Last week’s challenge: 100-Word Stories.
Once again: the title challenge rears its gorgeously weird head.
I love this challenge and it usually get a lot of play, so let’s do it.
Way this works is: you’re gonna randomly throw together a title for your story.
Use a d20 or a random number generator to consult the table at the bottom of the document to roll for a story’s title. It’s a two-part title (meaning, two random numbers 1-20) and whatever title you get must fit the story you write for it. (Examples: “The Dead Boy’s Doghouse,” “Shotgun Promise,” “A Key For Helix.”)
You’ll have 1000 words, par usual. Post at your blog, link back here. Due in one week — June 6th, Friday — by noon EST. And so, the title tables are (note that you’re free to put the word “The” in front of your title or pluralize words as appropriate):
Column One
- Whispered
- Mirror
- Junkie’s
- Amaranthine
- Diamond
- Shotgun
- Labyrinthine
- Bloody
- Seven-Year
- Crown of
- Starship
- Betrayer’s
- Scarlett
- Ugly
- Unlucky
- Dead Boy’s
- A Key for
- Grave Robber’s
- Castle
- Cackling
Column Two
- Murders
- Worlds
- Helix
- Beetle
- Dowager
- Gunslingers
- Firestorm
- Promise
- Sea
- Kevin
- Doghouse
- Pelican
- Breakfast
- Curse
- Coinpurse
- Rider
- Bastards
- Diary
- Souls
- Jackals
Fatma Alici says:
Castle Diary…okay…gonna have to think about that one.
May 30, 2014 — 12:03 PM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Ooh, sounds good! I’m looking forward to reading what you come up with (I want to bet that it’s going to involve fairies in some way, but I don’t want to prompt/pressure you!)
May 30, 2014 — 12:36 PM
Fatma Alici says:
This came out kind of interesting. A different than my usual thing, but I really like it. Super short. Mainly, I’d either have to completely give it away or make it to rambly.
http://www.fatmaalici.com/2014/06/01/flash-fiction-castles-diary/
June 1, 2014 — 9:01 PM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Great contest this week. I loved the randomness of it.
My words were “Scarlett” and “World” which I mashed together into “Scarlett’s Worlds”
http://mrurbanspaceman.wordpress.com/2014/05/30/scarletts-worlds-a-flash-fiction-piece/
May 30, 2014 — 12:35 PM
Mark Gardner says:
Yep. I like it. I could almost imagine this being the alternate story told to the Flying Squirrel by Isabella.
May 30, 2014 — 3:53 PM
Mark Baron says:
Dark as hell, but damned was it awesomely written. This is amazing work, my friend.
May 30, 2014 — 6:11 PM
Kaleb J.D Russell (@BookBrigadier) says:
Amazing work! That ending had me wanting more!
June 1, 2014 — 10:38 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Thank you very much. I don’t have any plans for more, but you never know what the future may bring (or what crazy prompt Chuck is going to provide next week).
June 1, 2014 — 12:28 PM
Amber says:
Shotgun Gunslingers. Uh…that’s almost too easy, so gonna chew on that a bit.
May 30, 2014 — 12:40 PM
mikes75 says:
“Whispered Bastards.” OK then…
May 30, 2014 — 12:42 PM
canuckmom2013 says:
I love eet!
May 30, 2014 — 6:02 PM
Misa says:
“Starship Gunslingers”. Now can I write something that doesn’t read like Firefly fanfic?
May 30, 2014 — 12:44 PM
Benjamin D says:
The question is, would you WANT to write something that doesn’t read like a Firefly fanfic.
May 30, 2014 — 1:39 PM
Terri says:
And Benjamin wins the Internet for today. *hands over trophy*
May 30, 2014 — 2:12 PM
thesexiestwriter says:
I usually like these, off-a-typing I will go…
May 30, 2014 — 12:47 PM
mikebrendan says:
“Gunslinger’s Castle”
I got this…
May 30, 2014 — 12:50 PM
Amber Roberts says:
I got Amaranthine Souls. I’ll take it. Off I go, type type type
May 30, 2014 — 12:59 PM
Mark GardnerMark Gardner says:
I love the random title challenges. I’ll get mine up this afternoon.
May 30, 2014 — 1:01 PM
Mark Baron says:
To make this fair and keep myself honest, I’m going to use Invisible Castle’s dice roller/logger: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4518795/
“Starship Rider”
Hmmm….
May 30, 2014 — 1:03 PM
Mark Baron says:
And here is mine! http://wp.me/p4AFse-6w
I have to admit, I think I lucked out with word combos!
May 30, 2014 — 6:03 PM
JP Juniper says:
You have some great, subtle world-building going on here. Now, where can I get one of these space bikes? 🙂
May 31, 2014 — 8:28 PM
Mark Baron says:
I know, right? I’ve wanted to jump on one all day 😉
May 31, 2014 — 8:29 PM
Justin Diehl says:
The Crown of Kevin. Alright this should be fun.
May 30, 2014 — 1:07 PM
Pavowski says:
Betrayer’s Helix. Percolating…
May 30, 2014 — 1:07 PM
Pavowski says:
I had really high hopes for this one, but I think I missed the mark a bit. Guess you can’t hit a home run every time. I’ll go ahead and blame the fact that I have a four-day old baby living in the house with me.
That said, maybe you can find something useful in it.
Betrayer’s Helix is here: http://pavorisms.wordpress.com/2014/06/02/betrayers-helix/
June 2, 2014 — 11:16 PM
JP Juniper says:
>>> import random
>>> random.randint(1, 21)
17
>>> random.randint(1, 21)
2
“A Key for Worlds” … http://jpjuniper.com/2014/05/30/a-key-for-worlds/
(Wondering how python repl output is going to look in a wp comment…. )
May 30, 2014 — 1:38 PM
Mark Baron says:
Oh wow…that went in such a different direction than I expected. So well written, so inviting. I love this piece.
May 30, 2014 — 6:18 PM
JP Juniper says:
Thank you! I hope nobody realizes it’s really a riff on that Spinal Tap line about D minor being the saddest of all keys.
Wait. Aw, geez.
May 30, 2014 — 11:18 PM
Mark Baron says:
Lol!
May 30, 2014 — 11:32 PM
Raven Blackburn says:
My fiancé picked “Shotgun Breakfast” for me. Oookay. Let’s see what I come up with.
May 30, 2014 — 1:39 PM
epbeaumont says:
“Crown of Bastards.” Wow, this is going to be fun.
May 30, 2014 — 2:25 PM
Sabrina Howard says:
OMG . . . Your title is so perfect. It reminds me of a novel I’m writing . . . Like, so much . . . My story is about a boy who was born out of wedlock, and later finds that he is a prince. . . Weird.
May 30, 2014 — 2:53 PM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Bonus points if you make it an ACTUAL crown comprised of illegitimate small male children on the head of some giant beanstalk-type Ogre.
May 31, 2014 — 4:40 AM
Sabrina Howard says:
Yesssssssss!
May 31, 2014 — 1:47 PM
epbeaumont says:
Very different from anything suggested, actually (it’s down thread…) but all suggestions below are heaps of fun.
June 4, 2014 — 7:00 PM
Chiligoatincent says:
These titles remind me of the short stories and novels I used to read in my early teens; Poe and Stevenson. Very adventurous and classic.
May 30, 2014 — 2:30 PM
Chiligoat says:
With great trepidation, my first non-fandom work up for scrutiny in some three years..
Grave Robber’s Curse: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1s1vcis
May 30, 2014 — 8:24 PM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
I wasn’t sure where you were going with this story, but I think it worked out quite well. I hope John eventually got cured, even though he was a bit of a bastard for stabbing your protagonist.
May 31, 2014 — 4:45 AM
Sabrina Howard says:
Just a question: Can we add conjunctions between the parts? Or is that cheating?
Otherwise, the first part of my title, “Scarlett,” is spelled as the name and not the adjective.
Thanks 🙂
May 30, 2014 — 2:51 PM
Mark Gardner says:
I had posted earlier, but the internet seemed to have eaten it. I rolled a 1 & 2. Whispered Worlds:
http://article94.wordpress.com/2014/05/30/whispered-worlds/
May 30, 2014 — 3:43 PM
Mark Baron says:
Another awesome story, Mark!
May 30, 2014 — 4:45 PM
Mark Gardner says:
Thanks!
May 30, 2014 — 4:53 PM
canuckmom2013 says:
Whispered worlds, read it–nicely done, Mark.
May 30, 2014 — 6:15 PM
Mark Gardner says:
Thanks, Mark & Canuck Mom.
June 1, 2014 — 10:58 AM
Allison Maruska says:
I got Diamond Promise. Changing it to Diamond’s Promise. Now how to write this so it’s not sentimental bull crap? Hmmmm.
May 30, 2014 — 4:15 PM
R T Allwin says:
Seven-year Diary? I think I’m going to need more words…
May 30, 2014 — 4:33 PM
Wren says:
I rolled “Labyrinthine Pelican.” Hmmm.
May 30, 2014 — 5:08 PM
MetalKween says:
Crown of Helix… the Crown of Helix, maybe? Yikes. It may belong to a prince with an elongated head… let’s see what happens.
May 30, 2014 — 5:23 PM
Anne Shaffer says:
Scarlett Kevin… hmm.
May 30, 2014 — 5:49 PM
canuckmom2013 says:
Starship Promises, lovely…
May 30, 2014 — 6:07 PM
angelacavanaugh says:
Seven-Year Firestorm
https://angelacavanaugh.wordpress.com/2014/05/30/seven-year-firestorm/
May 30, 2014 — 6:45 PM
bassplyr5150 says:
“Junkie’s Promise.” I figure my biggest problem will be avoiding the obvious plot…
May 30, 2014 — 11:02 PM
Mickie says:
“Betrayer’s Rider”…Sweet!
Here’s my two cents on that: http://mickienotthemouse.dreamwidth.org/301.html
May 31, 2014 — 12:33 AM
Edward Forrest Frank says:
Bloody Pelican
Corliose by the Sea
By E. Forrest Frank
May 30, 2014
http://edwardforrestfrank.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/corliose-by-the-sea/
May 31, 2014 — 12:44 AM
Edward Forrest Frank says:
Wrong Link:
Bloody Pelican
By E. Forrest Frank
May 30, 2014
http://edwardforrestfrank.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/bloodypelican/
May 31, 2014 — 12:48 AM
Mozette says:
I found two words worked for me… and are gritty on their own:
Shotgun Promise… and here it is:
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/shotgun-promise.html
May 31, 2014 — 2:04 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
I love the opening paragraph, it had me hooked right away. The whole piece felt very Supernatural-y. And now I want to go and watch it. Dammit!
Good job.
May 31, 2014 — 4:55 AM
Mozette says:
Well… I’ve been in Supernatural withdrawal because Season 9 is now over…. (sobs into my cup of coffee) … it’ll return for Season 10 in October. Of course that’s just too far away, isn’t it?
But it’s fun to write spin-off stuff from the show and inspired from it too. 😀
May 31, 2014 — 8:17 AM
RAM says:
Grave Robber’s Breakfast. With a title like that, how could I NOT write the story? It’s my first flash fiction, so feedback would be most welcome
http://robbyalanmarsh.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/a-macabre-flash-fiction/#more-120
May 31, 2014 — 2:18 AM
C. E. Coburn says:
Whispered Pelican. Lamest title ever. Oddly, it produced a pretty sweet piece of historical fiction:
https://februaryst.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=263&action=edit&message=1
May 31, 2014 — 4:32 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
You’re linking to your admin portal, rather than your finished article. Link no workey.
May 31, 2014 — 5:01 AM
C. E. Coburn says:
Well that’s odd…
Here we go: http://februaryst.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/random-sucky-titles-or-whispered-pelican/#more-263
Thanks!
May 31, 2014 — 5:42 AM
Kaleb J.D Russell (@BookBrigadier) says:
“Betrayer’s Dowager” That is going to be a tough one. But I don’t have a blog, so where should I post this when I’m done?
May 31, 2014 — 5:28 AM
Eva Therese says:
You could paste it into a google doc and and post the link here? Just remember to set it to public viewing.
May 31, 2014 — 6:18 AM
Kaleb J.D Russell (@BookBrigadier) says:
Sounds like a good idea. Thank you.
May 31, 2014 — 7:29 AM
terribleminds says:
You’ll have to find an online space — even FB — to post at and link to!
May 31, 2014 — 7:24 AM
Kaleb J.D Russell (@BookBrigadier) says:
Thank you.
May 31, 2014 — 7:29 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Sounds like the perfect excuse to get a blog 😉 Especially if you’re likely to partake in more of Chuck’s flash fic challenges!
June 1, 2014 — 3:00 AM
Kaleb J.D Russell (@BookBrigadier) says:
Any advice on where to start? Lately I’ve been thinking about it, but I have no idea what to do first.
June 1, 2014 — 9:55 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Well, I think the best thing to do is have a look at some of the better-known blog sites and browse some of the available blogs. Have a look at the designs, get a feel for how they work, how they look.
I personally use WordPress because I find it has a good range of templates, allows a high degree of customisation, it comes with its own Reader to allow you to keep track of fellow WordPress bloggers, allows for simple archiving, quick display of visitor/comment stats, and it’s easy to integrate things like your Twitter feed and RSS. Before my WordPress, I hadn’t dabbled in blogging for many years (somewhere between the 5-10 range) but WordPress feels very intuitive, and I find many of the WordPress blogs to be aesthetically pleasing.
Mark Gardner might be able to offer some additional advice, as he was using blogspot or blogger or something like that, before he switched to WordPress, so his comparisons might be a little more up to date than mine.
If you don’t intend to use a blog (or a wordpress, whatever) very often then like Eva said, you might find google docs adequate for your occasional sharing needs, and there’s also fictionpress.com (but I should say, their formatting is just dire and I personally wouldn’t use it for sharing flash fiction). Sites like WordPress and Blogspot and such are good because they allow you to incorporate multimedia, so you can add images to stories easily, and (WordPress, at least) have a WYSIWYG text editor for those who don’t know how (or can’t be bothered) to manually format html.
Anyhoo, long rambly tangent aside, there are many blog sites out there: Ask around, see which other authors prefer, and browse them to get a feel for them. Once you’ve chosen, the sign-up process should be pretty easy.
Then write crazy Chuck-prompted stories 😉
June 1, 2014 — 12:21 PM
Kaleb J.D Russell (@BookBrigadier) says:
Thank you for the advice.
June 2, 2014 — 6:30 AM
Mozette says:
I’ve been using Blogger for a long time. It’s got some great templates and you can fiddle with where things go too… it’s great. 😀 My Flash Fiction blog is on Blogger… so are my other ones. 🙂
June 3, 2014 — 8:33 AM
Siddhartha says:
WordPress / Blogspot are always good, but I feel that Tumblr is the easiest to set up. It has a huge number of themes for all your needs. I find it the most intuitive. A lot of very active bloggers (including our gracious host) maintain a presence on Tumblr.
June 1, 2014 — 2:23 PM
Eva Therese says:
Got ‘mirror’ and ‘murders’. Probably not the best idea to mull over this idea while brushing my teeth and then going to bed, but here’s the result. http://evathereseebert.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/mirror-murders/
May 31, 2014 — 6:14 AM
Kathryn Goldman says:
I rolled “castle” and “jackals.” I’ve been out of the game for a while, but recent events in my town might speak to this title. I hope to be back, soon.
May 31, 2014 — 11:14 AM
chriswhitewrites says:
I’ve got one here, although it’s very short (80 words) – The Gravedigger’s Coinpurse.
May 31, 2014 — 8:40 PM
mrbildango says:
Amaranthine Souls. Here you go!
http://bildangotales.tumblr.com/post/87455723019/pulled-from-this-flash-fiction-challenge-from
May 31, 2014 — 11:30 PM
aspeed says:
I liked it! Nice use of the given title.
June 2, 2014 — 5:45 AM
robinlmartinez says:
My title was “Scarlet Jackals.” First try at horror. Not sure how it worked out but it was interesting to write.
http://robinlmartinez.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/flash-fiction-challenge-scarlet-jackals/
June 1, 2014 — 1:00 AM
aspeed says:
I’m so delighted! I got “Shotgun Bastards” – http://andreaspeed.com/2014/flash-fiction-challenge-shotgun-bastards/
June 1, 2014 — 4:36 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Mmm, human pinata.
I mean, err, I would never condone physical violence against human beings. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, writing such terrible and depraved things!
Mandatory hollow chastising aside, I admired your revelation at the end—totally didn’t see it coming. And your characters, it feels like I’ve known them forever.
June 1, 2014 — 1:21 PM
aspeed says:
Thank you! As soon as I got the title, I imagined something Tarentino-esque, so that’s what I went with. Over the top violence included.
June 2, 2014 — 5:39 AM
Lesley Donaldson says:
“Seven-Year Firestorm”. This has potential!
June 1, 2014 — 7:35 AM
aarkane91 says:
I was landed with ‘Amaranthine Coinpurse’. Not my greatest, but I still threw something together regardless. http://andrewarkane.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/the-amaranthine-coinpurse/
June 1, 2014 — 9:06 AM
Siddhartha says:
So I got Mirror and Curse. Here is my story – “The Mirror’s Curse”. Read this to know the origin and meaning of the Bloody Mary legend. Hint: it is not what you think.
https://ssbasu.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/flash-fiction-random-title-1/
June 1, 2014 — 10:32 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
It all makes sense now!
June 1, 2014 — 1:32 PM