Friday 15 February 2008

Sneaking in after Coffee Morning...

I've asked a fellow writer, Budgie_uk, if I can pinch his idea of writing Fast Fiction 2008. And he did verily say yes.

Go here: http://budgie-uk.livejournal.com/864686.html if you want to read Budgie's stories and see the original post he made. It's really worth reading. He never writes the story in the way I expect from the title.

I'm posting this because I want to get my head round writing short stories. I have about 10 competitions to do over the next 3 months and am woefully underexperienced in this genre now. Please help me get my groove back, or whatever the Cool Kids (TM) say these days, by taking part in this challenge (which I have tweaked a little as Budgie suggested, so we are not writing exactly the same challenge) :

Reply (on my blog, please: http://juliettemcalroy.blogspot.com ) with a title (maximum of five words) about which you'd like me to write a fast fiction of exactly 250 words, together with a single word you want me to include in the text of the tale.

As Budgie says, completely daft suggestions will be ignored, so no suggestions of "antidisestablishmentarianism" along with a title of "sex lives of cornflakes". Or my own personal favourite which someone at my work suggested, which was the title "Shiny Blue Gay Bunnies" and the word "floccinaucinihilipilification". Yes, I do know what it means. No, I'm not sure I spelled it correctly.

The more challenges I get (and indeed, the more stories Budgie gets - so give him some, too!) the more stories you'll get. Feel free to hype this to anyone and everyone on blogs, mailing lists, emails, whatever. Non LJ or non Blogger members can use the "anonymous post" button so long as they identify themselves.

Thank you! Looking forward to your titles.

4 comments:

Kate.Kingsley said...

This is a great iidea ~ and I might nick some of the suggestions people send to you too and have a go myself, if thats ok?

Thinking up something right now, will post soon.....

B.E. Sanderson said...

Actually, 'sex lives of cornflakes' and 'shiny blue gay bunnies' could work as shorts. I can almost think of plot lines for both of them. For instance Sex Lives of Cornflakes could be a story about a rather bland married couple who find a way to enrich their romance. Shiny Blue Gay Bunnies could be a comic SF short. =oD

I'm not good at coming up with titles myself, but if I think of any that would spark a good story, I'll stop by.

Jen said...

What a brilliant idea - I'm also planning a short story frenzy but, like you, am woefully useless.

I rather like the cornflake one too...

Sean McManus said...

Here are three ideas for you to use as you see fit.

Title: Clowns and jugglers
Word: morose

Title: The music won't stop
Word: blood

Title: Where are they now?
Word: calendar