Chuck Wendig: Terribleminds

Flash Fiction Challenge: “It’s X Meets Y!”

Last week’s challenge: Who The Fuck Is My D&D Character?

As I have noted in the past, I love that some writers describe their stories — usually in an elevator pitch or to sell the story to an agent, editor or reader — as “THIS STORY meets THAT STORY.” Right? “Oh,” the writer says, “It’s like CATCHER IN THE RYE meets SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS.” And you’re like, whoa, what the fuck does that even mean.

Today, we are going to find out.

Below, you’ll find two columns, each of 20 different fairly well-known properties.

You will randomly choose one from each column either by d20 or random number generator.

Then you will literally fill in the variables of the equation:

IT’S LIKE X MEETS Y.

And you will write the resultant story.

You have — let’s go with 2000 words this time around.

Write the story. Post on your blog or online space. Drop a link here so we can all read it. The stories will be due and ready one week from now — next Friday at noon EST.

Note: your goal is not to literally mash these up in fan-fiction (though I suppose if that’s where your head goes, hey, I can’t stop you) — the goal is to take the idea, the spirit of the combination and make them into a story all your own. What is the theoretical mash-up look like and feel like? Diggit? So, what’s the story like if you get: “It’s like HARRY POTTER meets INDIANA JONES?” Or, “It’s like GAME OF THRONES meets SCOOBY DOO.”

Smash them together, see what original story squishes out.

Ready? Set? Write.

COLUMN X

  1. Terminator
  2. Seinfeld
  3. Lord of the Rings
  4. When Harry Met Sally
  5. Jurassic Park
  6. Watership Down
  7. The Matrix
  8. John Carpenter’s The Thing
  9. James Bond
  10. Thomas the Tank Engine
  11. Transformers
  12. Harry Potter
  13. Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  14. Fast and the Furious
  15. Being John Malkovich
  16. Frozen
  17. Top Gun
  18. Rambo
  19. Game of Thrones
  20. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

COLUMN Y

  1. Star Wars
  2. True Detective
  3. True Grit
  4. Toy Story
  5. Die Hard
  6. Scooby Doo
  7. Friday the 13th
  8. The Avengers
  9. Star Trek
  10. 50 Shades of Grey
  11. Super Mario Brothers
  12. Indiana Jones
  13. Alice in Wonderland
  14. Twilight
  15. Jaws
  16. Titanic
  17. Back to the Future
  18. The Godfather
  19. Charlotte’s Web
  20. The Hunger Games

terribleminds

146 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: “It’s X Meets Y!””

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  2. * takes a deep breath and steels herself for the next flash fiction challenge *
    * wonders what kind of beast born warrior or interplanetary conflict she has to write about now *
    * finally reads this week’s challenge and almost chokes with disbelief: When Harry Met Sally? Twilight? WHAT THE HECK??? Finally something that a romance writer can work with??? *
    * throws guilty looks at the voodoo doll she ordered from Amazon; it bears an eerie resemblance to Chuck *
    * does a quick search for “how to safely dispose of voodoo dolls that are no longer needed” *
    * looks back to the challenge and prays to Aphrodite that she’d roll a 9 and 14 *
    * brings out her loaded dice just in case *
    * Sweet Cupid!!! It worked! “James Bond” meets “Twilight” it is! *

    Reply

  3. I got Game of Thrones meets Friday the 13th, I’m already thinking no one comes out alive in this one lol

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  12. And it turns out Frozen meets the Godfather was a great premise to play with a subplot of my novel. Although a straight Elsa as the Godfather would have been pretty fun (who says their parents’ deaths were accidents?) buttt I had more fun remembering just why one of my queens is a bit crazy.

    Sisterly Love – http://imagination.cjreader.com

    Reply

  23. I got James Bond meets Toy Story, and then realised Toy Story IS James Bond – isn’t it? Anyway, this is how I got out of it…
    jemimapett.com/blog/2015/01/23/flash-fiction-friday-a-covert-assignment/

    Reply
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