Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction Challenge: Smashing Sub-Genres

I've been completing Chuck Wendig's flash fiction challenges--not entering them, mind you, but doing the work--and I'm finding it easier to write short fiction!

Not too long ago I wrote about how I seemed constitutionally unable to write a story of less than 5,000 words.

Well.

A month or so ago I wrote a story of 997 words for one of Chuck's challenges. I was over-the-moon happy that I'd been able to write a complete story using so few words but didn't think much about it since the market for flash fiction is likely just marginally larger than the one for poetry. What I really wanted was to write a story in the 2,000 word range.

Then, a few days later, I wrote another short story, one of my own that I just plucked out of the air, and it was 1,800 words!

I danced, I sang, I called friends. It was great! (The feeling that is. I think the story is fabulous too, but I could be biased. ;)

So that little story of personal achievement is my way of encouraging anyone who is on the fence to get off and get writing! Practice may not make your writing perfect (I ask you, who is a perfect writer? Is that even possible?) but it can make you a darn sight better.

Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction Challenge: Smashing Sub-Genres

Here's the Challenge:

Below is a list of 20 subgenres.

I want you to roll a d20 twice — or click a random number generator twice between 1 and 20 — and that will give you two subgenres. (Sure, you can choose them instead, but that means YOU HATE FUN.)

Smash those two subgenres into one story.

Write that story. Around 1000 words. Post at your online space. Link back here through the comments. Due by next Friday, May 17th, at noon EST.

Here’s the list of subgenres.

Men’s Adventure
Splatterpunk
Fairy Tale
New Weird
Space Opera
Southern Gothic
BDSM Erotica
Superhero
Sword & Sorcery
Noir
Dystopia
Sci-Fi Humor or Satire
Lovecraftian
Haunted House
Cyberpunk
Steampunk
Detective
Post-Apocalyptic
Weird West
Technothriller

Remember, post the link to your story on Chuck's website, here: Flash Fiction Challenge: Smashing Sub-Genres.

Have you ever completed one of Chuck Wendig's flash fiction challenges? Did it help your short form writing?

Other articles you might like:

- How To Write A Terrific Review
- 4 Tips On How To Find A Genre To Write In
- Russell Blake's 26 Tips On How To Sell A Lot Of Books

Photo credit: "St Michael, The Archangel Chapel - Rookwood Necropolis" by Luke Peterson Photography under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction Challenge: Write What You Know

I was going to post an inspirational quotation having to do with writing but then I saw Chuck Wendig's latest Flash Fiction Challenge (Flash Fiction Challenge: Write What You Know) and it was just too good not to post about!

Here's the challenge:

I want you to grab an event from your life. Then I want you to write about it through a fictional, genre interpretation — changing the event from your life to suit the story you’re telling. So, maybe you write about your first hunting trip between father-and-son, but you reinterpret that as a king taking his youngest out to hunt dragons. Or, you take events from your Prom (“I caught my boyfriend cheating on me in the science lab”) and spin it so that the event happens at the same time a slasher killer is making literal mincemeat of the Prom King and Queen.

Length: 1,000 words

Due by: Friday, February 22nd, noon EST.

How to enter: Post your story on your blog or website and leave the link in a comment to Chuck Wendig's post.

Photo credit: "Project 50 - Day #1 (Moleskine)" by seanmcgrath under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.