Last week’s challenge: “Write What You Know“
It’s the Game of Aspects, and you know the drill.
Grab a ten-sided die or click over to a random number generator.
Choose three random numbers between 1-10.
That corresponds to a subgenre / setting / element to include.
Those are now the parameters of your story.
(So, you might randomly get: superhero / Titanic / love letter, for instance.)
You have — well, let’s up the numbers a bit. You have 1500 words.
Due by next Friday, March 1st, at noon EST.
Post at your blog or online space. Link back here in the comments.
Now go forth and randomize!
Subgenre
- Superhero
- Erotic Fairy Tale
- Sword & Sorcery
- Slasher Horror
- Bumbling Detective
- Time Travel Romance
- Zombie Apocalypse
- Parallel Universe
- Technothriller
- Magical Realism
Setting
- High school prom
- On board the Titanic
- In a vampire’s subterranean lair
- At the gates of the Garden of Eden
- A shopping mall
- A Martian greenhouse
- The capital city of a lost civilization
- A king’s throne room
- An amusement park after dark
- In the home of the gods
Element To Include
- Warring Families
- A Love Letter
- A Puzzle Box
- Elves
- A Talking Sword
- Artificial Intelligence
- A Mysterious Stranger
- A Lost Painting
- A Dream
- A Magical Pocketwatch
Phil Norris says:
Thanks to random.org I’ve been given Slash Horror/At the gates of the garden of Eden/Artificial Intelligence.
Oh boy.
February 22, 2013 — 10:28 AM
Paul Baughman says:
Oh, my. This will be … interesting
2 – Erotic Fairy Tale
8 – A King’s Throne Room
6 – Artificial Intelligence
February 22, 2013 — 10:35 AM
Paul Baughman says:
Hmm, this actually didn’t turn out too bad. I might just polish it up and submit it for publication instead of posting it.
I will say it is about 1,400 words and titled The Iron Knight and the Fairy Tail.
February 26, 2013 — 7:17 AM
Jack Vanish says:
Parallel Universe/A King’s Throne Room/A Mysterious Stranger. Callooh, callay.
February 22, 2013 — 11:05 AM
Shelly Tennyson Taylor says:
Hmm this will be interesting.
I have Superhero/At the gates of the Garden of Eden/Artificial Intelligence….
February 22, 2013 — 11:45 AM
Troy L says:
9 7 1 technothriller capital of a lost civ and warring familes. Sounds like my kind of story.
February 22, 2013 — 12:51 PM
Troy L says:
Totally late and only a first draft. http://wp.me/p31vkg-2j
March 7, 2013 — 12:23 PM
Laila says:
Time Travel Romance/an amusement park after dark/a magical pocketwatch.
This is perfect! I’m very excited :-).
February 22, 2013 — 2:54 PM
Riley Hill says:
Hmm. Randomity selected me for “Time Travel Romance, Amusement Park After Dark, and A Puzzle Box.” Yup. My kind of creepy–with a twist.
February 22, 2013 — 3:01 PM
Riley Hill says:
Finally got around to posting it. My apologies to those who tried to read it earlier.
February 23, 2013 — 3:03 PM
S.W. Sondheimer says:
Zombie Apocalypse/In the Home of the Gods/A puzzle box
February 22, 2013 — 4:22 PM
Anthony Elmore says:
Subgenre: Zombie Apocalypse
Setting: A Martian greenhouse
Element: A Dream
February 22, 2013 — 8:33 PM
Jonathan Hepburn (@JonathanHepburn) says:
Well, somebody else’s D10 (You Know Who You Are) gave me:
Timetravel Romance
Garden of Eden
A Dream
Well, clearly there was only one way to go with *that*.
So it’s here: http://jonathanh.dreamwidth.org/394.html
February 22, 2013 — 9:33 PM
S.W. Sondheimer says:
And away we go!
*Ahem* Enjoy.
http://swsondheimer.wordpress.com/this-just-in/brains/
February 22, 2013 — 10:13 PM
Jeff Xilon says:
Looks like I’ll be writing something with a parallel universe, the capital city of a lost civilization and a puzzle box. Well, that just writes itself. Seriously. Looking forward to writing it.
February 22, 2013 — 10:27 PM
Lester Nieves says:
Rolled the “die” four times for each category, then picked the following from the results:
Subgenre: Magical Realism
Setting: High school prom
Element: A Magical Pocketwatch
The resulting story, titled “A Pocketful of Bliss,” has been posted:
http://lonieves.wordpress.com/fiction-insanity/a-pocketful-of-bliss/
February 22, 2013 — 11:05 PM
Lester Nieves says:
Subgenre: Magical Realism
Setting: High school prom
Element: A Magical Pocketwatch
This is the resulting story: http://lonieves.wordpress.com/fiction-insanity/a-pocketful-of-bliss/
February 22, 2013 — 11:26 PM
RJ Cresswell (@thecresswellian) says:
Subgenre: Slasher horror
Setting: An amusement park after dark
Element to include: A love letter
I think I can do something with this.
February 22, 2013 — 11:53 PM
Travis Weston says:
Parallel Universe / A Martian greenhouse / Warring Families…this should be interesting.
February 23, 2013 — 9:23 AM
Travis Weston says:
http://travisweston.wordpress.com/war-of-the-red-planet/
I was right, it was interesting…
February 23, 2013 — 10:48 AM
Jess Riegler says:
267. Yes, the Martian Greenhouse. Caution: 18+ Explicit, but it could be worse
The Mysterious Stranger: http://jess-riegler.blogspot.de/2013/02/an-erotic-fairy-tale.html
February 23, 2013 — 11:54 AM
crow365 says:
I received “Slasher Horror”, “in the home of the gods”, and a “puzzle box”.
So, I give you, “The Doom”: http://nickegelhoff.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/flash-fiction-challenge-game-of-aspects-redux/
February 23, 2013 — 12:01 PM
andybarret says:
Subgenre – Slasher Horror
Setting – Vampire’s Lair
Element – Magical Pocketwatch
http://andrewbarret.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/last-man-standing/
I hope the link works…I am a bit of a luddite when it comes to blogs.
Have a look. I may have deviated a tad from the ‘script’ a bit.
February 23, 2013 — 12:03 PM
Haralambi Markov says:
Oh dear:
– Erotic Fairy Tale
– Martian greenhouse
– Warring families
I think will be interesting!
February 23, 2013 — 12:44 PM
Brian C Hall says:
I got 7, 5 and 3. Zombie apocalypse in a shopping mall with a puzzle box. Seemed too boring at first, what with the Dawn of the Dead similarities, but I think I did all right with it.
“Wicked Dead, Right?”
http://anunreadwriter.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/wicked-dead-righ-terribleminds-flash-fiction-challenge-8-feb-2013/
February 23, 2013 — 4:42 PM
Brian C Hall says:
Oh, and it’s short. 320 words… ish.
February 23, 2013 — 4:45 PM
Jack Vanish says:
Another! (Parallel Universe/A King’s Throne Room/A Mysterious Stranger)
“Quitting While A Head”.
http://flyknifecomics.com/terribleminds-flash-fiction-2/
I don’t think I like it as much as my last one, but ah well, such is life.
February 24, 2013 — 7:03 PM
zaiure says:
I ended up with an erotic fairy tale, in a shopping mall, with a mysterious stranger. More funny than erotic, but this is what my brain came up with. 😉
Hansel & Gretel – http://wp.me/p1bJ3V-KC
February 25, 2013 — 1:39 AM
Eva T says:
I got Technothriller / In the home of the gods / A magical pocketwatch. I actually had a lot of fun with it. http://evathereseebert.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/flash-fiction-challenge-game-of-aspects-redux/
February 25, 2013 — 7:25 AM
beauhall says:
Your options are good enough, but I chose to pick my own: Idiot Savant Brother / Las Vegas / Scientology
I kid. I got Parallel Universe Gates of Eden with Warring Families. Gonna be fun.
February 25, 2013 — 12:07 PM
antipelican says:
Slasher/horror in a vampire’s subterranean lair, with warring families. GREAT, I said to myself. ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. This is going to be easy. Except not. You can find the dubious results here: http://booksishouldhavereadalongtimeago.tumblr.com/post/43993292233/writing-challenge-interlude-midnight-hunters
It’s called Midnight Hunters, and there are things that are fabulous. And then some things that are a bit less fabulous. Also loose bowels. It has that, too.
February 25, 2013 — 1:10 PM
andybarret says:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I especially liked the introduction of the cannibalistic undead entity. Good mixture of horror and humour. This is the sort of thing, if you pardon the pun, I devour.
February 28, 2013 — 7:03 AM
antipelican says:
Thank you! Slasher horror is the one genre I really DON’T enjoy reading, so this was an interesting challenge. The humour wormed its way in despite my best efforts to be straight-faced about the whole affair.
March 1, 2013 — 9:40 AM
Damien says:
Just sat down and knocked it out!! Woohoo! Got it done early! 🙂 I rolled the dice three times for each choice and ended up with:
Subgenre- Sword&Sorcery
Setting- High School Prom
Element to include- A Dream
Critiques are welcome. This was a fun one for me to do.
http://sidtrickster.blogspot.com/
February 25, 2013 — 3:02 PM
Jack Vanish says:
Your writing has a couple of technical issues that you might want to look into. For example, it’s ‘earshot’, not ‘ear shout’; ‘muck up’ is a verb, not an adjective; and ‘retch’ (puke) and ‘wretch’ (a detestable or unpleasant person) are two different words. There’s also some weird phrasing, like ‘one of my other friends would accidentally be bumped into’ (an improvement might be ‘one of my other friends would accidentally bump into him’). There’s some mechanical sentence structure and fragmenting throughout, but that’s all just style, nothing that can’t be fixed. I don’t know how much of it was intentional- you’re writing in a first person perspective as someone unhinged, so I’m not sure if the halting cadence of the writing was supposed to reflect that or not. Regardless, look into patching up some of the technical aspects of your writing, it’ll help.
As to the content, it’s a strange take on the elements you were given and not the one I would have gone with, but it’s novel and that always counts (and who cares what I would have gone with, anyway). The subversion on the usual tropes is interesting, and I think you’ve got the germ of a chilling but uncomfortably sympathetic character here. Your story made me feel sullied and weird, like I was party to what was going on, and it’s always sorta cool to read something that gives me that experience.
All in all I think that if you have the time and the inclination this might be something to revisit and toy around with. Practice your writing style and technique; your ideas are solid but I think they could stand to be expressed better. Improve the flow of your writing and I think you stand a pretty decent chance of creating a weird, uncomfortable story that explores the story behind this creepy character a little more thoroughly.
February 25, 2013 — 8:57 PM
Damien says:
Damn! I think that was one of the best critiques I have ever gotten. Thank you for that. I will definitely look into the technical issues you were talking about. Sometimes, I have a problem thinking as a reader when I am writing a story (something I know others deal with as well).
Thank you again. 🙂
Damien
February 25, 2013 — 10:24 PM
Kortnee says:
I got bumbling detective in the capital city of a lost civilization with a magical pocketwatch. This was actually kind of fun to write! Comments welcome, of course.
http://steponthejourney.blogspot.com/2013/02/bonus-flash-fiction-detective-and.html
February 25, 2013 — 5:44 PM
Tia Kalla (@tiakall) says:
I got Sword and Sorcery, Martian Greenhouse, and love letter. Which led to, well… “Saturday Night at the T’mosralshal’dak”: http://itt.ymakadomain.com/?p=110
February 26, 2013 — 1:05 AM
Indru says:
I got Sword&Sorcery/In a Vampire’s Subterranean Lair/A Talking Sword. Epic! Going to try something, I’ll be back!
February 26, 2013 — 9:39 AM
pgdejonge says:
Sword and Sorcery at the Gates of the Garden of Eden with a talking sword.
Lots of lovely Jewish symbols to use. About 4 hours writing time. Fun. Called it the Mark of Cain. http://pgdejonge.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/the-mark-of-cain/
February 26, 2013 — 9:48 AM
Josh Loomis says:
Parallel Universe in a Vampire’s Subterranean Lair with a Mysterious Stranger.
http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/2013/02/26/flash-fiction-mutter/
February 26, 2013 — 10:13 AM
Anthony Elmore says:
Subgenre: Zombie Apocalypse
Setting: A Martian greenhouse
Element: A Dream
We’ve met the Triffids, and the Triffids are us.
http://www.barelyok.com/terribleminds-flash-fiction-challenge-game-of-aspects-redux.html
February 26, 2013 — 10:36 AM
Olivia Kelly says:
My parameters are Erotic Fairytale, High School Prom and A Talking Sword. Interesting as always, Chuck. My post is up on my website’s blog:
http://oliviakellyauthor.weebly.com/blog.html
Thanks for the challenge!
February 26, 2013 — 10:56 AM
blah blah blonde says:
One word – sexy.
Damn!
February 27, 2013 — 8:53 AM
Carrie says:
I had Sword & Sorcery, King’s Throne Room, a magic pocket watch.
http://museunleashed.com/2013/02/25/occupational-hazards/
February 26, 2013 — 11:06 AM
Olivia Kelly says:
Ah, yes, and comments are welcome. Please, if you have something to say, go for it!
February 26, 2013 — 11:11 AM
Curtis Edmonds (@Curtis_Edmonds) says:
In this installment of the Thor Slaymaster Chronicles, Thor visits the lost city of Washington, D.C. to retrieve a priceless French painting. http://www.curtisedmonds.com/thor-slaymasters-national-treasure/
This was difficult, because I had the story finished at about 1150 words. That’s more or less what I try to do; then it is just a matter of taking out the unneeded words. Easy enough. But this challenge was for 1500 words, and I didn’t notice it until I had done my first round of edits. I had to go back and put stuff in, which was kind of a pain, and I don’t think it helped the story that much.
February 26, 2013 — 4:36 PM
onethemis says:
1500 is the limit. If you can convey what you want in less that’s not a bad thing you know. If you have a well formed and cohesive story dont throw junk in just to make an upper word limit 😀
February 26, 2013 — 10:27 PM
Rich says:
The one they called The Lance was there for business
I had Superhero / The capital city of a lost civilization / Artificial Intelligence
February 26, 2013 — 8:07 PM
jreinmiller says:
I got 2, 2, 4 (Erotic Fairy Tale / On board the Titanic / Elves) from the RNG. I was more interested in the Fairy Tale aspect of the genre so I tilted it more that way, but it was fun to write.
I came up with this:
http://www.jqpdx.com/2013/02/27/tragedy/
February 27, 2013 — 12:30 AM
blah blah blonde says:
Right – I had to incorporate an amusement park, dream and parallel universe.
Here’s mine:
http://blahblahblonde1.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/the-sunshine-dress/
February 27, 2013 — 4:17 AM
eastwatch says:
As I said before, I got Sword&Sorcery/In a Vampire’s Subterranean Lair/A Talking Sword.
Here’s the stuff:
http://eastwatch.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/sanguine-or-no-sanguine/
February 27, 2013 — 9:33 AM