Here’s a bit of a noodle —
I want you to take a scene from, mm, let’s go with a well-known story. Ideally, it’ll be something we’ve all seen or read — so, Die Hard, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars. Even better if the scene you pick is something iconic — the showdown between John McClane and Hans Gruber, the OH SHIT YOU’RE MY EVIL SPACE DADDY scene between Luke and Vader.
Take that scene.
And rewrite it.
The trick is, rewrite it with a new genre.
What genre it ends up with is your call. Star Wars as a horror film? Die Hard in an epic fantasy context? Your call. You can change the characters and situation appropriately — though again, ideally it becomes something iconic and recognizable even with those changes.
Write it down, ta-da, that’s this week’s challenge.
Length: ~1500 words
Due by: September 16h, Friday, noon EST.
Post at your place.
Drop the link below.
Go.
Kristin Mireles says:
*rubs hands together* This is going to be fun.
September 9, 2016 — 12:57 PM
sandralindseywales says:
Took a couple of reads before I realised you weren’t saying “I want you to take a scene from m/m [romance]”
September 9, 2016 — 1:59 PM
Christopher says:
Hi, Chuck! Long time lurker, first time poster. I think I am gonna give this one a try. I’ve already got the brain churning through several iconic scenes.
September 9, 2016 — 7:49 PM
Silent_Dan says:
Those ideas are pretty awesome, just saying.
September 9, 2016 — 7:53 PM
Mozette says:
I love your challenges, Chuck… I really do!
Just to think I did one yesterday where a spider thought the person who killed was there flatmate… talk about funny! The spider didn’t want to scare the person (how nice is that?) and was just leaving the house when the ‘flatmate’… hang on, I’ll let you read it. 😛
September 9, 2016 — 7:57 PM
Mozette says:
Okay, your reply thing isn’t working… so here goes…
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/the-composting-passages-of-star-wars.html
enjoy!
September 10, 2016 — 10:45 AM
Sheri says:
So I took The Princees Bride and flipped it from a fantasy romance to a Western. The iconic showdown between Westley and Humperdink, High Noon style 🙂 http://www.thesheriwilliams.com/?p=434
September 12, 2016 — 9:41 AM
Zoe Blessing says:
My title kind of says it all: When Harry Met Sally Met Droids
The first thing I thought of when I read “iconic scene” was the orgasmic restaurant scene from When Harry Met Sally. (See the inspirational clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJm3DVg3EM) And I guess I had Star Wars on the brain thanks to Pitch Slam. Anyway, it’s only 400 words, but it was fun to write. http://zoeblessing.com/blog/when-harry-met-sally-met-droids/
September 12, 2016 — 4:34 PM
Heather Lynn says:
YES I AM DOING THIS
September 12, 2016 — 6:32 PM
Sam Brady says:
I also dipped into The Princess Bride for inspiration. I mashed it up with Hamilton and got a story called “Weehawken. Dawn. Guns. Drawn.” It’s only 615 words long, but that seems to be all I needed. Please to enjoy.
https://sambrady.wordpress.com/2016/09/12/chuck-wendig-weehawken/
P.S. Begin #shamelesselfpromtion: This is the first of these challenges I have done since March. I have decided to do NaNoWriMo this year, so between now and the beginning of November I hope to get caught up on the flash fiction challenges for this year, to get my writing muscles back in shape. I’m not going to post links to the stories back here on the original posts, because I’m not sure how many people would actually see them, If you think you might be interested in reading them, please follow my blog and let me know how I am doing. Thanks and i hope you like it.
September 12, 2016 — 6:47 PM
Nic Mercer says:
Hello Chuck & fellow dabblers. I stumbled across your blog after perusing articles about No Man’s Sky (which is a meditative experience to me) and discovering your excellent Rolling Stone piece.
I’ve since been thoroughly enjoying Terribleminds, have set up a blog & written and posted my tawdry response to your flash fiction challenge.
I have bastardised the opening scene from Star Wars: A New Hope with a rather crude and juvenile attempt to view it through the lens of a Carry On-esque sex comedy. Hmmm is my own reaction. But for what it’s worth:
http://nicholasbbmercer.blogspot.co.uk/2016_09_01_archive.html
September 14, 2016 — 5:59 AM
Vicente L Ruiz says:
I’ve always loved steampunk… And then the best scene ever in the history of androids dying in cinema came to my mind. That’s it, I’ve stempunked Blade Runner. The result is “Automaton Huntress”:
https://medium.com/@VicenteLRuiz/automaton-huntress-ad52a9de4d6#.l30wjre1s
September 14, 2016 — 1:26 PM
Vicente L Ruiz says:
*steampunked, of course…
September 14, 2016 — 5:43 PM
yoda967 says:
Annie Hall has a 3 am spider problem. Why the hell would she ever call neurotic little Alvy Singer when she’s got the crew of the Nostromo on speed dial?
http://www.kurtsavage.com/2016/09/14/do-not-go-in-there/
September 14, 2016 — 6:55 PM
Jemima Pett says:
Not sure whether I got the right idea on this, and it changed several times – but this was what finally got out…
http://jemimapett.com/blog/2016/09/16/fridayflash-fiction-farewell-my-lovelies/
September 16, 2016 — 4:59 AM
aaronrobins says:
Hey Chuck,
Here’s 1900 words of mostly dialogue as I crammed the “I AM YOUR FATHER” scene into an incestuous gay Monty Python sketch. Enjoy.
https://attheedgeofvision.wordpress.com/2016/09/16/whos-yo-daddy/
September 16, 2016 — 8:33 AM
smollon says:
The Far East Fightin’ Style Kid
http://flash.scottmollon.com/genreflip.html
My first Flash Fiction post!
September 16, 2016 — 9:20 AM
inkandautism says:
I AM SPARTACUS!
Ahem.
https://inkandautism.wordpress.com/2016/09/16/i-am-vorlati/
(Great challenge, Chuck!)
September 16, 2016 — 9:46 AM
Skye says:
GAH! I’m two hours late! I SWEAR I came up with the idea to do The Princess Bride as a western on my own, and I did a different scene: the battle of wits. It’s not quite 1500 words, but I didn’t want to pad it just to make the word count. Let me know what you think: http://runnerskye.ca/flash-fiction-challenge-iconic-scene-re-work/
September 16, 2016 — 2:06 PM