Chuck Wendig: Terribleminds

Flash Fiction Challenge: Random Song Title

Last week’s challenge: “Horror in Three Sentences.”

This week’s challenge:

Pretty easy.

Pull a random song from — well, wherever it is you like to grab random songs. iTunes! Spotify! Pandora! Some old man on the corner who randomly spouts song titles! Whatever. Get a random song title. That is now the the title of your flash fiction story this week, which should top out at ~1000 words.

Due by Oct 25th, noon, EST.

Post at your online space.

Link back here.

Now get writing, word-herders.

terribleminds

131 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: Random Song Title”

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  3. HOLY SHIT I JUST FINISHED MY NaNoWriMo outline (1st draft). The song that was on when I finished: “Pay for What You Get”
    So… That will be my story title… I’ll post it tomorrow. I have to clean this dirtbag apartment before I write it.

    Reply

  4. Huh. “Hallelujah.” That has some serious potential.

    Although I was really hoping for “I used to love her, but I had to kill her.” I hope someone pulls that one.

    Reply

  5. I did a random shuffle on my MP3 player and got ‘Failing the Rorschach Test’ (by the Matthew Good Band). AWESOME. gonna have fun with this! 🙂

    Reply

    • Moved at a decent pace, easy descriptions which was nice. To be honest, I just didn’t understand what was going on too much upon a first read. A little disjointed in my opinion. Not bad though.

      Reply

      • zklimczak,
        I appreciate your reviewing the story and your reply. 🙂 I do believe I can understand why you would say that. I had the same feeling and worked it over a couple of times. It does need some cleaning up. I am thrilled you said the descriptions were nice because my goal was to focus on working on bettering my skills in that department. A small victory! Cheers, Michala

        Reply

      • Very creative opening. Unique and made me thirsty to read more.
        My first question was…how did the two reconnect after the first meeting. And then from then on…the story kinda went soft for me. I didn’t really go for ‘the one times I’ve been grateful that he’s been my friend is now’. Its like present tense and past tense mingled together and confusing to me. You say ‘now’ but then go back to past tense which I get the narrator is telling a story but it just doesn’t create harmony. I’ve of belief that this story could have been a lot more fulfilling. I’d go so far to suggest you hold on to this storyline but choose one sentence from this here writing that you felt strongest and happiest writing and write this story again. I think you’ll see you like it better. I’d be willing to read the second round. 
        Cheers,
        Michala

        Reply

        • Thank you, for your honesty, Michala. I can see where I went wrong in it… I do get my tenses mixed up (always have since the word go… it’s my weakness). I could have taken a different angle with how they reconnected.

          However, from what I’ve known – and seeing I do write vampire stories a lot – they can track anyone they’ve tasted (even a little bit) for a few months by the scent of their blood. So, Rick would have been able to track Sharna around for a long time… but if I had filled out the story completely, it would have gone over the word count… I might work on it more and make it a longer piece. 🙂

          Reply

          • I get what you say about tracking someone by their blood, but I didn’t pick up on the fact that he had tasted her blood until right at the end, it could have been a little more explicit or needed a sentence or two about the reconnection.

            I think it would be good as a longer story, there were elements of it that I felt could do with more detail, on the whole it felt like an extract of a longer story. More please.

    • Mozette, I’ve really liked your other stories. This one, and I don’t know whether it was the writing style you were going for, but it is not your strongest. Your protagonist’s voice was immature and it really stripped the nuance of their relationship for me. That would be my feedback.

      Reply

      • yeah, I know what you mean… I tried to make it work; but not matter how much I did, it just didn’t turn around the way I wanted it to. I wasn’t the song title, it was the characters… they just didn’t show up the way I thought they would… oh well, win some, lose some.

        Reply

    • Your first sentence could use some stronger tension. Stronger action words instead of telling the reader. “Stella yanked the phone off its base and with shaking hands punched the numbers hurriedly. God let him be up still. She looked across the room; stared at the floor. Robby wasn’t moving. ***See the action happening, even her thinking.*** ‘She got back to Robby when she heard Ashley cry’ needs to be phrased better. Maybe “She had only reached and bent over Robby when Ashley’s whimpering began. I notice a lot of passive sentences. If you changed those up your story would come alive a lot better. The story is intriguing and definitely leaves me wondering many things. The premise of the story has a lot going for it. The opening scenes were enough to grab the reader and pull them in. Too bad it had to end. LOL Do you plan on going further with it? Thanks for sharing!

      Reply

    • I have nothing to add to what Michala already wrote just to reiterate about the passive sentences and to say; more, more, more…does she get her daughter back? Where did the money come from? What happened to Robbie?

      Reply

  23. Since my story is only 55 words (there’s no minimum word count, right?), I’m posting it here. 😉
    ———-

    Not Even The Trees

    Warmly colored leaves soften the cold forest floor beneath me. I scour the sky for meaning, in vain.

    The encroachment of evergreens and branches keep secrets. I shriek for answers that will never come, and tears burn unimpeded into my ears.

    But no one’s listening to me, not even the trees.

    And you’re still gone.

    Reply

  26. This Flash Fiction Challenge is actually what my blog is about every week!

    (Excuse the exclamation mark. Sorry. Sorry.)

    Today’s post was ‘You Fail Me’ by Converge:
    http://birchwoodlibrary.com/2013/10/22/you-fail-me/

    But I reckon this one from a few weeks back might be better for Terrible Minds. It’s ‘Death Goes To The Winner’ by Harvey Milk:

    http://birchwoodlibrary.com/2013/10/01/41/

    I don’t always do metal.

    (But Satan wants me to)

    Reply

    • Last night Converge reblogged my story out to their tumblr followers. Yikes.

      So ergh, community announcement: make sure your stuff is AAA+++ when you attach your work to a band’s music because the internet is watching.

      Reply
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