This challenge is a little different. I like doing some different things here now and again, so — instead of writing a story, I want you to create a character.
You can create the character in whatever mode you choose, with the one caveat:
Keep it under 250 words.
Encapsulate the character in that limit.
You can use a story to highlight the character.
Or just a clinical analysis of who the character is.
You can decide what makes a good character and what goes into this.
Then, next week, you will offer that character up onto the altar of the next flash fiction challenge — folks may borrow your character and take them on a test drive through a new piece of fiction.
Dig? Dug? Good.
You’ve got one week.
Write it at your blog.
Link back here.
Due by Friday, 8/28, noon EST.
NOW GO AND CREATE LIFE.
Joe Turner says:
Use someone else’s character!? Isn’t that like borrow underwear?
August 21, 2015 — 2:55 AM
addy says:
what you call borrowed. i call free. also a tad too tight
August 21, 2015 — 4:46 AM
elctrcrngr says:
This sounds fascinating, and also like a lot of fun. I haven’t participated in a while, and it’s time to drag myself out of my funk, and start interacting with the real world again. Thanks, Chuck! Does it matter if I go commando?
August 21, 2015 — 5:30 AM
elctrcrngr says:
OK, here’s my sacrificial offering.
https://elctrcrngr.wordpress.com/2015/08/26/character-sketch-menoetius-moros/
August 25, 2015 — 8:59 PM
Pavowski says:
Yoinked for my flash fiction this week. Hope it delivers on what you saw for this guy in some way…
“The Forty-Second”: http://accidentallyinspired.com/2015/08/31/the-forty-second/
August 31, 2015 — 6:25 PM
Lili says:
Is there a theme lurking here? Maybe my char will run a nudist colony….
August 21, 2015 — 7:27 AM
Lili says:
https://liliweaveswords.wordpress.com/terribleminds-challenges/
My Character- Hazel Doris
August 21, 2015 — 12:05 PM
Lili says:
I added another character to the same link: Stoney Potter.
August 23, 2015 — 2:04 PM
D.R.Sylvester says:
I done did answer the challenge! It’s a short scene featuring a new made up character chickadee, someone with a lot of heart. The scene is a zombie apocalypse one, but if anyone picks this up they could put her in something completely different of course. Here it is:
http://wp.me/p4GUHD-iR
August 21, 2015 — 8:16 AM
Mozette says:
Okay… I saw this while looking at my email this arvo… and this is what I came up with tonight. 😀
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/celine.html
August 21, 2015 — 8:23 AM
moteridgerider says:
I like this character already – trouble walking.
August 22, 2015 — 12:13 PM
Mozette says:
Hahaa…oh, you made me laugh (ow, I have cracked ribs right now from a week ago when a ‘wise’ friend of mine thought it funny to hug me and crack my back – he also cracked one of my ribs!)… 😀
Glad you like her…. in every… way… possible… 😀
August 22, 2015 — 7:12 PM
todddillard says:
Nice! I’ve had this character kicking around my skull space for a while, but she won’t appear in my superhero novel for a couple hundred pages. Meet The Equalizer: http://www.doodle-doodle.com/writing/the-equalizer-another-flash-fiction-challenge/.
August 21, 2015 — 9:17 AM
D.R.Sylvester says:
Hahah oh damn that character is great.
She sounds like my wife, only a hipster US bad ass version (wife is a crazy, dyed hair, korean who taketh no shit). Might have to try a story with this one if that’s cool?
August 23, 2015 — 11:56 PM
todddillard says:
oh absolutely! I would be so flattered/honored, thanks for even considering!
August 24, 2015 — 9:37 AM
JQ Davis says:
This one made me smile.
August 24, 2015 — 1:24 AM
todddillard says:
Thanks! Can’t wait for my protagonist to start his “sidekick summer internship” with her 🙂
August 24, 2015 — 9:38 AM
rhythmandcrime says:
Yep. That’s fun!
August 26, 2015 — 1:56 AM
Jana Denardo says:
I ended up using your character. It was a blast. You can see what I did with her here. http://jana-denardo.livejournal.com/177677.html
September 4, 2015 — 10:00 PM
addy says:
Ok this was tough since I immediately think of a character and immediately hold on to them like an overly attached mother at the kids first day of school. So here goes.
Daniel is a normal sixteen year old school kid. He is kind, passionate and forgiving. He is often found defending younger students from bullies and tends to get in over his head when defending an underdog. There are many times he has been sent to the headmaster’s office with a black eye and a kid worst off than he. However he tends to hold back when he has the upper hand and takes most of the punishment for himself.
That is until he moves town and starts a new school. Turns out his memories of his home town are false. Who he is or where he came from is in fact a mystery. Until he is visited by a stranger, he can’t place her but he thinks he recognises her face.
She tells him that someone has stolen his memories and he will need to find his powers to get them back. The visitor calls him Mercy and says he is a very powerful god.
Whether he grants mercy to his foes is up to him, gods don’t always give out their gifts to everyone after all.
August 21, 2015 — 9:30 AM
Layla Lawlor says:
“I immediately think of a character and immediately hold on to them like an overly attached mother at the kids first day of school.”
Haha, yeah, that’s the hardest part for me too! Going off now to try to think of someone who doesn’t come with an entire story attached …
August 24, 2015 — 2:32 AM
strugglingwriter says:
This one is mine. It was quite a bit of fun to write.
https://strugglingwriter.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/gnash-liven-flash-fiction-challenge-time-to-create-a-character/
August 21, 2015 — 10:50 AM
moteridgerider says:
This sounds like a cool challenge. I’ve posted my character on my blog at https://tomghadams.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/character-sketch-chuck-wendig-prompt/
His name’s ‘Razorback’, and he ain’t very nice.
August 21, 2015 — 11:36 AM
Pavowski says:
Here’s one. I hope you like him. (Or her.)
Game Face: http://accidentallyinspired.com/2015/08/21/game-face/
August 21, 2015 — 1:54 PM
elctrcrngr says:
I really loved this. You always manage to pack a lot into a few words, and your a master of subtext.
August 25, 2015 — 8:00 PM
elctrcrngr says:
And I’m an idiot of apostrophe. Just now noticed I screwed that up…
August 31, 2015 — 11:28 PM
David Blackstone (@DavidWriting) says:
Here’s mine. Sort of a borough wizard.
http://www.agincourtdb.com/2015/08/the-specialist.html
August 21, 2015 — 2:02 PM
M.R. Eggs says:
Interesting … bookmarked for possible use.
August 22, 2015 — 1:18 PM
S. J. Mcquillan says:
This one jumped at me. Thanks for the offering them up. I hope I do it justice.
August 28, 2015 — 1:56 PM
Aimee Ogden says:
I ended up writing something with this gentleman — http://aimee-ogden.tumblr.com/post/128104216551/terribleminds-flash-fiction-challenge-82815
Thanks for sharing him — I really enjoyed writing this one!
September 1, 2015 — 8:26 AM
S. J. Mcquillan says:
This is the char I chose for the following week’s challenge and here’s what I came up with:
https://sjmcqwordery.wordpress.com/2015/09/04/scrappy-bit-of-business/
September 4, 2015 — 1:18 PM
Ashlee says:
This was fun! I’ve been wanting to write a gym-based horror story!
http://cubiclemonster.weebly.com/writings
August 21, 2015 — 2:23 PM
SamKD says:
I like the potential energy bound up in this one.
August 24, 2015 — 8:34 AM
Ashlee says:
Thanks, SamKD!
August 24, 2015 — 10:24 AM
Beth says:
That’s terrifying. *laughs* But I stand by what I said the last time I played this particular game: sharing is part of the process. And I’m curious.
My current project is a big ol’ can of character soup, the social setting being a huge sprawling extended family, so a lot my flash fiction lately is backstory development on side characters. This particular guy, up to this point, has been nothing but a name on a gravestone and a family tree, so, fair game I guess.
The Middle Brother
August 21, 2015 — 3:56 PM
thesexiestwriter says:
Here’s another dark entry from That Toucan Guy….
https://criticalsexualmass.wordpress.com/
August 21, 2015 — 4:21 PM
Ridley Kemp says:
Here’s Cecil: http://www.ridleykemp.com/stories/2015/8/21/cecil
Do with him what you will.
August 21, 2015 — 5:26 PM
Anna says:
Here’s mine: meet Xun Jun, a boy living on Zodiac Station and making a living spinning the Tsa Lin for the local crime lord.
http://strangeandcuriousthings.blogspot.fi/2015/08/terribleminds-challenge-creating.html
August 21, 2015 — 6:01 PM
Fatma Alici says:
Instead of doing a character break down, I decided to an interview. Carthin, the character, is very much about how he interacts with other people. I hope the format works. It does sound exactly like him.
http://www.fatmaalici.com/2015/08/21/challenge-character-in-250-words/
August 21, 2015 — 7:12 PM
M.R. Eggs says:
Ooooh … lots of possibilities. I’m bookmarking her for possible (ab)use in part two. 🙂
August 22, 2015 — 1:12 PM
Fatma Alici says:
(Ab)use away : )
August 22, 2015 — 10:21 PM
Matthew X. Gomez says:
Here you go: https://mxgomez.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/time-to-create-a-character-chuck-wendig-challenge/
August 21, 2015 — 8:44 PM
Alice E Keyes says:
I’m choosing Luísa de la Cruz. Thanks for the character 🙂
August 28, 2015 — 9:02 AM
zklimczak says:
Really Chuck!? Only 250? Man. I had a nice scene going on with about 350, but I had to cut some juicy rib meat from this one to get it under 250.
Coreal hummed a light minor key melody. She opened a small black box that matched her dress and dark heels and began removing an array of medieval medical instruments. The prisoner watched. Coreal took out a long piece of wood sharpened to a point and set it on the desk. She opened a bottle and dropped four small items into her hand.
The prisoner felt his fangs grow inside his mouth; garlic. He could smell it from across the room. Coreal walked to the prisoner. She lowered the contraption that kept him pinned to the wall, his arms spread wide like paintings of Christ.
She gripped his head at the back and slammed it against the wall. When he opened his mouth she stuffed the cloves inside. It tasted like he was eating the core of the earth.
He couldn’t swallow the cloves, so he rolled them to one side of his mouth.
“Please” he cried, his eyes watering. “Please don’t do this!”
“I know you’re talking” Coreal said, her back to him.
“Yes!” he said. “Yes!”
“But it doesn’t matter,” she continued. She turned around, placing a plague doctor mask on her face.
“You see, while I know you’re talking, I can’t actually hear you. As a matter of fact, I can’t hear anything at all.”
She slipped on rubber gloves, snapping them at the wrist.
“Which means I won’t be able to hear how much this hurts.”
ICYMI – Coreal is a deaf Vampire Hunter.
August 21, 2015 — 11:50 PM
zklimczak says:
Ok, so technically Chuck did say we needed to link it to our blogs. Here’s mine: https://thewritingblocks.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/flash-fiction-challenge-create-a-character/
August 22, 2015 — 12:00 AM
D.R.Sylvester says:
DAMMMMMN. She brutal. Also, from her perfect pronunciation and humming a tune, I’m guessing she wasn’t always deaf? How’d she get that way I wonder… interesting.
I feel you about the 250 words. Damn hard to get a scene out in that space without cutting it all to hell. This was cool though.
August 22, 2015 — 2:40 AM
moteridgerider says:
This is a cool, zarjaz scene and a unique character. Much respect.
August 22, 2015 — 6:25 AM
M.R. Eggs says:
Hmm .. bookmarked. I just had an interesting idea for her in a … non-traditional Vampire Hunting setting. 🙂
August 23, 2015 — 10:12 AM
Mozette says:
Yeowch! How cold is this character!? Love this one.
She gave me the shivers… Buffy the Vampire Slayer without the heart … or soul or fun. Just … ice cold.
August 23, 2015 — 8:10 PM
the oncoming spork says:
Borrow my literary undergarments, humanoids!
https://apostrophobic.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/the-noun-that-verbed-nounsville/
August 22, 2015 — 1:24 AM
M.R. Eggs says:
Hmmm … bookmarking this one as a possibility. 🙂
August 22, 2015 — 1:08 PM
badbookrevolution says:
Milady sipped her tea calmly, peering out at the landscape that lay beyond the balcony. Though she was not certain that the sky would clear up in time to take a walk, she was almost certain that the game was going well.
“If you were actually serious about chess,” the man sitting across from her said, “you might spend more time looking at the board and less time gazing at the scenery.”
“Never,” Milady snarled, looking across the table at her opponent. “You will never beat me at chess.”
“I just did,” her opponent said. He adjusted his top hat ever so slightly. “Checkmate.”
Milady’s eyes grew wide with shock. Hardly anyone beat her at chess, especially not a men, and especially extra-especially not men who owned white terriers rather than black poodles.
“Well,” said Milady, “if we’ve finished the game, I suppose you can leave.”
The man gave her a small smile, as if he were gloating. Milady was quite sure he was.
“If you’re going to sit there and make rude remarks,” she said, “then you can leave at once.”
Her opponent didn’t dare to mention that he hadn’t said anything at all. He had seen that glint in her eyes only once before, and it had spelled trouble. But he wasn’t about to leave.
Milady threw the teacup at the man, who seemed to disappear as soon as it was thrown. If you looked closely, just as the hot liquid was splashing on the carpeted floor, you would have seen two birds, one black, and one white, chasing one another against the dark sky.
August 22, 2015 — 2:06 AM
badbookrevolution says:
https://wordpress.com/read/post/feed/16100996/786385857
Here’s the link-y link
August 22, 2015 — 11:20 PM
Anna says:
I posted a link earlier, but maybe it’s easier to read these in the comments if we need to pick one for next week? Here’s mine:
My father was an optimist, not a quality often found in Silicate-105 miners; when you expect to die of silicate-lung in your forties, why bother? But he wanted better for my sister Min and me. That’s how he got indebted to Liu Bai, the White Dragon of Zodiac Station.
My father named me Jun. He told me it meant “supreme,” “talented,” and “handsome,” which is funny because I am none of these things. My only talent is twirling the Tsa Lin, the spinning top. I can make the top dance like it’s alive, jump over obstacles, and knock chute-scurries out of the air. A waste of time, Father called it. He wanted me to apply myself to my studies, like Min did. But I always found studying a chore.
Father never shirked from chores. He worked twelve-hour days until the silicate dust rotted his lungs, like it had Mother’s. When Father couldn’t make the payments, Liu Bai was unexpectedly merciful, perhaps of the fondness he had harbored for my mother. He didn’t cut off Father’s hands, or even his thumbs; he didn’t throw us off the station. Instead, he offered to settle for a different form of payment: my sister or me.
Father chose me.
My Tsa Lin danced for Liu Bai after that, up to the day he threatened to break Min’s arm for defending Widow Hu.
That’s when I made the Tsa Lin fly right in his face.
August 22, 2015 — 2:36 AM
Mozette says:
Uh… guys and gals…
You’ve all mis-read what Chuck asked: to write it at your blog and link it back here.
August 22, 2015 — 3:29 AM
Anna says:
Whoops! Humble apologies, O Great Bearded one. Please don’t send the facebees.We shall retire to our writing caves to study the lesson of patience.
August 22, 2015 — 5:07 AM
moteridgerider says:
I’m still waiting for my blog character link to be approved, so I can understand if people have just put the text straight on this forum.
August 22, 2015 — 6:23 AM
Mozette says:
So am I… this has been happening lately, hasn’t it? I’ve emailed Chuck and let him know, but it still happens. :/ bummer. 🙁
August 22, 2015 — 8:45 AM
strugglingwriter says:
Yeah, mines still stuck in moderation limbo, but I’m trying to be patient and now just copy/paste here 🙂
August 22, 2015 — 7:29 AM
entrebat says:
Sheila Barnsworth: Nocturnal Flesh Puppet.
August 22, 2015 — 8:07 AM
john freeter says:
Nice, lots of possibilities!
August 28, 2015 — 11:23 PM
M.R. Eggs says:
Have some fun with Max.
http://normalisjustasettingonmyclothesdryer.blogspot.com/2015/08/pushing-baby-out-of-nest.html
August 22, 2015 — 12:09 PM
writefirster says:
Hey, jumping back in on these prompts with a weirdo actually inspired by a blogging101 task about responding to a Daily Post Prompt and…Well, it doesn’t matter, here it is. https://write1st.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/green-eyed-monster/
August 22, 2015 — 10:46 PM
Susanne says:
Chuck Wendig, you make writing fun. https://wutherornot.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/seytan-robb-hooker/
August 23, 2015 — 10:51 AM
moteridgerider says:
There’s a fistful of mind-bendingly good characters in that passage. Don’t use them all up at once!
August 23, 2015 — 1:48 PM
Fred G. Yost says:
Ok, so I’ve got one. Hope someone can have some fun with her. http://fredgyost.com/2015/08/23/flash-fiction-challenge-claudia-artifex/
August 23, 2015 — 3:33 PM
moteridgerider says:
Your character’s got story written all over her. I may be tempted to use this one.
August 23, 2015 — 5:06 PM
Fred G. Yost says:
Thanks! She’s one of the Shiny New Ideas that keeps trying to distract me from my current project, so I’m excited to see what someone else will do with her.
August 24, 2015 — 5:32 PM
devilsjunkshop says:
That is excellent. Like a pitch for a tv show 🙂
August 27, 2015 — 9:01 AM
Fred G. Yost says:
Thanks! Honestly, that’s how I originally envisioned it. 5 seasons, the first four taking place in different towns, with different supporting characters, and the fifth where she calls in all her favors to take on the series big bad guy.
Of course, if it was TV, the first season would be mostly a stand alone arc with hints of the bigger picture, that would resolve neat enough if it didn’t get picked up for a second season.
August 28, 2015 — 9:27 AM
Jana Denardo says:
here is my offering. He was a lot of fun to create (or maybe I just want to play in a poison garden).
August 23, 2015 — 3:35 PM
Anna says:
Ooh, I like this one. I think I’ll take him out for a spin later this week.
August 24, 2015 — 12:37 AM
Jana Denardo says:
Cool. have fun if you do!
August 24, 2015 — 3:14 PM
SamKD says:
Didn’t think I had anything for this challenge either till this sprang from my forehead fully-formed:
http://samkdsonlinepace.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-character-in-250-words-or-less.html
August 23, 2015 — 4:14 PM
Helen Espinosa says:
Okay, I haven’t participated in a while, but this one just sort of happened. Meet Jersey Malone. https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/flash-fiction-jersey-malone/
August 23, 2015 — 5:01 PM
Fred G. Yost says:
Ooh, I like Jersey. I may see what I can do with her.
August 28, 2015 — 9:25 PM
Mariah says:
I had no idea what I was doing until it was done. (It was fun to challenge a couple of other people do to this, though they won’t be posting and sharing, at least they got in on the writing.)
http://insani-x.com/2015/08/23/a-character/
August 23, 2015 — 6:09 PM
JQ Davis says:
This character has been hanging around outside my house for a couple of years now. I recognize her, but I can’t find her story. http://wp.me/p4SL5v-R
August 24, 2015 — 1:15 AM
JQ Davis says:
O nose! Caught in the awaiting moderation vortex!
August 24, 2015 — 3:18 AM
Fatma Alici says:
The most terrible of vortexes!
August 28, 2015 — 5:06 PM
JQ Davis says:
🙂
August 28, 2015 — 6:54 PM
Helen Espinosa says:
I’m digging this one a lot. I think I’m going to give it a try. 🙂
August 28, 2015 — 5:06 PM
JQ Davis says:
Looking forward to seeing what you do with it. 🙂
August 28, 2015 — 6:55 PM
cchrisman says:
love this one!
August 30, 2015 — 2:33 PM