Deviation Actions
Literature Text
Welcome to Flash Fiction Month, day CATCH-22.
You scan the challenge below and roll your eyes. Oh goodness! Not another challenge where you have to choose your own elements!
Indeed, we'll be making you choose. This time, however, you can finally return the favor.
Instructions
Flash Fiction Month is about writing – and posting – a story between 55-1000 words in length every day during July. Each day we'll upload a deviation with optional prompts, themes, and the occasional challenge, where you can post a link to your story for the day.
Paste a link to your flash fiction piece for July 22nd in the comments below.
If you write a story every day and complete every challenge, you might be eligible to win something, and you'll certainly get a whiter smile, be invited to more parties and improve your manly/womanly vigour.
Everyone loves comments, so make an effort to encourage your fellow Flash Fiction Month participants. A quick comment lets a writer know somebody's reading, and we all love that.
Once a week or thereabouts, we’ll be giving you a fiendishly difficult and unpleasant challenge; a task so evil, so heart-stoppingly awful that you’ll wonder how we can sleep at night. Today is one such day.
NASTY ASS CHALLENGE: Choose Your Own Misadventure
ELEMENT THE FIRST: "Adventure without risk is Disneyland.” ― Douglas Coupland
We urge you to visit the splendidly ancient ruins that is last year's interactive fiction challenge to sample stories of this sort.
ELEMENT THE SECOND: "Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories." ― Sun Tzu
You didn't think we'd give you this CYOA challenge without letting you choose, did you? Select one of the paths below for your second element!
A highway besieged by bandits.
A tortuous trail carved into the mountains.
A tightrope above a gasping crowd.
The lonely road home.
ELEMENT THE THIRD: "Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be." ― Chuck Palahniuk
As you make your way down your chosen path, you encounter a treasure chest. What's inside it? Open it to find your third element!
A diamond as large as your fist.
Two matching beaded bracelets.
Another treasure chest.
Who cares. Won't you just say it already?
ELEMENT THE FOURTH: "The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." ― T. S. Eliot
You have reached the end of your journey. How does it end? Why don't you tell us? For this challenge, you must write at least four endings: two good endings and two bad endings.
OPTIONAL ELEMENT: "A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies." ― Oscar Wilde
In the spirit of keeping the agency of flashers intact, should you so choose, you may optionally change one of your challenge elements (just not the interactive fiction element), substituting it for one of these instead:
- Use a 1st-person plural (“we”) narrator.
- Your story must be consistently metafictional.
And remember, if you've done the challenge let us know by writing "Geronimo!" next to the link for your submission.
Reminders
For those of you who still haven't signed up for thirty-one days of fun, flashing (trenchcoat not included) and fiction, learn about Flash Fiction Month here, and sign up here. It's never too late to join the madness!
Brimming over with ideas? Why not make a donation to the FFM 2017 Prompt Bank, and ensure the future of many a flash fiction generation to come. Searching for a little inspiration? Visit our official FFM Prompt Generators, and bask in the collective glow of eight years worth of Flash Fiction Month prompts.
If all you're doing this July is writing thirty-one stories, you're missing out on two/thirds of the fun! Check out the official Chat Room, where you can find encouragement, new prompts, and insanity in abundance.
Flashback Prompt: One was pushed, one was shot, and one jumped. Which one's which? - by SarcasticCupcake5 (Year 2016)
Standard Prompts
"What do you mean this is only the beginning? I've already died fourteen times!" - by FrostFeather42
What if the world was a triangle? What would life be like on the tip? - by bookcrusher
Ultraviolent unicorn deathmatch. - by DamonWakes
Audio Prompts
Ohayo (1-minute film) by Satoshi Kon - suggested by ilyilaice
'Cause I'm A Man by Tame Impala - suggested by EstherLR
Higher by The Score - suggested by IntelligentZombie
Visual Prompts
- suggested by squanpie, The-Inkling, vigour-mortis