Last week’s challenge: “Bad Dads.”
Once again, get out your d20s and d10s (or just click on over to the random number generator) because it’s time to randomly choose the aspects of your flash fiction. The instructions are as follows:
On the subgenre table below, pick two subgenres. Mash them sonsa-bitches up into one story. Then, roll once from the subsequent two lists (Must Feature and Must Also Feature). Then, write 1000 words or so of your flash fiction story. Post at your space. Link back here.
Due by next Friday, June 28th, noon EST.
Subgenre
- Grimdark Fantasy
- Post-Apocalyptic
- Techno-Thriller
- Paranormal Romance
- Alternate History
- Superhero
- Comedy
- Southern Gothic
- Nanopunk
- Haunted House
- Dying Earth
- Conspiracy Thriller
- Sword & Sorcery
- Noir
- Grindhouse
- Magical Realism
- Picaresque
- Erotica
- Dieselpunk
- Occult Detective
Must Feature
- A dead enemy’s revenge
- A hidden compartment
- A bottle of rare liquid
- A powerful weapon
- A mythological bird
- A locked door
- A disturbing diary
- An ancient book
- A dying wish
- A forbidden love
Must Also Feature
- A mysterious stranger
- A perilous journey
- A key made of bone
- A troublesome dog
- A dual personality
- A pool of blood
- A secret room
- A broken heart
- A tremendous reward
- A massive feast
Valerie Valdes (@valerievaldes) says:
Conspiracy Thriller Grindhouse, with a dead enemy’s revenge and a dual personality.
http://candleinsunshine.com/asthemoonclimbs/flash-fic/the-fatal-engine/
June 24, 2013 — 11:07 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Very smooth piece of writing. You worked all of the themes into the story without making it obvious you were doing so. One of the best stories I’ve (belatedly) read for this challenge!
July 6, 2013 — 4:45 AM
absentmemory says:
Grimdark Fantasy Techno-thriller, with a mythological bird and a secret room. This was a hard one:
http://incarnatememory.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/friday-flash/
June 24, 2013 — 3:18 PM
Brian says:
Interesting story, but I found it a little hard to follow. Obviously it’s hard to do a lot in just 1000 words, but I really had very little sense of what was happening (could just be me =D). Also, some of the phrasing was hard to make sense of, such as “Her presumed fear enough for the door man to crack an obscene smile as the other entered”.
A lot of the writing was really good, I like your overall style, just a few places where it left me scratching my head. I’ve done a couple of these challenges and find them really useful for improving my writing. Hope to see you again next week!
June 25, 2013 — 1:28 PM
absentmemory says:
I don’t think it’s just you, more work needed 😉 Thanks for taking a look, I’ll probably take a hatchet to some of the phrasing to see if I can fix it, maybe allowing a few more words would help. Glad you liked it despite the oddness!
This was fun to write and hopefully will help me improve too, so I’ll probably be back next week 🙂
June 25, 2013 — 2:25 PM
Jasmine Stanford says:
Erotica and techno-thriller. ‘Magine that…With a locked door and perilous journey. Please enjoy “The Hidden Door”
http://jasminestanford.blogspot.com/2013/06/flash-fiction-hidden-door.html
June 24, 2013 — 10:06 PM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Thank you! To be honest, I actually considered re-rolling when erotica came up, but I’m glad I didn’t. And I’m looking forward to reading your own take on it when I get a free moment at weekend!
June 25, 2013 — 4:15 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
This comment was meant to be in reply to Jasmine, but it appeared at the bottom of the comments list. So, trying again in the hopes it ends up in the right place!
Thank you! To be honest, I actually considered re-rolling when erotica came up, but I’m glad I didn’t. And I’m looking forward to reading your own take on it when I get a free moment at weekend!
June 25, 2013 — 4:17 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Okay, I give up.
June 25, 2013 — 4:21 AM
Daria says:
Okay, so I drew grindhouse (no, seriously, what IS that? Needs Wikipedia.) , occult detective, an ancient book and a pool of blood. Doable enough for my first challenge, I hope. Three days to hammer something out
June 25, 2013 — 11:12 AM
jenny ritz says:
http://writingwhileiwonder.blogspot.com/2013/06/tomorrow-is-new-day.html
June 25, 2013 — 3:42 PM
Seth Boston says:
This is my first flash fiction attempt. I got Southern Gothic / Noir. Secret room. Locked door.
http://sethboston.blogspot.com/2013/06/flash-fiction-challenge-another-roll-of.html
June 25, 2013 — 6:59 PM
Paul Baughman says:
Seth, I replied on your blog, but wanted to repeat here. Overall I liked it, but the flashback-POV-change confused me. It wasn’t until the very end that I realized what had happened.
keep writing.
June 26, 2013 — 9:57 AM
Dave Hughes says:
Okay, you bastard. I got “Superhero”, “Dying Earth”, “A locked door” and “A mysterious stranger”. Just to be an adventurous jerk (and to see if I could pull it off; I probably shouldn’t have read the Rantypants list before I wrote this), this is 965 words, with the first 879 being nothing but dialogue.
http://bdavidhughes.com/?p=47
June 26, 2013 — 12:20 AM
Paul Baughman says:
Darn, that was dark! Like something out of the Twilight Zone.
Good job.
June 26, 2013 — 10:07 AM
Dave Hughes says:
Thanks, Paul. For some reason, those four suggestions pulled “uber dark” out of my brain. At some point, I need to go back and clean it up…that’s a first draft. lol However, I’ll take a comparison to the Twilight Zone ANY day.
June 27, 2013 — 12:12 AM
MC Houle says:
So I got the post-apocalyptic and the magical realism genre featuring a mythological bird and a troublesome dog. Kinda blend together well… http://www.mchoule.com/?p=540
June 26, 2013 — 8:43 AM
crow365 says:
I rolled up “Dying Earth”, “Dieselpunk”, “a mythological bird”, and “a massive feast”, and came up with “The Third Judgment”: http://nickegelhoff.com/2013/06/26/flash-fiction-challenge-another-roll-of-the-dice/
June 26, 2013 — 10:24 AM
Matt Gomez says:
http://www.writerscarnival.ca/missed-connection/
Techno-thriller (admittedly more CP than T-T but ah well), picaresque with a hidden compartment and an outrageous reward. 999 words.
June 26, 2013 — 3:13 PM
reduxnyc says:
Grimdark Fantasy + Magical Realism including a hidden compartment and a massive feast:
http://shanel.github.io/blog/2013/06/23/revenge/
June 26, 2013 — 7:16 PM
Jeanne B. says:
Superhero conspiracy thriller with a bottle of rare liquid and a perilous journey: I did try to go there, but in the end, this story contains maybe one of those elements. Sue me 🙂
http://jmboverthinking.blogspot.com/2013/06/flash-fiction-challenge-another-roll-of.html
June 26, 2013 — 11:33 PM
Sarah Pohl (@LilithElina) says:
OK, I tried with subgenres I had to look up first: Nanopunk and Picaresque. The forbidden love and mysterious stranger were a bit easier.
http://24flashes.blogspot.de/2013/06/ff-challenge-professor-professor.html
June 27, 2013 — 4:44 AM
shoshanakessock says:
I got myself into a story about alternate history, a dying earth, a locked door and a perilous journey. So here it is, a short little fiction called “Uncle Henry’s Study” – enjoy!
http://shoshanakessock.com/2013/06/27/flash-fiction-uncle-henrys-study/
June 27, 2013 — 5:00 AM
andreaspeed says:
As penance for accidentally posting twice before, I wrote a new one. Can’t tell you all the categories, as I want to know if people guess the twist before it happens. Probably. But haunted house was but one of the random rolls. Haunted – http://andreaspeed.com/2013/flash-fic-challenge-haunted/
June 27, 2013 — 6:44 AM
Josh Loomis says:
I actually re-rolled this after last night’s attempt went nowhere. I got Grindhouse, A Hidden Compartment, and A Troublesome Dog. They yielded The Last Saloon: http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/2013/06/27/flash-fiction-the-last-saloon/
June 27, 2013 — 10:03 AM
curiouskermit says:
This is my first Flash Fiction challenge! I rolled, and got magic realism and picaresque, with a bottle of rare liquid and a broken heart. Here is “The Storyteller”. http://curiouskermit.wordpress.com/
June 27, 2013 — 10:24 AM
John LaTorre says:
I might get points off for not being super faithful to the genres and plot features but this is what I got from Noir Nanopunk with a dead enemy’s revenge and a tremendous reward.
http://www.johnlatorre.com/blog/creative/flash-fiction-roll-the-dice/
June 27, 2013 — 11:41 AM
welltemperedwriter says:
Based on my results, I’m going to end up with the infamous Red Wedding from Game of Thrones.
June 27, 2013 — 12:12 PM
curiouskermit says:
This is my first story for a Flash Fiction challenge. I rolled magic realism and picaresque, with a bottle of rare liquid and a broken heart. Here is “The Storyteller”.
http://curiouskermit.wordpress.com/
June 27, 2013 — 12:33 PM
Libby says:
My first challenge – Dust – http://libbyscribbles.com/2013/06/27/dust/
I rolled Southern Gothic, Dying Earth and the locked door and bone key (talk about luck to get both key and door). I’ve interpreted ‘southern’ as the British south coast because… well, I’m a Brit and my interpretation of the Southern US would probably be unintentionally and hilariously awful.
June 27, 2013 — 3:59 PM
momdude says:
For my first try at this glorious insanity the demon gods of randomness regurgitated:
Haunted House + Erotica + A bottle of rare liquid + a secret room
So I wrote “The First Time Is Always Special”.
http://pauljwillett.com/2013/06/27/flash-fiction-…always-special/
June 27, 2013 — 7:10 PM
John Nickerson says:
I rolled dying Earth paranormal romance featuring a perilous journey and a mythological bird. So here’s “Supervolcano”:
http://misterborg.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/friday-flash-fiction-supervolcano.html
June 27, 2013 — 10:34 PM
benjaminryant says:
Haunted House + Occult Detective with an ancient book and a mysterious stranger. Enjoy:
http://benjaminryant.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/flash-fiction-thursday-roll-of-the-dice/
June 28, 2013 — 12:36 AM
Gregory says:
Hi Chuck…. Totally love these roll off things…. I got a Dying Earth Comedy with a powerful weapon and a broken heart… I managed to get a bit into it and did not really do a complete story quite yet but here it is…
http://deadwoodstories.blogspot.com/2013/06/mist-ghosts-and-etched-arabesques.html
June 28, 2013 — 12:51 AM
bradellison says:
My first time taking a shot at one of these, I’ve got a sword & sorcery conspiracy thriller with a mythological bird and a massive feast: http://bradellison.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/the-feast-of-the-phoenix/
June 28, 2013 — 1:43 AM
Asylos says:
Details of my rolls on the post: http://asylos.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/original-flash-fiction-with-jakob-merrick/
June 28, 2013 — 6:16 AM
conniecockrell says:
I got ParaNormal Romance and Superhero with an ancient book, a locked door, and a broken heart. Dang. I hardly even know what a paranormal romance is. I just pantsed the thing and it came out way too long. But the story fit the prompt of an anthology I want to submit to so I’m not posting it on my blog. I’m going to clean the puppy up and submit it for publishing. Thanks for that random generator!
June 28, 2013 — 9:31 AM
rebeccadouglass says:
Dang, as usual I’m about last to post. I even had mine up last night, but got distracted and forgot to link back here.
“Dead Man’s Revenge” http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2013/06/flash-fiction-friday-dead-mans-revenge.html
June 28, 2013 — 10:15 AM
K.C. Wise says:
Roar, I am totally 4 minutes late. But I wrote this last night! The kids kept me away from my computer, I swear!!
Anyhoo, I rolled Superhero, Occult Detective, Forbidden Love and Pool of Blood.
What I’ve come up with is “Before Her Time”: http://iamwritingwhileblack.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/flash-fiction-before-her-time-1100-words/
June 28, 2013 — 12:03 PM