Last week’s challenge: “Somethingpunk.”
First up, a bit of administrative — I picked three random participants from last week’s challenge to get signed hardcovers of my cornpocalypse cornpunk agridystopia, Under the Empyrean Sky, and those folks are, drum roll please:
S.W. Sondheimer!
D.W. Coventry!
Tia Kalla!
You crazy kids, email me at terribleminds at gmail dot com. I’ll need your mailing addresses.
NOW, this week’s challenge:
It will allow you to randomize five story titles.
You’ll pick one title out of the five selected and, duh, you’ll write yourself a nice little ~1000-word bit of flash fiction using that very title. Easy-peasy, hug-and-squeezy.
Due by next Friday (8/16), noon EST.
Shonnerz says:
I don’t see the link. I’d blame it on the whisky but I haven’t started drinking yet.
August 9, 2013 — 12:30 PM
Wanderer says:
Chuck, I think your link is invisible to us mere mortals…
August 9, 2013 — 12:30 PM
Wanderer says:
And there it is!
August 9, 2013 — 12:30 PM
The Relentless Muse says:
“Wrath is Flapping” — I can’t stop laughing.
August 9, 2013 — 12:32 PM
Obsidian Dragon says:
I’m actually sobbing over the lost potential of “The Blog of the Evening Consuming Pirate” while doing another title.
August 9, 2013 — 12:45 PM
Lani Gerbi says:
I may or may not be sobbing over the fact that I now have to live in a world where that title exists and that story doesn’t… 😛 No, seriously, I am legitimately distressed by this.
August 16, 2013 — 5:27 AM
Mark Gardner says:
I got “The Brass and the Song”
August 9, 2013 — 12:50 PM
Mark Gardner says:
Wow this one practically wrote itself. I wanted to continue the story from the “Last Lines First” FFC. The sequel came in at 996 words. I give you The Brass and the Song.
Last Lines First: http://article94.blogspot.com/2013/07/flash-fiction-challenge.html
The Brass and the Song: http://article94.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-brass-and-song.html
August 9, 2013 — 1:28 PM
Fatma Alici says:
I couldn’t get the comment to go up on your site. So, posting it here instead.
I like the fast pace of it. And how you sprinkle in a lot of things, without really saying one way or the other. A lot of mystery. The beginning was a touch confusing though.
August 13, 2013 — 9:53 PM
Mark Gardner says:
I wanted a certain structure, so i expected some people to be a little confused. I have already written another 4k words for it and have decided to make it a short story. Wait until you read the ending!
August 13, 2013 — 11:47 PM
Fatma Alici says:
Cool, it was really interesting. I’m looking forward to it.
August 14, 2013 — 12:12 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
I’m getting some silly “Whoops, error” message when I try to comment on your blog, so here it is:
Nice follow-up to your previous story! I liked the pacing of this one, though the narrative shift confused me a little, as I thought the current situation happened directly after the first death. It only took me a few sentences to work it out though, so not too bad.
August 14, 2013 — 8:28 AM
Mark Gardner says:
Any suggestions on ensuring the “death, flashback, events leading to death” cycle is more obvious?
August 15, 2013 — 1:31 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Hmm… possibly shifting the flash-back scene into a single tense, and/or italicising the whole thing? I think it’s just a little confusing as you use such phrases as “I hope some day I will…” which seems to be present tense in the flash-back, and then “I was heading…” (past continuous) and also “I had become…” (pluperfect). There are a lot of I (verb) in that flash-back, which I think makes it harder to keep all the tenses in check.
Personally, I like to italicise flash-backs as it helps the reader with a visual prompt, but maybe you just need to play around and find a style that suits you!
August 15, 2013 — 3:07 AM
Trine Toft Schmidt says:
I really like the pace and concept of your story. Even though I don’t remember reading the first one, I didn’t feel like something was missing.
August 15, 2013 — 10:47 AM
Mark Gardner says:
Thats always a worry when writing serialized fiction. Im glad you were able to keep up. Did you go back and read the first part?
August 15, 2013 — 4:11 PM
Trine Toft Schmidt says:
Not yet, I have this nagging guilt every week when I don’t manage to read all the stories that get linked here, so I admit chose to try and alleviate that first. 🙂
August 16, 2013 — 12:54 AM
Greg says:
Not sure if I can keep it to 1000 but the title that strikes me is “Broken Odin”….
August 9, 2013 — 1:26 PM
Mark Gardner says:
I know what you mean. After I barfed the words onto th page, the word count ended up just shy of 1,100 words. I hacked it back down an I suppose the story works.
August 9, 2013 — 1:56 PM
Katie Cross says:
I got “The Captain Hook that Must Not Laugh Bat” and I can’t wait. 🙂 I love flash fiction. Thanks for the great idea!
August 9, 2013 — 1:32 PM
Jeremiah Boydstun says:
Oh man, the possibilities with that one are endless! Good luck. I’d like to see how your turns out.
August 9, 2013 — 8:24 PM
D. W. Coventry (@DWCoventry) says:
I got “The Hairy Raw Sword”. That is too awful not to write.
August 9, 2013 — 3:09 PM
Jeremiah Boydstun says:
Congrats on snagging that signed copy! Awesome title…..hope you can keep PG-13.
August 9, 2013 — 8:26 PM
S.W. Sondheimer says:
Write fast. I REALLY need to read this one. 🙂
August 10, 2013 — 2:05 PM
D. W. Coventry (@DWCoventry) says:
And done. Took me a while, but yeesh… what an awful title!
http://dwcoventry.com/fiction/2013/8/15/flash-fiction-challenge-the-hairy-raw-sword
August 15, 2013 — 2:24 PM
Wanderer says:
I chose Riders and Fire–too good to pass on. http://secondstaronther.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/riders-and-fire/
Hopefully I can use one or two of the others for something else!
August 9, 2013 — 4:11 PM
gayleglass says:
I’m new to your site, but love this. Do we submit through comments, or somewhere else?
August 9, 2013 — 5:03 PM
terribleminds says:
Ah! Post on your own online space, link back here. 🙂
August 9, 2013 — 5:13 PM
gayleglass says:
Got it. Thanks!
August 9, 2013 — 5:35 PM
bluejadeite808 says:
I missed the last window, so this will be my first challenge. I won’t share the titles just yet, I still must decide which one I like better. 😀
August 9, 2013 — 6:19 PM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Cool generator. Reminds me of all the random movie titles you get if you play The Movies (sim-type game). I’ve wasted far too many hours of my life playing that.
Anyway, story. 1000 words exactly.
The Days Out of the Body: http://mrurbanspaceman.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/the-days-out-of-the-body-flash-fiction-piece/
August 9, 2013 — 6:35 PM
David Sexton says:
NIce. ‘Wibble’ is my new favorite verb.
August 9, 2013 — 8:00 PM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Thanks! It’s a word I totally didn’t steal from Blackadder.
August 12, 2013 — 4:49 PM
markgardnerauthor says:
Chalk up another one for the enjoyment of the word ‘wobble.’
August 15, 2013 — 4:05 PM
David Sexton says:
Okay, I just started reading the blog this week, and it inspired me to start writing again. So, as my first attempt at flash fiction, I refuse to apologize for the fact it’s 1400 words. Fuck it. The title I got was Tsan-Lo’s Cold. And here ya go:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20368279/Tsan-LosCold.pdf
August 9, 2013 — 6:48 PM
David Sexton says:
ooh, forgive the typos and incorrect use of it’s (fuck and damnation!.) My eagerness got the best of me and I linked it before letting my alpha reader have it. Maybe I shouldn’t drunk post. If it makes you feel better, I’ve corrected the errors in the original text but won’t relink ’cause I’m fairly certain I’d just pork it up.
August 9, 2013 — 7:30 PM
S.W. Sondheimer says:
Nicely done! Look forward to reading more.
August 10, 2013 — 1:58 PM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Not bad! I like how silent Tsan-Lo is throughout the whole piece, it really makes him feel like an outsider in the world. As for posting drunk, we’ve all done that at some point! (I frequently have a glass of something in my hand as I hit the ‘publish’ button ;))
August 13, 2013 — 8:35 AM
Miranda says:
Gold Dyed the Ether
August 9, 2013 — 6:50 PM
Jen Donohue says:
I’ve meant to do these challenges….at least 4 times at this point. We’ll see if I actually do this one. Such fun!
August 9, 2013 — 6:59 PM
Rebecca Douglass says:
I cannot tell a lie. The titles were just so much fun, I hit the button about six times. Now I have to pick from my six favorites. . .oh, and write the story.
August 9, 2013 — 7:27 PM
Gayle says:
Glad to know I wasn’t the only one. I ended up choosing a title that was fairly drab, but the moment I saw it, the next 1000 words were already in my head. Figured I had to go with it.
August 10, 2013 — 11:18 AM
Fatma Alici says:
Okay, I got several good ones, but this one made my inner writer do a happy dance. “Corpse in a Different Nightmare.” I have no idea what I’m going to do, but that’s freakin’ awesome.
August 9, 2013 — 7:56 PM
Fatma Alici says:
Story complete, and as weird as the name suggests. So far this has been one my favorite challenges.
http://naharavensari.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/corpse-different-nightmare/
August 12, 2013 — 5:31 PM
andreaspeed says:
I got the wonderful “A Suicide of Glass”. And I wrote this downer of a story. Seems like a waste of a good title. Alas. http://andreaspeed.com/2013/flash-fic-challenge-a-suicide-of-glass/
August 9, 2013 — 10:24 PM
Gayle says:
Good job. Wonderful last few lines.
August 10, 2013 — 11:35 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Lovely imagery in your story! I can easily imagine how weird it would be watching reruns of reality TV (well, I don’t want reality TV at all, so I’d be spared that fate) and how surreal seeing exotic animals walking down the streets would come across.
My money’s on the aliens, by the way.
August 13, 2013 — 8:48 AM
curiouskermit says:
very cool! good story. =)
August 13, 2013 — 9:55 AM
Fatma Alici says:
I could imagine the glass landing on roof tops and cars much like a heavy, but gentle rain. Wonderful job at painting a canvas for your world to play out on.
August 13, 2013 — 10:05 PM
Ely says:
Very enjoyable read. I loved the theme and the simple but strong one-liners!
August 14, 2013 — 3:39 PM
andreaspeed says:
Thanks everyone! It was the rare case that, as soon as I saw the title, I knew the whole story. (I’d bet on aliens too, but you never know …)
August 15, 2013 — 3:49 AM
boydstun215 says:
Just for the record, here are the five titles that were generated:
1. Mars, Go
2. Dragging the Plant
3. The Killer that Should See
4. Return the Boy
5. The Awakening of the Gothic Age
I’ve been agonizing for the past eight hours over which of the first three to choose, so I’m just going to make it official here and then figure out the story tomorrow. And the winner is (*drum roll*): Dragging the Plant!
August 9, 2013 — 11:48 PM
Ashley Faith says:
Does it have to be scary or can it be anything normal/crazy/weird?
August 9, 2013 — 11:58 PM
Fatma Alici says:
As far as I know, it can be anything.
August 13, 2013 — 9:57 PM
jdsfiction says:
So this week I- holy crap were there some real gems in that list- I decided to go with Devil and Train. It was by far the most mundane of the titles but I felt it gave the opportunity to do a crossover of two previous flash stories. So, here it is folks. Enjoy! 🙂
http://jdsfiction.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/random-title-generator-flash-challenge/
August 10, 2013 — 4:02 AM
Trine Toft Schmidt says:
I am torn between Riding the Corpse and Grisly Trade, Grisly Satan, and can’t make up my mind.
August 10, 2013 — 7:24 AM
Trine Toft Schmidt says:
I chose Riding the Corpse. Here is the resulting story.
http://www.trinetoftschmidt.com/2013/08/flash-fiction-random-story-title-generator/
August 14, 2013 — 11:58 PM
Gayle says:
Okay – This is my first time out of the gate with this site, so here goes. Like others, I was overwhelmed by the choices..had some weird thoughts as I aw them, but this one, even though it was drab by comparison, showed me the whole story – figured I had to go with it. It’s not weird, not fantasy, but from a deeper place.
Daylight Woodcarver, Daylight Women
http://www.gayleglass.net/?page_id=518
August 10, 2013 — 11:23 AM
Ely says:
Off to a winning pace right out the gate 🙂
August 14, 2013 — 6:47 PM
Gayle says:
Thank you !
August 14, 2013 — 9:21 PM
jreinmiller says:
Man that thing really does generate some intriguing titles. I think I’m going with:
“Owning the Eternity”
I shall let the mindnado spin on that for a while.
August 10, 2013 — 11:56 AM
S.W. Sondheimer says:
*Ahem* In The Emperor of the Broken Dog.
http://swsondheimer.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/flash-fiction-8-10-13/
August 10, 2013 — 1:42 PM
D. W. Coventry (@DWCoventry) says:
Stop it! You’re making the rest of us look bad!
Seriously though, loved the rhythm of this one. Felt like something out of The Fall (which if it isn’t in your Netflix queue, should be).
August 10, 2013 — 7:55 PM
S.W. Sondheimer says:
Oh, hush now. Your stuff is amazing!
It is not.
Wait, now it is. Wait. Which one?
August 10, 2013 — 7:56 PM
S.W. Sondheimer says:
By “it is not” I meant “it is not in my queue.” Poorly punctuated. Apologies.
August 10, 2013 — 11:14 PM
Mozette says:
That was wonderful! I love it! 😀
August 11, 2013 — 2:31 AM
Trine Toft Schmidt says:
Amazing, I love the words you use, they read almost as a poem and flow so well.
August 15, 2013 — 1:28 PM
DancingBastard says:
I got “The Adventure After the Great Gateway.” I sense a lot of escapism in this one.
August 10, 2013 — 2:23 PM
DancingBastard says:
Hmm… 1500 words seems a bit too much but I want to keep going. Dammit Chuck, this is hard.
August 13, 2013 — 1:54 PM
DancingBastard says:
And here it is:
http://thedancingbastard.tumblr.com/post/58261213509/flash-fiction-challenge-random-story-title-generator
August 14, 2013 — 3:15 PM
Mara says:
Steal the Doors.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/mara-eve-robbins/steal-the-doors/10151664242984822
August 10, 2013 — 7:11 PM
Happiness is Not a Disease says:
I tried to make this less “real”, but…damn it, here’s “The Strange Damned Jars”.
http://happinessisnotadisease.wordpress.com/2013/08/11/the-strange-damned-jars/
August 10, 2013 — 9:09 PM
Mozette says:
I went around in circles and found one that really got me thinking: ‘Eon’s Creek’…
So, here you are: it’s a little over 1,000 words, but I did manage to cut it down from 1,117 to just under 1,099…
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/eons-creek.html
enjoy!
August 10, 2013 — 10:06 PM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Great concept! I think this is my favourite of your flash fiction stories so far. The twist at the end took me by surprise, and I enjoyed the history you put into it. Though I don’t think 300 years is all that much history 😉 Guess that’s a very subjective thing though, as history is relative to people and places. Good job on this one!
August 13, 2013 — 10:18 AM
Mozette says:
Hey thanks Spaceman! I appreciate your comment. 😀 Yeah, the history part of it is relative… for me 300 years is a long time as my country is very young (as a nation), however if it was your country, it wouldn’t be that long really, or if we were talking about the UK, 300 years would be a drop in the ocean.
Actually the story took on a life of its own … I didn’t know what I was going to do with the dude in the living room, not until my characters turned to face him… then I remembered I had watched an Agatha Christi mystery based at around just after WWII for a good reason… one of the characters had a tattoo on his wrist from a prison camp which marked him as a Jew… I thought it would be a good idea to mark prisoners with the same thing; mark them so if they escaped people would know no matter what they did with the clothes. 🙂
August 15, 2013 — 1:00 AM
Trine Toft Schmidt says:
I think this is my favorite of your stories. I like that it leaves some of the mysteries unsolved. My only little complaint is that the ending with the man felt it didn’t belong with the rest of the story.
August 15, 2013 — 1:48 PM
Mozette says:
You’re the second one to say it’s your favourite 😀 Thank you!
I had to kinda make him not belong because of his place in the story to begin with. He wasn’t supposed to survive… but personally, I think this story could have been turned into a novella and have a life of its own – before and after what happened at Eon’s Creek 😀
August 16, 2013 — 12:16 AM
Trine Toft Schmidt says:
I think you are right about the novella. There’s something about the limit of 1000 words, it can be enough for one story, but I find that most times I am itching to write more, give more details and such.
August 16, 2013 — 12:57 AM
curiouskermit says:
Of my five choices, 4 made no sense at all. The fifth was, oddly enough, just two names: Effie and Dawn. It’s as if these two individuals needed to have their story told. So here it is!
http://curiouskermit.wordpress.com/
feedback hugely appreciated! =)
August 10, 2013 — 11:12 PM
rjkeithR says:
http://accessoriesnotincluded.com/2013/08/10/in-final-tesla-we-revolt/, I give you France in 1783. With electricity. It’s a different sort of revolution.
In Final Tesla, We Revolt!
August 10, 2013 — 11:17 PM
jreinmiller says:
Spinning complete, story tossed forth.
So here we go, “Owning the Eternity.”
Enjoy.
http://www.jqpdx.com/2013/08/11/owning-the-eternity/
August 11, 2013 — 4:39 PM
David says:
Brilliant. It was better than ‘Cats.’ I could see it again and again. Would recommend to a friend.
August 12, 2013 — 1:24 PM
jodilee says:
Quick ‘n dreamy, like the title: The Moonlight That Should Embrace
http://jodilee.sacredtriskele.net/?p=2640
August 11, 2013 — 11:29 PM
Melissa Osburn says:
This is my first challenge, and it was a lot of fun! I picked the one I liked the most. http://melissasosburn.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/the-departed-that-chained-the-ring/
The other titles were:
1). They of Priestess
2).Falling the Neighbors
3). Under the Closing Suicide
4). Changing the Comb
August 12, 2013 — 9:06 AM
Jon Jefferson says:
Adding my voice to the list of challengers this week…
http://jonjeffersonauthor.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/after-the-season/
August 12, 2013 — 12:28 PM
David says:
Ouch.
August 12, 2013 — 1:31 PM
David says:
Yeah, that was supposed to be a reply to Jon’s story. Sometimes I no internet good.
August 12, 2013 — 1:32 PM
Matthew says:
I got “Magic and Wyatt”. Had fun with that.
http://writewrotewritten.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/magic-and-wyatt/
August 12, 2013 — 4:54 PM
Uri Emram says:
A rather gloomy tale: the bullet the song embraced.
http://uriemram.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/the-bullet-the-song-embraced/
Feel free to share your thoughts.
August 12, 2013 — 6:22 PM
curiouskermit says:
good story, intense! Love the title too.
August 12, 2013 — 9:54 PM
Uri Emram says:
The generator gives very good titles. I’m very impressed with it.
I’m glad you liked the story.
August 13, 2013 — 4:28 AM