Once again, last week’s challenge is worth your look-see — “MUST LOVE ROBOTS.” Scan the comments. Find the delicious robot stories contained within.
And now for this week’s challenge.
Here, then, is a list of six sub-genres:
Steampunk.
Superhero.
Noir.
Erotica.
Farce.
Men’s Adventure.
Your job is to choose two of these and mash them up into one crazy flash fiction tale. Superhero Erotica? Steampunk Noir? Men’s Farcical Adventure? Mix, match. Go nuts.
You’ve got 1000 words.
Due by July 1st (Friday) at noon (EST).
Here’s the second thing, though: I’ll pick my favorite story out of the bunch and offer that writer a critique of up to 5,000 words of fiction (short story, part of a novel, whatever).
So, jump in. Get writing. Write so it rocks.
See you on the other side when you invent your own sub-sub-genres.
EDIT:
Happy July 4th, peeps.
Okay, finally gone and read all the flash fiction entries.
Some really strong stuff here. Like, wow. Monkey heads and Mister Polisher and the grim relationship between hooker and john. In the end, it came down to Amber Gardner’s superhero-noir (“Savior“) and, well, Jim Macfee’s Superhero Noir (“Sanction“). In terms of picking folks who might want an edit, I’m looking for a few things, right? I’m looking for stuff that’s good. I’m looking for writers with potential, even if that potential hasn’t been realized. And I’m looking for a selfish fix to read more of their work.
Even now I pinball between the two stories.
So, I’m going to cheat and pick both, giving one the “2nd prize” treatment.
I’m picking Jim for the 5k edit.
I’m picking Amber for a smaller 2.5k edit.
Congrats, both of you crazy kids. Bounce me a mail at chuckwendig [at] terribleminds [dot] com.
56 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: Sub-Genre Mash-Up”
…..*stares at sub-genres* …What’s Men’s Adventure?
@Amber:
I refer you to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_adventure
And
http://www.menspulpmags.com/?zx=5cf41b51d665a781
Very pulpy stuff.
— c.
@Chuck
*attacks links*
Thank you! I think I shall accept this challenge and mash up Superhero with…something. Noir or Men’s Adventure. Or maybe both.
http://porte.livejournal.com/405175.html
Can I mail you a copy of Watchman, call it Superhero Noir, and collect my critique? No? Damn.
Gotta skip a couple weeks (family and friends arriving), but thank you for continuing to do this. It expands my warped mind.
Can we be creative and make men’s adventure into gay erotica?
@Chadwick:
Your mileage is your own, sir.
— c.
This was an interesting challenge. Here’s my attempt at Noirish Steampunk:
http://josinlmcquein.blogspot.com/2011/06/flash-fiction-challenge.html
Never written any steampunk before, or farce for that matter, but this somehow just made me vomit out a flash fic:
http://epicureaninkblot.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/a-steampunk-farce/
I’ll throw my hat in the ring.
Here is my farce/erotica mash-up:
http://samuraidork.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/sub-genre-mash-up/
Speaking of mooshed genres, what’s that I see over there in your Twitter stream? “Literary Horror”? Does that just mean very well written horror?
Working on literary thriller, myself, I hope.
[…] The Time Traveller’s Baby-Momma June 24, 2011 at 10:03 PM | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment This is another in the series of flash fiction from Chuck Wendig’s site “Terrible Minds.” The mission? One thousand words, mixing together a couple of these sub-genres: Steampunk, Super hero, Noir, erotica, farce, and men’s adventure. I’m not sure what some of those are. Check out the other entries here: Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge, “Sub-Genre Mash-Up.” […]
The comment I left the other day was longer than this story. Sorry about that, by the way. Sorry about this, too. I still don’t know what some of those sub-genres are. I always thought that erotica, like noir, was more a state of mind than anything.
The Time Traveler’s Baby-Momma
Here is my Friday Flash Fic… Steampunk/Noir Robin2917
It’s a little longer than 1000 words, but this time I didn’t cut and slash to fit. It is what it is.
http://wp.me/p1BAlV-x
For some reason, I don’t think I was able to leave a comment at Josin’s story. I just wanted to tell you I enjoyed it very much.
Yo, how do you want to flash turned in? I chose erotic farce so it is a little (cough) dirty.
Steampunk/Erotica.
Aurelia’s Adonis: http://j.mp/jdXdq0
There’s an awful, awful, AWFUL pun involved if you can work it out.
Dear Chuck
Here’s my entry. Superhero Noir. It’s called “Mr Cellophane”
http://www.michaelstuarttrimmer.co.uk/mr_cellophane.html
Yours sincerely
Michael Trimmer
Had a good time working on this one. Hope you enjoy my contribution (and humble nod to the Royal Kingdom of Penmonkey-dom) of Noir/Erotica:
http://warnerkirby.blogs.com/clintonaut/2011/06/sacrifice-to-the-gypsy-monkey.html
Awesome, as always, Chuck. Thanks for the opportunity.
This was pretty fun. I chose to do steampunk noir.
http://digitalinkwell.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/flash-fiction-challenge-mr-polisher-is-dead/
Thanks! =)
My offering: http://lesannberry.blogspot.com/p/late-for-life.html
Ooh, fun! Being forced to write outside my preferred genre/comfort zone sounds like a wonderful exercise. I think I’ll whip up some Superhero-Noir for the occasion.
One (unrelated) question:
Why does my wordpress.com login not work here, so everyone can see my oh-so-creepy avatar? Is it because you use wordpress.org? Seems weird.
Sorry, I had to reorganize my site. Here’s the working link: http://lesannberry.blogspot.com/2011/06/late-for-life.html
My personal favorite of these was Brenad Stokes Barron’s “Mr Polisher is Dead.” Plus extra points to her for having a steampunkish sounding name.
However, I liked all of them. I think I need to pick up some Mickey Spillane.
Plus I read the rules wrong. I thought the *loser* should get the critique.Wouldn’t that person need it more? That’s what I was aiming for. Honest.
Thanks, oldestgenxer. Though somehow I managed to misspell my own name in the comment form. lol Brenda might not be quite as steampunkish
Dearest Chuck,
Please note that laughing so hard that you pee yourself over my first attempt at fiction EVER is not a critique.
Here goes nothing.
http://www.lordnoar.com/writing/salvage.html
Okay, this just seemed like too much fun not to try. Enjoy my superhero/noir mashup. The Dame.
http://johnvise.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/flash-fiction-the-dame/
Some excellent entries so far. Here’s my Superhero-Noir mashup, please to enjoy!
http://rogerkilbourne.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/terribleminds-sub-genre-mashup-challenge/
Well, I think they’re a bit long to count as flash fiction, but I’ve been working on a series of erotica/men’s adventure stories. They’re inspired by pulps from the 70s and 80s like The Destroyer and Mack Bolan.
http://www.literotica.com/s/jake-hunter-an-unexpected-reward
http://www.literotica.com/s/jake-hunter-jake-in-cuffs
(Note, that’s not my blog, that’s an erotic stories site. Definitely NSFW and very likely blocked by most work networks.)
Here’s my mashup, it’s a steampunk/men’s adventure that somehow ended up like an uber pulp version of Heart of Darkness. If you’re still on board and don’t mind an obscure Indiana Jones reference, please to enjoy:
Sergeant Killman and the Jungle Orgy of Blood
http://8thage.blogspot.com/2011/06/sergeant-killman-and-jungle-orgy-of.html
[…] An erotica/noir story for Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge: Sub-Genre Mash-up. […]
Working the Beat (Erotica/Noir)
Airship pirates and pseudo-Victorian whores count as Steampunk, right? Well if they aren’t then I guess this can’t be steampunk/erotica I’ve written, but it’s supposed to be.
http://metamuse-aiwevanya.blogspot.com/2011/06/ther-serenade.html
(The Title is Æther Serenade but urls and the ‘Æ’ character don’t mix)
http://schwarztkd.livejournal.com/13186.html
This was too much fun. I wasn’t expecting some parts of it, but the first person narrative evolved really naturally and fit the mood I wanted, the same applies to the ending. It’s just under 800 words but trying to make it longer felt forced and I prefer the result I stuck with.
The superhero and noir genres mash their naughty bits together.
“Sanction”
http://macfee.net/sanction/
I don’t know if this counts, since it is more of one genre with a cameo from another, but here it goes.
http://downrange-impact.blogspot.com/2011/06/robbery.html
you have such a talented following i’m sure another will win, but i love a good flash mash up! hated cutting it to 1000, i wanted to go somewhere else with it. i may have to turn it into a short story, it was fun! thanks!
http://taratylertalks.blogspot.com/2011/06/potent-potable.html
I tried for Steampunk Erotica but I didn’t really go all the way. (Yeah, entendres abound.)
http://tribid.livejournal.com/16802.html
I would like to play but unfortunately I have to write a funeral tribute to a recently deceased friend. Unless I write it as an erotic farce. Hmm. Could work.
There are some fun stories here!
May I present my story, “Lady Dick”, combining noir and erotica from the femme fatale’s point of view.
http://jlealopez.blogspot.com/2011/06/noirotica-subgenre-mashup.html
Here’s my entry, using Steampunk and Superheroes http://snellopy.blogspot.com/2011/07/steampunk-superheroes.html
I guess it would be farce as well, if you found the idea of the Batusi aborrhent.
Normally I’d slack off at work on Fridays by reading other people’s entries, but with erotica thrown in the mix, I guess that’ll have to wait for the weekend.
Yay, finished!
http://robynettely.blogspot.com/2011/06/flash-fiction-challenge-littlewatchgirl.html
[…] Check out last week’s players in the “Sub-Genre Mash-Up.” […]
Alright, well I think this might not count. I went with Steampunk/Super-villain…Yeah I see that it said superhero, but this is the direction I went. Still fun to write.
Ok so apparently the link goes under my avatar, but feel free to click here: http://wp.me/p1AW5f-A
I had a lot of fun with this one mainly as I’ve been toying around with a superhero type novel project with the premise of what would it actually be like to be Superman, someone who exists outside the laws of physics while living inside a world bound by those rules.
So this is the first pass at writing into this frame and I went a might long.
I cut about 700 words out, mostly descriptions but here we go:
Alley of Blood
http://defconwhiskey.tumblr.com/post/7118141005/alley-of-blood
I missed @Bets comment earlier —
Bets, just post at your bloggery-space, and link over here, as the other folks have done. That work for you? Thx!
— c.
My entry! http://wp.me/p1vufx-1Z
A little last minute, but I think I still make it…
[…] that time of the week again! Another entry for Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge. This week is a mix of two subgenres. I picked Noir and Superhero. Never read Noir before, so I […]
whn’s there going to be a winner?
@Anon:
I should have ’em all read by tomorrow morning! A helluva lot of entries, and so many good ones. Just want to be fair and make sure I read ’em all.
— c.
EDIT:
Happy July 4th, peeps.
Okay, finally gone and read all the flash fiction entries.
Some really strong stuff here. Like, wow. Monkey heads and Mister Polisher and the grim relationship between hooker and john. In the end, it came down to Amber Gardner’s superhero-noir (“Savior”) and, well, Jim Macfee’s Superhero Noir (“Sanction”). In terms of picking folks who might want an edit, I’m looking for a few things, right? I’m looking for stuff that’s good. I’m looking for writers with potential, even if that potential hasn’t been realized. And I’m looking for a selfish fix to read more of their work.
Even now I pinball between the two stories.
So, I’m going to cheat and pick both, giving one the “2nd prize” treatment.
I’m picking Jim for the 5k edit.
I’m picking Amber for a smaller 2.5k edit.
Congrats, both of you crazy kids. Bounce me a mail at chuckwendig [at] terribleminds [dot] com.