Whenever I search the web for Flash Fiction challenges, there’s surprisingly a lack of encouraging results. There are a few out there that offer cash prizes in exchange for the rights to publish the winning stories and that’s great for writers who want to try their luck at standing out. I notice that many of these are time sensitive, which may not be ideal for the writer who just wants to sharpen their creative writing skills while also getting some constructive criticism. One of my favourite authors Chuck Wendig has a Flash Fiction challenge over at his blog, so it’s worth checking in there once in a while. I’ve decided to start my own weekly Flash Fiction challenge simply to encourage writers by feeding them new writing prompts.
Every Monday I will offer up a new prompt and any writers out there are welcome to write a story, publish it at their local online space and drop the link in the comment section below. Currently there will be no prize but If thinks work out in the future, I will be willing to pick a winner each week and reward them in some way.
Here goes this week’s challenge…
FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE
MAY 1ST – MAY 8TH
You must create a mash-up of two genres. To do this, you will randomly select 1 genre from both lists below. You may choose them yourself or use a random number generator that will pick a number for you. Your story can follow any path you like, as long as it’s a mash up of two of these genres. Be sure to specify which genres you went with when posting your story.
LIST 1
1. Romance
2. Murder Mystery
3. Steam Punk
4. Gothic Fantasy
5. Comedy
LIST 2
1. History
2. Horror
3. Cyberpunk
4. Science Fiction
5. Political
Word limit: 1500
This challenge ends on May 8th 2017. We will Tweet out some of our favourite submitted stories.
