Someone suggested this one to me this week, and I sadly forget who (apologies!) — but there is a Twitter account called MAGICAL REALISM BOT. I don’t know if it’s really a bot or someone is actually creating or curating it, but it doesn’t matter.
Because it is brilliant.
Especially as fodder for flash fiction.
So, go look at it.
Pick a tweet.
Write a short story based on that tweet.
That’s it.
Go do it.
Length: ~1500 words
Due by: Friday, August 11th, noon EST
Post online.
Give us a link in the comments.
The end.
Rebecca Douglass says:
First one when I looked: “A woman finds a pair of spectacles which allow her to see every library on earth.” Given my obsession with libraries (especially magical ones), you’d think the bot made it just for me.
August 4, 2017 — 12:31 PM
Rebecca Douglass says:
And here at last is the story:
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2017/08/friday-flash-fiction-library-eyes.html
August 10, 2017 — 11:52 PM
dcxli says:
The tweet is: “A necromancer believes it is her destiny to poison dreaming”
The story is: Dreams of Death, found at https://dcxli.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/dreams-of-death/
August 4, 2017 — 8:37 PM
Mozette says:
https://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/the-hypnotising-watermelon.html
This was a good one! I search the list… but found I kept coming back to this one.
enjoy.
August 5, 2017 — 12:43 AM
Jeffrey Marshburn says:
First attempt at a Flash Fiction Challenge.
My prompt: “A carpenter draws a map which shows the location of every crossword puzzle in Mecca”
https://roninwriting.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-watchers-mission.html
August 6, 2017 — 9:59 AM
Dorian Stanton says:
I finally got around to doing one of your challenges after weeks of forgetting/putting it off!
The tweet: “A watermelon starts talking to you. It says: “Look for the sign of the silver owl.”
Title: Blessings From a Watermelon
http://elegantpiplup.tumblr.com/post/163920578855/blessings-from-a-watermelon
August 8, 2017 — 5:51 PM
Sam Brady says:
Here is my effort from the prompt: “A drunk army major has a rare gift: He can understand the language of pine trees.” Please to enjoy!
sambrady.wordpress.com/2017/08/08/chuck-wendig-the-wind-that-wasnt/
August 8, 2017 — 7:07 PM
Sam Brady says:
not sure what happened to my https. Here’s a clickable version.
https://sambrady.wordpress.com/2017/08/08/chuck-wendig-the-wind-that-wasnt/
August 8, 2017 — 7:33 PM
Incognito Scribblings says:
This (https://twitter.com/MagicRealismBot/status/893490173320675328) was my prompt.
Here’s the result:
https://incognitoscribblings.tumblr.com/post/164012731995/glasses
August 10, 2017 — 1:37 AM
NV Rivera says:
My tweet of choice: “Rainbows and ears. That is all.”
Here’s what came of it: https://nvrivera.wordpress.com/2017/08/10/flashfiction-after-the-rain/
August 10, 2017 — 4:09 AM
Vicente L Ruiz says:
I chose this tweet: https://twitter.com/MagicRealismBot/status/891194980496285696
The text it has is this: “Solve this mystery: A circus performer is found dead in a staircase. Beside him is a ball gown and a peach.”
And here’s the story I wrote: The Death of Adrián Cienfuegos: https://medium.com/@VicenteLRuiz/the-death-of-adri%C3%A1n-cienfuegos-f06c9a590aa5
August 10, 2017 — 1:40 PM
aimeethere says:
Some dark fantasy, anyone? Apparently I was working through something while writing this. I went with:
“A watchmaker is reading a clockwork opal in Bangkok.”
https://aimeethere.wordpress.com/2017/08/11/the-watchmaker-wound/
August 11, 2017 — 12:09 AM
pamtanzey says:
I liked the spectacles, here’s mine. Thanks!
https://pamtanzey.wordpress.com/2017/08/10/shes-got-a-pair-of-spectacles-a-bit-of-flash-fiction/
August 11, 2017 — 1:08 AM
Jemima Pett says:
A unicorn from the future appears at the marriage of a Scottish queen. It says: “I am here to talk to you.”
Strangely, it turned into something…historical, with time travel.
http://jemimapett.com/blog/2017/08/11/fridayflash-fiction-sir-woebegone-unicorn/
August 11, 2017 — 4:35 AM
theportlandpandareviewsmovies says:
A King sentences a glacier to death. A very striking tweet, that inspired a mostly allegorical story, rare from me. https://theportlandpanda.wordpress.com/2017/08/11/the-execution/
August 11, 2017 — 11:24 AM
Teague de La Plaine says:
Just slowly catching up with the rest of you. And these deadlines…sheesh…I feel like I’m back at school….
Tweet: A butler counts to ten. In that time, he lives twelve years as a 16th Century novelist.
Well, at least it was something everybody’d already done and I could just plagiarize. Wasn’t this that TV show from that one network?
https://teaguedelaplaine.com/2017/12/02/the-butler-and-the-novelist/
December 2, 2017 — 3:11 PM