Last week’s challenge: “The Last Line Of A Story”
Holy crap, people. Over three-hundred entries in last week’s challenge.
This is going to be a hard one.
Some of you are out of the running — if you enter multiple times, I mostly discount your entries because you put me into a kind of choice paralysis. Plus, you get lots of the dead bodies, bullets, revenge variety — some of this stuff starts to feel very samey-samey. (Oh, and more than a few of you have a very liberal interpretation of a “last line” of a story.)
That being said, still, so many good options.
So, this is the five I’ve picked:
m3nace: “If it wasn’t for the inflation the devil could have bribed them.”
Lani Gerbi: “And then, being mindful not to spill my tea, I eased into the tartan embrace of Endolyn Muirden’s least offensive armchair, and settled back to watch him die.”
Ben Dodge: “The old man lying in the hold died three minutes later.”
Marlanesque: “She closed the book and watched as it turned to dust.”
Ryan Viergutz: “Cristobal climbed the ladder of arteries to the first universe that looked like it held more wonders and mysteries than the last.”
Squishy: “That plan didn’t fly, superhero, and now we’re short a bazooka.”
Josh Roby: “Once upon a time, there was a story so short, it was only a single line.”
lverawrites: “Life was easier before killing all the rabbits.”
David: “They never did find the orangutan.”
Damien Kelly: “Truth be told, I’m not sure any of them are actually dead.”
You’ll note that I’ve chosen ten there.
If you’re one of the lines picked, email me at: terribleminds at gmail dot com.
You will receive some manner of digital goodies.
NOW, for this week’s challenge —
You think it’s going to be, “Pick one of these last lines and using it as a last line in your story.”
BZZT.
Nope.
I want you to pick one of these last lines and use it as the first opening line in your story.
You’ve got up to 1000 words.
Write your tale. Post at your online space. Link back here.
Due by next Friday. July 19th. Noon EST.
118 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: Last Lines First”
I think I’m going to have to take…
Squishy: “That plan didn’t fly, superhero, and now we’re short a bazooka.”
Looks way too tempting for me to avoid.
Well, here it is. A story of idiots and giant alien robots… The Brothers Dim
http://www.thezombiechimp.com/2013/07/14/flash-fiction-the-brothers-dim/
Hope you like it.
This one had me chuckling. The brothers remind me of a couple of folks I know…
bonus points for using one of the OTHER ones as the ending line?
And boom:
https://david-coventry.squarespace.com/fiction/2013/7/12/they-never-did-find-the-orangutan
That was bold, but I really liked it. Nice write.
Thanks Brian. I actually had a leg-up on this one. I was standing in line at a writer’s conference yesterday and started to joke with the guy next to me about what would be the worst pitch of the conference. We came up with “A unicorn is trying to assassinate the president and only a monkey disguised as an FBI agent can stop her”.
Haha, very good! Loved the tongue in cheek humour of it all. You did much better with this line than I could have done.
Thanks Senor Spaceman. I liked what you did on your blog as well.
That’s effing brilliant, dude! I love this story. Great job with the challenge line! 🙂
Thanks man. Yours is great stuff as well. I’d love to see at least a few more thousand words with that version of Old Scratch as the MC.
Excellent job on this one. I love the allusion to the Coen brothers, Bewitched, and Sit Terry Pratchett all rolled into one story!
Marlanesque “She closed the book and watched as it turned to dust.”
This one came out quick, but I guess that’s what flash fiction is supposed to be. My last flash fiction came out way too long, I got this one in at under 600 words.
http://criticalsexualmass.wordpress.com/
Right now I’m feeling “Truth be told, I’m not sure any of them are actually dead.” but I may change my mind later.
“If it wasn’t for the inflation the Devil could have bribed them.”
Sounds like a winning ticket to me! I’ll be back with: Hot Off the Press
Came up with a strange slice of comedy. Enjoy. 🙂
http://jdsfiction.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/flash-fiction-friday/
Hah, awesome!
Glad you liked it! 🙂
And thanks for giving up the line to use, man!
[…] I wasn’t among the winners, but the ones that Chuck chose are interesting! I hope I can write a flash fic next […]
[…] Friday. Chuck Wendig. Flash Fiction. If you don’t already know what this means, click here. […]
“She closed the book and watched as it turned to dust.”
None of the lines really spoke to me, but I did have something in mind which I tweaked for this line.
Sullivan’s Ark: http://mrurbanspaceman.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/sullivans-ark-flash-fiction-piece/
I really liked this. I’m not a huge sci fi guy but this got my interest. Reminded me of Foundation to some degree, except instead of colonies in a galaxy, this was colonies on a planet. Very engaging!
Thank you!
[…] Wendig’s instructions this week: Choose one of these last lines submitted (from last week’s challenge) and use it as the first line. Once I chose, […]
Only because I love snark. “That plan didn’t fly, superhero, and now we’re short a bazooka.”
http://secondstaronther.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/a-cog-in-the-machine/
I selected “That plan didn’t fly, superhero, and now we’re short a bazooka.” though I tweaked the line slightly.
http://www.msjx.org/2013/07/flash-fictoin-all-i-have-to-do-is-run.html
Not sure what happened but my post disappeared. Here is my entry, my apologies to Squishy, I thought that was a character SAYING the line, not the person who submitted it. Sorry dude! 😉
http://www.msjx.org/2013/07/flash-fictoin-all-i-have-to-do-is-run.html
Great stuff man! I dig the narrative style. Thanks for sharing, I had fun with it. Keep up the wordsmithing, man. 🙂
Thanks! I started and it just sort of flowed. Looking back I can see lots of typos and tense problems….but those are for editors to fix right? 🙂
Haha, true enough. Editing is my least favorite part.
Loved “And then, being mindful not to spill my tea, I eased into the tartan embrace of Endolyn Muirden’s least offensive armchair, and settled back to watch him die.” so decided to give it a shot.
http://definitelynotapoet.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/endolyn-muirdens-armchair-flash-fiction-challenge/
As you might have guessed, flash fiction is not my usual writing style.
[…] another Flash Friday brought to you by Chuck Wendig at Terrible Minds. This weeks challenge is Last Lines First. Last week we had the challenge of writing the Last Line for a story. So this week, Chuck picked […]
The rabbits were calling to me.
lverawrites: “Life was easier before killing all the rabbits.”
https://littleatmospheres.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/the-shifting-of-light-flash-fiction-challenge-last-lines-first/
I absolutely love this Jackie. I have a soft spot for folk tales and I love your take on the rabbits and foxes.
I give up.
Ugh, this thing hates me. Anyway, thank you. There are a bunch of random comments from me now.
[…] This week the challenge is to take one of the lines given to us and use it as the first sentence in a piece no longer than 1,000 words. […]
The ‘tartan armchair’ is streets ahead of the others, in my humble opinion. The language is gorgeous, and, in so few words, we have a strong sense of this careful, sinister character coupled with intrigue and humour. And that name – ha! Genius.
Lani Gerbi (real name?) is truly a gifted writer.
Here is my take on “And they never did find the orang-utan”: http://www.scribophile.com/authors/rachel-saunders/works/tupple/
Wow! I found one here that just wrote itself… so here it is!
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/my-last-job.html
Enjoy. 😀
Nice take on a difficult line! I do think the whole ‘vamp’ thing could have been left out, to make the whole story (and the antagonist) more mysterious and a little more ominous, but it worked well enough with the assassination method.
Thanks man! The moment I read it… I found more words begin writing after it… my brain just added them on! So, I copied and pasted the line into a blank page in word 2010 and kept on writing and came out with a rough version of what you read… I fought with my muse with whether to keep the vampire thing a secret or not; and decided to keep it in. My muse wasn’t any help in that… just shrugged at me.
And I’ve been watching a lot of Supernatural and vampire shows lately… so mixed a few things I’ve gleaned off them into the writing – always fun when you can do that. 😀
Yours was great! Loved it – as always! 😀
I loved this line. “Life was easier before killing all the rabbits.”
http://aaronswordtree.blogspot.com/2013/07/life-was-easier-before-killing-all.html
There were some pretty interesting lines selected, but only a couple stood out to me.
I almost went with rabbits, but had to pick the one I reacted to first so I used: Truth be told, I’m not sure any of them are actually dead.
And that resulted in this story: http://www.jqpdx.com/2013/07/13/understanding/
Enjoy.
I dig it man. Great job, and I like the twist. Terrific tag line there at the end. 🙂
Very neatly written. I really did think we were in for a zombie apocalypse for sure! I very nearly picked this line myself, but picked the book instead. I enjoyed how this one played out.
Thanks. 🙂
The story was almost fully formed in my mind after I read this line “Once upon a time, there was a story so short, it was only a single line”
http://eldiste.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/the-most-important-line/
I chose to use “She closed the book and watched as it turned to dust.”
What emerged was the following: http://blog.rainoftoads.com/?p=11
(684 Words)
Going for Marlanesque: “She closed the book and watched as it turned to dust.”
I think I’ll go for “The old man in the hold died three minutes later.”
[…] No comments Well, here we are again. Time for another flash fiction challenge entry from Terribleminds.com. The flash fiction challenge this week was a sort of follow on from last weeks. Last week he asked […]
Using “Truth be told, I’m not sure any of them are actually dead.”
http://www.jottermonster.tumblr.com/
Using “Truth be told, I’m not sure any of them are actually dead.”
http://jottermonster.tumblr.com/post/55450141625/side-doors
Pretty good! A unique take on hell, and an entertaining read. Thanks for that!
Thanks! I really enjoyed how yours unfolded, very intriguing and disturbing. I’d definitely like to read more of it.
[…] Midnight Escape Flash Fiction Challenge for July 12, 2013 Last Lines First […]
I decided to go with: Damien Kelly’s “Truth be told, I’m not sure any of them are actually dead.”
http://rebeccaeverett87.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/midnight-escape/
[…] piece of flash fiction is for Chuck Wendig’s weekly Flash Fiction Challenge, “Last Lines First” in which he took his favorite last sentences from the previous week’s challenge and told us […]
Ran with Josh Roby’s “Once upon a time, there was a story so short, it was only a single line.”
The First Line Was The Last coming in at just under 900 words: http://panningforclouds.com/2013/07/15/the-first-line-was-the-last/
I was torn between the following:
Marlanesque: “She closed the book and watched as it turned to dust.”
lverawrites: “Life was easier before killing all the rabbits.”
but ended up going with Marlanesque’s line.
http://aleciamiller.com/?p=47
[…] going to do a quick writing challenge this week, but I’m having trouble deciding which “last line first” to pick. […]
Okay, so I’ve gone and done it! I’ve entered my first attempt at one of these flash fiction challenges and you know what? I bloody loved it! Don’t care how crap it turned out, was just nice to be writing something quick and easy that someone else asked for. You can find my efforts at: http://darkmattersofthemind.blogspot.com/2013/07/terrible-minds-flash-fiction-challenge.html
Looking forward to reading all y’all other entries.
Much love
Bex
Great story with a complicated main character. The “voice” you wrote with for the narrator works well to give her a personality. I enjoyed how the narrator’s greed easily overtakes any relationship she had with the author and leads to murder. Dark characters and motivations like that are right up my alley. Strong first attempt with the Flash Fiction Challenge.
OOps, forgot to say that I went with:
Lani Gerbi: “And then, being mindful not to spill my tea, I eased into the tartan embrace of Endolyn Muirden’s least offensive armchair, and settled back to watch him die.”
“Once upon a time, there was a story so short, it was only a single line.” That’s it. There ya go.
Orangutans! This was very fun. Thanks!
http://wellreadfish.blogspot.com/2013/07/they-never-did-find-orangutan.html
Ha! Silly humans.
I chose Marlanesque’s “She closed the book and watched as it turned to dust.” I managed to start and end the story with that phrase. This is my second flash fiction story here and I’m eagerly awaiting feedback, so comments and critiques are greatly appreciated.
A Name on a Spine: http://www.andablankpage.com/a-name-on-a-spine/
[…] the Terribleminds challenge “Last Lines First” […]
Using Damien Kelly’s line:
http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/2013/07/16/flash-fiction-bump-in-the-night-raven/
Thanks! I really miss winter, ha ha.
…weird. My reply was posted as a comment…
It’s down there, somewhere… But thank you 🙂
http://www.writerscarnival.ca/scavenger-dogs-of-the-wasteland/
I wrote “Scavenger Dogs of the Wasteland” as a result of picking “That plan didn’t fly, superhero, and now we’re short a bazooka.”
I really like how descriptive this is! very fast-paced too. good story, fun read.
Thank you!
Very nice, really liked this one. One of my favorite settings/genres, but great job. Real flowed well and gave a great indication of the setting with just a few words.
That’s the key to these 1,000 word stories isn’t it? How much can you strip down and still have the essentials? I daresay its been good practice for my “regular” writing as well.
That was awesome, man! I dig the style and pacing. As for Razzle…not the shit pipe, poor kid. Great job and dare I say, an seriously burly ride!
Yeah, well, Dum-Dum’ll be paying for that later I’m sure. Would you believe I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough tension in the story? Guess I was worried for nothing. Thanks for reading!
Enjoyed it very much! Unique setting, great characters, nice pacing. Thanks for an enjoyable read!
Thank you for reading! Glad you enjoyed it. Wasn’t bad for an afternoon’s worth of work.
Loved it! This was writing I could actually feel on my skin – and one afternoon?! I want to read whatever you’ve been spending actual time over.
Well, I have a number of pieces over at writerscarnival.ca. (Search for Matt Gomez to bring them up). Slowly working on my own collection of stories for publication. Thank you very much for the kind review.
I picked the line by Marlanesque: “She closed the book and watched as it turned to dust.” Here is my story:
“Librarian of the Gods”.
http://curiouskermit.wordpress.com/
I felt obligated to write to my orangutan line. Here’s Fun With Zookeeping.
[…] week’s challenge was to use one of ten winning lines as a starting point. http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/07/12/flash-fiction-challenge-last-lines-first/ This one is actually set on Amon. I read the line and this was the first thing that popped into […]
I took “Truth be told, I’m not sure if any of them are actually dead.” I ended up with Death Sex Assassin http://naharavensari.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/death-sex-assassin/
Short and, hopefully, sweet.
http://thecowsayspookpookpook.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-story.html