Last week’s challenge: Must Contain Three Things.
This week is one of my favorite brands of challenge — the subgenre smash-up.
Your goal is simple: pick one subgenre from each of the two tables below (preferably randomly, using either a die or a random number generator) and then mash those two genres up into a single story.
This time around, let’s say you have 2000 words. Write it at your online space, link back here in the comments so we can all see it. You’ve got one week — due next Friday by noon EST.
Subgenre Table 1
- Haunted House
- Space Opera
- Cryptozoological
- Sword & Sorcery
- Cozy mystery
- Dystopian
- Zombie
- Espionage
- Arthurian Fantasy
- Vampire Erotica
- Greek Mythology
- Kaiju
- Utopian
- Lovecraftian
- Extraterrestrial
- Conspiracy Thriller
- Steampunk
- Dieselpunk
- Cornpunk
- Urban Fantasy
Subgenre Table 2
- Weird Tales
- Technothriller
- Noir Detective
- Biopunk
- Heist / Caper!
- Slasher / Final Girl
- Alternate History
- Disaster Porn
- Superhero
- Eco-Thriller
- Bumbling Detective
- Wild West
- Artificial Intelligence
- Comic Fantasy
- Psychological Thriller
- Regency Romance
- Magical Realism
- Bodice Ripper
- Paranormal Romance
- Satanic Horror
117 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: The SubGenre Blender”
I have no idea how I’m going to Sword & Sorcery & TechnoThriller. New sword making is the tech? I don’t know. But it’s time to get back into the swing of things.
Espionage and The Wild West. Ok, I thought the last one was tough….
Here’s my story. Chuck, I think you gave me the idea for a dystopian science-fiction-cum crime thriller novella mini-series. Thank you for that 🙂
http://www.thecrimocopoiea.blogspot.in/2015/02/detective-d-in-dystopiana.html
Here’s mine. Urban fantasy and alternate history. This was tough but fun for me, something I don’t normally write.
http://www.lululandadventures.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-wall.html
loved it. so epic.
Thanks!
Brilliant. I loved it.
Thanks! I had so much fun with this challenge.
Thanks RNG – Urban Fantasy and Biopunk it is. And I think I might have the beginnings of an idea – praps with a nod to Bas-Lag…
…and here it is. Part of a larger whole I think, since I’m less than halfway through the tale I meant to tell and it’s still taken much cutting to get down near 2000! “Like Clockwork”
http://idreamofgypsies.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/like-clockwork-flash-fiction-challenge.html
Amazingly done. I can’t wait to read more.
Thanks Lauren. Really glad you like it. Definitely going to be more up soon!
Arthurian Fiction and Artificial Intelligence. I had an easier time writing an Automaton in the 6th century than trying to do AI. So sit back and enjoy: The Son of the The King!
http://www.thedailypawn.com/2015/02/flash-fiction-son-of-king.html
I thought going with the automaton approach was a clever idea. Well done!
Thanks!
[…] short story for Chuck Wendig’s genre mash-up fiction challenge. The dice chose for me a combination of vampire erotica and noir […]
[…] I needed something fun to break up the monotony of snow storms this week. See the original challenge here. I chose to do the mashup of Cryptozoology and Disaster Porn after looking up the definitions on […]
Boy Scouts, I’m sorry. My mashup is Cryptozoology and Disaster Porn. http://www.mothershipmusings.com/?p=290
Haha. I love that story! Smartly written.
I got:
Haunted House
Noir Detective
Easy enough, I thought. But I struggled with this challenge. *glares at Mr. Wendig* Hahahaha. Anyway, I snorted something out which I have to say turned out to be a little more morbid than expected. Here it is:
http://shootin-stars.jimdo.com/flash-fiction/
Cryptozooloogy and Noir Detective. An awesome mix and helped me clear my writers block, so thanks for that 🙂
http://momtojuju.wix.com/sheriwilliams-author#!blog/c112v
I love the humor in this! Good job.
These challenges are great, Mr W.
Zombie meets Disaster Porn and turns out nothing like I originally expected.
http://mister-alister.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/flash-fiction-challenge-subgenre-blender.html
I got Conspiracy Thriller and Wild West. Wrestled a lot with it, since for me Wild West is about lawlessness and depending on yourself, while Conspiracy Thrillers are about control and requires people to give some degree of control over their lives to others. In the end I took a minor detour through the neighbourhood of Lovecraftian and arrived at this. https://evathereseebert.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/the-subgenre-blender
Had a great time with this one (and one hell of a time limiting it to 2,000 words). Heavy on the kaiju, slightly lighter on the bio-punk; but definitely a lot of fun. Enjoy, y’all.
What Rough Beast: http://www.thetailthehead.com/2015/02/flash-fiction-challenge-what-rough-beast.html
[…] this one is grim. Chuck Wendig’s flash fiction challenge of the week was a subgenre mashup this time around, and I rolled “Dystopian” and “Satanic […]
I got Dystopian and Satanic Horror. Even deciding to use more Luciferian elements in place of standard Satanic ones couldn’t save this from being a downer.
http://fistfulofwits.com/2015/02/05/flash-fiction-dreams-of-drowning/
[…] Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge: The Subgenre Blender. Mine’s a mix of Haunted House and […]
A blend of Haunted House and Technothriller subgenres. The amount of gear available for “ghosthunters” really took me by surprise.
https://johnfreeter.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/ghosthunters/
Dystopia/Biopunk And a Spider
http://aliceekeyes.blogspot.com/p/meticulous-tie-fling-ranger-from-now.html
Utopian caper/heist. I came up a bit short on anything but a pun, so instead of using the 2000 words Chuck so generously gave us, I came in at 765–so it’s a fast read, requiring very little of your precious time!
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2015/02/friday-flash-fiction-utopianheist-mashup.html
… and worth every second! Great story!
[…] week’s Flash Fiction Challenge is another genre mashup. Two lists, two random numbers (in my case, 7 and 5), the resultant […]
Seven and five, a zombie caper/heist. I just started with the opening dialogue and went with where it took me. As usual, a late and rushed job that probably needs a good edit, but for a first draft I liked where it ended up.
http://pauljwillett.com/2015/02/06/flash-fiction-deaders/
I really liked that. Inspired!
Nearly forgot to post this, which would have been a shame. Here is my Arthurian Fantasy-Artificial Intelligence entitled “Merlin the Missionary” (despite the earlier title in the permalink)
http://jemimapett.com/blog/2015/02/06/flash-fiction-friday-merlin-the-marvellous/
Ooof, I went for a different style this week and it was a strange experiment! Here is my Greek Mythology-Alternate History short story… “Fallout”.
I had hoped to do a second one in the biopunk urban fantasy category, but plumb ran out of time.
http://imagination.cjreader.com
[…] This weeks flash fiction challenge is another random list mashup. Two lists of 20 possible subgenres, including such exciting things as Kaiju, Steampunk and Paranormal Romance. You will find the lists and complete instructions at the Terribleminds website. […]
[…] blog post/story is my response to Chuck Wendig’s FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE: THE SUBGENRE BLENDER. The challenge was to pick two subgenres at random and write a story that blended together both […]
Got it in under the wire. Cowboys and wizards:
http://sabrakay.com/fff-cowboys-wizards/
[…] Noir and Sword & Sorcery. A hard-boiled warrior? I got you. Thanks to @ChuckWending and TerribleMinds.com for the […]
Two of my fav genres: Sword & Sorcery and Detective Noir. Here you go: Broads & Swords
http://www.bxbstudios.com/blog/
[…] Last week’s challenge: Sub-Genre Blender! […]
[…] couple of weeks ago on author Chuck Wendig’s blog, he posted a writing challenge called The Subgenre Blender, giving two lists of subgenres of stories, and with a random number generator, asking us to pick 2 […]
I know this challenge is over, but by looking at the Subgenre Tables the seed for a Dystopian Zombie-Kaiju Biopunk Story was planted into my mind. I love this Blog.
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[…] I decided to share with you a snippet of a piece I worked on for fun. It comes from Chuck Wendig’s prompt to write a Biopunk Space Opera. I just wrote for fun and with no inhibitions and no meter as to what […]