Third round: boom, right here.
And we’re back.
This experiment has been kinda totally awesome so far.
This is the second to last part. Only one more round to go after this…
The rules are simple:
Look through the 600-word entries from last week (round three, linked above).
Pick one.
Add another 200 words to the story.
(Easiest way forward is to copy the chosen 600 words to your own blog, then add the next 200. Don’t forget to link to your unfinished 800-word story in the comments. Someone may want to continue the tale next week, for part four.)
You do not need to have participated in the earlier rounds to participate in this one.
Try to continue a story in which you have not yet participated.
Do not finish the story. This is a five-part fiction experiment: we’ll end the year with several 1000-word stories, each built out of 200-word chunks by you guys. This is a collaborative game. It is Whisper Down the Lane. It is Telephone. It should be very interesting by the end. One hopes.
You’ve got one week.
Due by Friday, December 20th, noon EST.
Join the narrative chain, won’t you?
158 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: 200 Words At A Time, Part 4”
My 207 word addition brings the story up to 826:
http://article94.blogspot.com/2013/12/making-merry-part-4.html?m=0
Oh cool, this is the one I started! Great work! I hope someone picks this one up so it can get an ending.
I’d love to finish this one off in the next round!
Added the penultimate piece to The Corner, as begun by Heather, Susan and Mergatroid. Read on to find out about the pernicious forest pixie and the booming voice from the shadows.
http://writesomethingsmidge.blogspot.ie/
Woohoo! So glad it’s still going. Thanks, Shane.
Love this. Thanks for adding to it.
I love it!
Love it. I’m finishing it up now. I’ll have it up shortly.
This was so much fun. I’m glad to finally know what my cat’s been freaking out about when she hisses at things I can’t see! Thank you, Heather, Susan, Murgatroid, and Shane.
The final piece of The Corner is here:
http://joannahorrocks.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/the-corner-flash-fiction-challenge-week-five/
[…] Part 4 of Chuck Wendig’s 200-Word flash fiction challenge, I picked up on this story about a lost boy in a grocery store. My 200-word contribution is at the […]
Here is my part 4 submission. We have an untitled piece staring Joe, who is confused about his lost son in the grocery store. You may read the latest version here:
http://writeontheworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/part-4-200-words-at-a-time-flash-fiction-challenge/
I am picking up after Josee (http://joseedeangelis.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/chuck-wendings-flash-fiction-challenge-part-3/comment-page-1/#comment-6) who picked this story up after Tony Taylor… and I am sorry, but I’ve lost track of who had it before that. So, I’m not sure who started it. But I had fun with it and hope whoever writes the ending will be kind enough to post a link to my blog so my readers can see how it ends. Thanks!
Great! It worked! Love the continuation.
I continued that one too, before I realized that you had: http://lynnalandstreet.com/stories/missing
BTW, the writer of part 1 was Ashley – I had to do some digging, but I’ve got links to the original posts above each part in my version.
Oh, yeah. This’ll be sweet.
I continued “Forest Road” by Snellopy, David Kearney, and Doreen Queen. http://bit.ly/18JDYXI
Think I’ll try and finish this one off. I love where you left part 4!
OK, finished it up but it won’t appear on my blog until Friday. You can see it here: http://wp.me/p2AyuM-gk then.
Here’s the continuation of Within the Church. I picked it up from Courtney Cantrell.
http://joseedeangelis.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/terribleminds-com-chuck-wendings-flash-fiction-challenge-part-4/
A priest, a witch and possessed skeletons puppeteered by an evil purple-robe wearing fiend.
And it’s a fabulous continuation! Love the twist. Thanks, Josée!
Oohh… twists’n’turns all the way!
I’ll take this one for the last! 😀 Being a practicing witch, I know a few good curses and spells – good and bad – to jump this along to the end. 😀
Sounds intriguing, Mozette! Can’t wait to read how you wrap it up! : )
Argh, what to pick? What to pick????
I went with a piece started by Jim Franklin, Lynna Landstreet, and CE Konicki. This little slice of weird is called “In Too Deep.”
http://sixgunwizard.blogspot.com/2013/12/in-too-deep.html
Fantastic! Thanks for continuing this weird little story.
No problem. Really want to see how it ends.
Disregard mine back on part three…I didn’t see anyone tag it as being taken.
Oops–I saw this wasn’t indicated as taken on the Part 3 post, so I picked it up and posted MY part 4 today–so I guess anyone wanting to finish can choose which direction. In fact, now I look, I followed a different part 3, too. Muchly branching story.
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2013/12/chuck-wendig-200-word-challenge-week-4.html
I love|enjoy|get giggly at seeing the different ways others have carried on with the peculiar syntax I gave the alien’s auto-translator… 🙂
I thought it was really original and creative. Hope someone finishes out the piece.
Continuation of JDFitch, Doreen Queen, and John Baughman. So much fun to write 🙂 All about magic and some Telemages and an alternative universe as a side.
http://schreibenundwriting.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-four/
Here’s mine. A continuation of Winter Takes All. http://theshadowportal.blogspot.com/2013/12/flash-fiction-challenge_13.html
Very nicely done, I like where this is going. A great setup for the big finale next week!
This is actually http://writeontheworld.wordpress.com/ ‘s contribution. She can’t post it here, for some reason. It’s her part 4 of the story of the lost boy in the grocery store.
http://joseedeangelis.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/part-4-200-words-at-a-time-flash-fiction-challenge/
I typed mine up late, late last night… well okay, just past midnight! I couldn’t sleep and so found one I loved and jumped in the deep end, sleep-deprived and got my mojo workin’… just like I did in the old days. And I paid dearly for it too… got to sleep at 2am after tossing and turning for 2 hours. :/
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/a-gifted-wizard-part-4.html
I claim this one to finish up with Part 5! Not until sometime next week, though.
[…] is Week Four of Chuck Wendig’s latest flash fiction challenge. It began with an assignment to write a 200-word opening to a story. The next week, another writer […]
I took over “Unpredictable Magic,” started by JD Fitch and continued by Doreen Queen and Paul Baughman. Great fun – a novice mage, an accidental cake, and a surprise. Parts 1-4 are here:
http://joannahorrocks.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/flash-fiction-challenge-week-four/
Oh, man! You got her out of trouble after all that work I went through! 🙂
Nice going.
I dunno – is she really out of trouble? Guess we’ll have to wait ’til week 5 to find out…
My part four of the Woods/linderan/Loomis mobsters and zombies story.
http://pbaughman.com/blog/2013/12/14/fiction-jersey-city-of-the-dead-part-4-of-5/
I may break a finger hanging from this cliff. Nice work!
My part four of the Fatma Alici/Athena/Ely thread of the galactic mercs story.
http://pbaughman.com/blog/2013/12/14/fiction-untitled-part-4-of-5-galactic-mercs/
Very nice! I love that you continued the back-n-forth. It has a flow to it. Of course, I may be biased 😉
Part four of “Going Home”, Part 1 by Shane Vaughn, part 2 by Paul Them, part 3 by Joyce Juzwik… Thank you all for a great 600 words to work with.
http://jeffwroteit.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/terribleminds-flash-fiction-going-home/
I love it, Jeff! Thanks for adding to it!!
Jeff, Thanks for carrying this forward. I love what you’ve done with it, adding yet another dark layer to this eerie mystery. Hope this makes it to the end!
Thanks – I would like to see it finished as well. What will it take for John to rest eternally?
Part four of the untitled story about demon summoning by Meagan Wilson, Wanderer, and Danger Dean.
http://aaronswordtree.blogspot.com/2013/12/200-words-at-time-part-four.html
Damn, I was teasing the possibilities out with this one. 🙂
You got in there first with a great addition. 🙂
Can’t wait to see how Stewart faces the ultimate challenge! In fact…for the big finale…MINE!
I did one too. Yours actually sparked it, but it wouldn’t leave me alone!
http://prose.smoph.org/2013/12/20/best-laid-plans/
[…] This week: add another 200 words. Pretty straight forward at this point. Next week is the conclusion, and lots of fun will be had reading the results of this challenge. […]
Part four, still untitled. From Mildred, Dean, J, and now myself. Take it, name it, finish it (please!). 🙂
http://thepaddedcastle.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/challenge-part-four-200-more/
Excellent. Thank you.
I continued the story started by Liz Neering (https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/5294833-200-words-at-a-time) and continued by Andrea Speed (http://andreaspeed.com/2013/flash-fic-challenge-round-robin-part-2/) and Kyra Dune (http://theshadowportal.blogspot.com/2013/12/flash-fiction-challenge.html).
Here’s my contribution: http://reneeelizabeths.blogspot.com/2013/12/flash-fiction-200-words-at-time-part_15.html
.
Sorry about this random non-comment. Had a little keyboard+curious toddler incident this morning and now I can’t figure out how to delete it. At least she only managed this, rather than switching the language to Chinese or turning the screen upside-down or something.
[…] came upon Chuck Wendig’s blog, Terrible Minds, quite by accident. when researching a psychiatry topic for a client (don’t ask). […]
My 16 yr old son, Iain, added to HPetterson’s contribution (HPetterson had added to Ely’s additions). It’s his very first time writing flash fiction in a public setting and with (I’m assuming) adults. He doesn’t have a blog, so I posted it onto mine.
Please check it out and let us know if we did anything wrong. I’m a journalist and NOT a fiction writer. LOL
http://www.freelancewritingdreams.com/flash-fiction-challenge-part-iv-by-iain-mackenzie/
I did the same on as well (comment below) nice job!
Great Job Lain…I posted on your home page. Well done. Ready for another? Cheers Hank.
[…] there’s an awesome thing happening over at Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds blog. It’s this like game of telephone ala free for all flash fiction grab-and-literaturize. […]
So this story is continued from Ely (Round 1) and HPETTERSON (Round 2). I brought the word count up to 600, who’s ready to do the next 200?
http://charlotteecoburn.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/220/
I really liked your interpretation and the imagery you used. I put a comment on your site. Thanks for your nice words above. Iain.
Awesome, thank you!
Great continuation…really well done. Now go find another you’re on a roll. Cheers Hank
Indeed! Thank you.
Hey, thanks for giving this story some love guys! It has branched out in some pretty awesome ways.
Howdy 2: sorry, meant to put part 4 here not where put earlier: http://feralbulb.wordpress.com/blurb-4/
…200 words after those of Emmy Jackson’s, Andrew Linder’s and Michael Woods’.
Randomly chose another story. I can’t wait to see how someone ends this.
A world-renowned professor with either a secret or a trick of his sleeve visits a class to show them “the next level of human evolution” with his mysterious black box. He seems to take a particular interest in Alice. A smart girl, but a bit of an outsider . . .
The first 200 by Dave Kearney: http://scenesandsequels.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/chuck-wendigs-flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-one/
The next 200 by Rebecca B.: http://girlbooksblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/200-200-words-onto-words-a-flash-fiction-challenge/
The third installment by http://decayingorbits.wordpress.com/
My fourth installment, which takes this up to just past 900 words, can be found here: http://jeremiahboydstun.com/2013/12/16/200-words-part-iv-121513/
*cheers* This is awesome – am loving this story
200 words added to the most enjoyable Gangster/Zombie piece created by the unholy trio of Linder, Jackson and Wood.
http://pilcrowsandcedillas.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/chuck-wendigs-flash-fiction-challenge-part-4/
[…] series at Terribleminds […]
Carrying on the creepy horror started by De Angelis, Neering & Crump. http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/2013/12/16/flash-fiction/
I continued the Fair Folks Favor
http://pastebin.com/qiV4MKpE
http://erinmjustice.com/2013/12/14/flash-fiction-challenge-the-fair-folks-favor/
I like it 🙂
Looks like my link to my continue waitron of Kate Baker’s start didn’t post this morning …. Here it is again just in case…
http://deadwoodstories.blogspot.com/2013/12/further-continuation-of-kate-bakers.html
Very nice continuation and addition. Really added depth and potential.
[…] those of you coming in late to the party, this is a challenge from Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds Blog. The idea is a 5 part story, written in 200 word sections. Each section is written by someone else. […]
This took a strange turn…
http://jonjeffersonauthor.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/lost-in-the-lecture-hall/
A strange but intriguing turn
It’s the lecture hall. You never know what might happen.
I’ve added 200 words and a title to this story by murgatroid98, LC Hu, and Jeremy Podolski.
A stench, a scrap of silk, and a sword. What’s next?
http://burntgraphite.net/fiction3
Oh my gosh, and there is only one more addition. I’ve been hoping someone would tell us what was in the garage. Great job.
I had to miss part three as the day job got a bit hectic (thanks for getting born around now, Jesus) but will be throwing in another 200 or so this week. I feel the need to make up for my absence.
I’ll even be so bold as to tout myself as a pen-for-hire; if there’s anyone with a chunk of story waiting to be added to from the last three parts, add a comment below this and I’ll do my best to bring you a step forward.
As a side note, I love that there are so many of us surprised by the places our own words take us.
Simon started, my friend Joyce did a part 2 for this, I added 3, into a darker direction. I have some ideas for it, but would like to see where someone would take it next http://www.ravensview.ca/ravens/2013/12/a-family-affair.html
Simon, I’d really love to see the story Threads of Time from last week continued. Nitromidget started it, I added. It’s only up to 400. Love to see it as a possibility for this week’s round.
http://prose.smoph.org/2013/12/06/threads-of-time-part-ii/
Here you go. I’ve added a few humble words to the story, bringing us up to a very open-ended 597:
http://probablyfalse.tumblr.com/post/70515952322/threads-of-time-part-iii
Time for someone else to pick up the mantle!
Simon, this is great! I really enjoyed your addition, adding to the mysticism.
Thanks, Simon! If the offer still stands, the story that I started for Part 1 is only up to 400 words. I’d love to see it go a bit further! http://courtcan.com/writing/new-flash-fiction-challenge-200-words/
I really enjoyed reading and contributing to this story. The two of you managed to pack an incredible amount of atmosphere into such a small space.
Here is my part:
http://probablyfalse.tumblr.com/post/70531846356/house-of-memory-part-iii
Oh, yay! I thought this one was going to get left behind. I love where you went with it. Thanks!
Decorum be damned is a great line.
Thanks, Simon! I love your addition. And Smoph is right, that last line is excellent. I hope somebody picks this up for Parts 4 & 5. I wanna know what happens!
[…] hard time picking the next part to continue. But, this one caught my attention. So, check out Chuck Wendig, thanks to Megan, the Wanderer, and Dave […]
Okay the story started by Megan, picked up the Wanderer, then Dave Kearney. And the last part by me.
It’s called Stewart, and there’s demons.
http://naharavensari.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/200-words-at-a-time-part-4/
OK, Since hpetterson did the 2nd 200 (ely did the first 200), I decided to keep the story on track and did the next 400. It’s up to date for the next person to finish. It still doesn’t have a title so the last person can name it. Here’s the link. It’ll be active 0300 Friday morning. http://wp.me/p2AyuM-g9
I added to this one as well (comment above) if you’re interested in checking it out. Nice work.
http://charlotteecoburn.wordpress.com/
Couldn’t find the story. But I am excited to read it. Cheers Hank.
Hm. Second reference to Hemingway in one story by two separate authors…that’s kind of cool! I’m interested to see what cost must be payed to keep his life…
Nicely done.
I picked “Millions of Cats” by Rebecca Douglass, Connie Cockrell, and Andy Decker. My continuation of the story is here: http://courtcan.com/writing/flash-fiction-challenge-continuing-someone-elses-story-part-4/
P.S. I’m enjoying the whole flash fic challenge, but this story has been the most fun for me so far.
CATS!
such laugh
very fic
so pun
wow
(Sorry, couldn’t help myself. 😉 No DogeSpeak in the story, I promise!)
Oh, my! I can’t wait to see how this turns out!
Oh my! I can’t wait to see how this turns out. Very nicely done.
Thank you, Paul! Glad you enjoyed. : )
[…] the penultimate round of Chuck Wendig’s 200 words at a time flash fiction challenge and this week I’ve added 200 (and a bit) words to a really intriguing and eerie little piece […]
Here’s Part 4 of an intriguing and eerie little piece started by Adrienne and continued brilliantly by j and Smoph. No title yet. Enjoy!
http://scenesandsequels.wordpress.com/2013/12/18/flash-fiction-challenge-part-4/
Dave, I love what you’ve done with this. You’ve opened it up to quite a number of possible endings. I had picked this one up too. It was just too good to pass up.
[…] you haven’t been following along, Chuck Wending is having us write a 1,000 word story in 5 parts–each part is written by a different […]
Here’s part 4 of Shane, Courtney, and Adrienne’s “Cold” http://secondstaronther.wordpress.com/2013/12/18/1000-word-story-in-v-parts-part-iv/
And the mystery deepens! This vampire is getting more and more intriguing. Thanks for the great addition, Wanderer!
Thanks for all the good stuff to go on, Courtney!
Excellent stuff, Wanderer!
Thanks Shane! It was a fun one to continue.
I have continued “A Real Live Corpse” Started by Ken Crump and added to by Mandy Webster and Joanna Horrocks. My addition can be found here:
http://benteight.tumblr.com/post/70443811277/week-4-of-the-flash-fiction-challenge
Damn…the plot does twist nicely! I’ll love seeing how this plays out at the end. 🙂
[…] week, I posted parts 1-3 of a Chuck Wendig’s collaborative flash fiction zombie piece called “A Real Live Corpse.” Ken Crump had written part 1, Mandy Webster […]
I also had picked up the dark untitled piece begun by Adrienne, continued by j, continued by Smoph and now, by me. It’s up to 803 words now, and I hope to see an ending written for Part 5. No telling where this one could go!
Well, it’s not going anywhere if I forget to post the link! Sorry about that. Here it is.
http://jfjuzwik.blogspot.com/2013/12/terrible-minds-flash-fiction-challenge_18.html
I feel their desperation now. I am looking forward to seeing the wrap-up.
I’m taking this one for part V—really enjoyed the build up!
[…] it’s a writing challenge piece! This one is for Chuck Wendig’s writing challenge, which is the fourth in a five-part challenge. Participants write 200 words as the start of the […]