I’ll be going through your epic list of potential flash fiction suggestions next week, but for now, it’s time to revive one of the classics: the random song title challenge
Way this works is:
Go to your music player of choice, pull up a random song, and use that song title as the title to your story. You don’t need to make the story about the song or inspired by the song (unless you want to) — all you really need is the title to run with. On iTunes, it’s shuffle, I think, but if you google “play random song” you’ll find plenty of ways to conjure one from the chaos.
Write the story with the song title as your story title.
You’ve got 1000 words.
Write it at your online space, give us a link in the comments so we can all read it.
Due by July 3rd, noon EST.
141 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: The Random Song Title Jamboree”
“Little Sister” by Jewel. Pulled from a random playlist of 20,000+ MP3s. Little over 1k, but not too bad.
http://panningforclouds.com/2015/06/30/little-sister/
And here’s the link to the song, which uh… not much like the thing I wrote.
Even though some part of me could see where it was going, the rest of me hoped it wasn’t so. Well done.
My Spotify queue has been doing an excellent job of adding background music while I’m reading these. “Perro” by The Album Leaf added an element of something good.
Though now that I think about it, maybe stories are best when read in silence. I’m not sure. Either way, the story does stand well on its own.
[…] again! Another short-short inspired by Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge for this week. This one asks you to use the title of the first song to randomly appear on your […]
I was going to skip this one originally, but then Radiohead’s “I Am Citizen Insane” was the first song to pop up on Pandora. Couldn’t very well walk away from a title like that. Enjoy!
https://dmcclure17.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/the-song-title-a-wendig-flash-fiction-challenge/
This is great!
I always enjoy stories about normal people trying to survive in the world of the super-powered. You’ve created a fascinating universe to play in.
[…] story is brought to you by FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE: THE RANDOM SONG TITLE JAMBOREE at Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds. This is work in progress, part of the history of scars in […]
So, the first song that popped up was “Ash”. I’m not sure I got the feeling right, but I’m running out of time, so here’s a go. If you have any suggestions or other feedback, please let me know.
http://fredgyost.com/2015/07/01/flash-fiction-challenge-ash/
I’m so late entering this. Been working so much, no time to write!
The very first song that came to mind when I saw the prompt was was Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine.” Hope you like it!
http://wp.me/p6e1eO-1l
https://apostrophobic.wordpress.com/2015/07/02/better-not-wake-the-baby/
This one went a little weird on me. I’m not used to first person.
Not that I’m a pro, but I thought the brevity served you well there. There were edgy bits lurking just outside the text.
Thanks!
Agree with Ridley, the… I don’t know if choppiness is the right word, but it’s the one I’m using… the choppiness helps convey the damage, the emotional frayed ends that the narrator is trying desperately to hold together.
Thanks! I was definitely frayed when it was done…
“We Are Nowhere And It’s Now” – Bright Eyes
That’ll teach me to use a random song generator not from my music library.
http://www.ridleykemp.com/stories/2015/7/2/we-are-nowhere-and-its-now
I may have *cough* gone a few words over the 1,000 word limit. I blame the admonition regarding character agency this week.
Ooh good stuff. Totally agree with Anna.
Fascinating. I love the concept, and that you didn’t stop at 1000 words. Some stories just need more space for the telling.
Maaan, now I want more Birdman stories. Well done!
Wow. I liked this a lot. Great idea, beautifully written.
Well. Song title is Splash Woman by Mega Ran (Jarbo), and the story is a science fiction piece on one of the dangers of colonisation:
http://cmsimpson.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/flash-fiction-challenge-due-july-3-2015.html
Awesome. You did a wonderful job painting pictures, the dullness of space travel, the excitement of the ride down, and the panic at the end.
Side note: I was listening to ‘It’s only Words’ by The Best Pessimist while reading this, it worked pretty well as a soundtrack.
Thanks, Fred. I’m glad it worked. I’ll have to look ‘It’s only Words’ up.
“Happy” by Pharrell Williams. It might be a little derivative, but I enjoyed writing it.
Post will be live in c85 minutes from now.
http://jemimapett.com/blog/2015/07/03/friday-flash-fiction-happy/
iTunes gave me “Fucking in the Bushes” by Oasis. So I give you “Fucking in the Bushes” by me. All 820 words of it.
https://grahamwrites.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/flash-fiction-fucking-in-the-bushes
This one plunged me deep into the haze of nostalgia, as it was a song I haven’t heard in a very long time, and brought me back to living in West Berlin, where the movie this song was featured in was filmed…in the same year I went there. The story itself, however, took me in a direction I never expected to go in–it was like a visitation by someone else’s Muse. Here is “Six Bells Chime” (from the band Crime and the City Solution.” http://www.herravendomain.com/six-bells-chime/
Beautiful imagery.
[…] week’s challenge is the random song title jamboree. I ended up with Dead Is The New Alive by Emilie […]
https://mxgomez.wordpress.com/2015/07/02/dead-is-the-new-alive-a-chuck-wendig-challenge/
Dead is the New Alive (Song by Emilie Autumn)
[…] This week’s Flash Fiction Challenge starts with a song title. We were to pick a random song title (from our iTunes or Apple Music or iHeart or Pandora or Spotify or by taking the entrails of an albino crow and throwing them on our vinyl collection – whatever!) and using that as a “seed” to tell our story. I got a Huey Lewis & The News song. As always, comments and constructive criticisms are appreciated. […]
Huey Lewis & The News, “Do You Believe In Love?” Okay, I can work with that.
http://pauljwillett.com/2015/07/02/flash-fiction-do-you-believe-in-love/
Spotify gave me “Brown Eyed Girl.” So I ran with it.
https://ashramswithinanut.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/brown-eyed-girl/
[…] published on http://www.shrutiswaminathan.com; written for Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge on […]
This was FUN! I got ANGEL DUSTER by the awesome Run The Jewels, and immediately this story popped into my head.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dd5WaOA_pw&w=560&h=315%5D
Hope you all enjoy! http://www.whiskypixel.com/angel-duster/
The Samsung music player gave me “Domino” by Jessie J, so of course, I wrote about the world’s worst fat camp.
http://www.qkellybooks.com/2015/07/domino-worlds-worst-fat-camp.html
I LOVE this!!! but I want more!