of destroying the statues corresponds to the metaphysical act of bringing down centuries (or more) of oppression and antiquated beliefs.

      Not that I see parallels, or anything……..

    • Really enjoyed the noir-ness of this in the modern world. There’s some great lines in here as well, It’s a good start to the story, would like to read more.

    • Great setting and exciting way you set up the prompt. Didn’t even imagine it like that when I saw the title, but then your story was a great depiction for this title.

  1. Just wanted to say, these are some excellent titles. In fact, I’m already in the process of writing another flash fic for the “Gunslinger Ridge Experiment” title. The others also have a lot of potential… I could definitely see me using at least half of them.

    • I really, really liked this. Strong voice from the teenage girl, slightly creepy with the porcelain cat. You get a lot of emotional depth through understatement, which is fantastic. I’d be interested to see you develop it further, feels like it’s the start of a longer story.

    • This story has a wonderful narrative voice and pacing that was a pleasure to read. The ominous presence of the cat was creepy and a fitting symbol of this dysfunctional family. It gave me the sense that the narrator fears becoming like her mother, and grandmother, and turning the cat around at the end was her way of trying to reject that fate. Bravo, et merci de partager!

  2. I actually combined two of the titles to come up with “The Porcelain Cat Wants In” and then my story became a poem. I initially thought it was going to be an homage to “The Raven” but I was wrong (as usual). It’s only 183 words so I am also in the Way Under The Limit club this week. Please to enjoy, and please comment if you get a chance. I haven’t written a poem in years. I’ll be curious to know what you think of it.

    https://sambrady.wordpress.com/2017/02/22/chuck-wendig-the-porcelain-cat-wants-in/

Speak Your Mind, Word-Nerds

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: