Writing contest - 48 Hour Flash Fiction 2017

[Luiglin]

I would have totally forgotten about it if I hadn't entered a bunch of reminders on my phone.

Same here

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I would have, if I hadn't entered so close to when it was starting. And it was during a big weekend for other things I had going, so I could remember that.

 

[Coast]

Coast had the same science prompt but likely different title and dialogue.

Yes, sorry. Only the optional prompt was the same as Sinisters.

My title was 'RED AND BLUE' and my dialogue was 'The Hillis plot shows where we are, but, look what else it shows.'

I'd love to read yours

I'm not going to post it just yet, I really liked the retrovirus part, so I'm thinking I'll ditch the title/dialogue prompts and try to knock the concept into a decent short story. For the small price of some beta-ing thoughts, I'll send it your way.

I'm not surprised by the dropout rate. Especially since it was free to enter, I've got to admit that I've halfheartedly registered for things that I've then had to pretend to forget. "Was that half marathon THIS weekend? Drats, I haven't got any clean socks! Oh well, next time."

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I'll just add Serendipity's list to this page, with correction, so as not to confuse the narrative.


Title WHERE WE LEFT LILY
Dialogue They are quite strong so you might want to just take one for now.
Science (optional) 3D printed human body parts are possible - muscle, veins, bone. They don't HAVE to be 'conventional'
(TheDustyZebra)

Title THE CONTROLLER
Dialogue It isn't unnatural. It is all natural. 100% natural. We just tweaked it a little.
Science (optional) Augmented reality becomes so good we neglect reality, when the system to fails, the decay is revealed.
(Cathbad)

Title: A WORD ABOUT JASON
Dialogue: Me, me, me, that's the most important thing... me!
Optional Science Idea: Billions have a brain interface connected directly to the cloud, which a terrorist network has now hacked.
(Serendipity)

Title: THE TAKERS
Dialogue Sorry, not my circus, not my monkeys
Science (optional) A machine that creates realistic face masks so people can cheaply change identity
(Luiglin)

Title: MARGIN FOR ERROR
Dialogue Do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar.
Science (optional) A retro-virus drastically extends the lifespan of those who catch it. Should a cure be found?
(Sinister42)

Title: RED AND BLUE
Dialogue The Hillis plot shows where we are, but, look what else it shows.
Science (optional) A retro-virus drastically extends the lifespan of those who catch it. Should a cure be found?
(Coast)

 

[Luiglin]

Did everyone who entered use the optional science part?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I did -- but I'm sure not everybody does.

 

[Luiglin]

I did -- but I'm sure not everybody does.

I did have second thoughts but figured out a plot to using it while driving to a comedy play on the afternoon.

By the way folks if you ever get chance to see The Play That Goes Wrong, do. It had me in stitches from start to finish.

 

[Cathbad]

Did everyone who entered use the optional science part?

I did.

 

[Serendipity]

Many thanks DustyZebra for updating the list.

Did everyone who entered use the optional science part?

I did - and then added another humdinger of an idea on top of it - but not sure if they got my sub as I haven't had a receipt. So will keep story unpublished for the moment because I can use that humdinger idea for another story.

[Still feeling rather spooked by the title, dialogue and science idea I got!]

 

[Luiglin]

but not sure if they got my sub as I haven't had a receipt. So will keep story unpublished for the moment because I can use that humdinger idea for another story.

Damn, that's unfortunate if not.

 

[sinister42]

Did everyone who entered use the optional science part?

I did.

 

[Cathbad]

I just realized how little time they gave themselves to choose a winner:

"the author will receive £500 and a VIP pass to this year's festival which runs in London from 27 April to 6 May 2017."

!!

When I first read this, somehow I thought the VIP pass was for next year. They better choose quick!

 

[Cathbad]

Although I like the story I wrote, I don't like my ending. It seems to leave too much out. I couldn't find a way to make it better though...

So yeah... got my excuse ready.

 

[Luiglin]

Although I like the story I wrote, I don't like my ending. It seems to leave too much out. I couldn't find a way to make it better though...

So yeah... got my excuse ready.

I like my ending, not too happy with start or middle though

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I have already decided my beginning was cliched.

 

[HareBrain]

I have already decided my beginning was cliched.

Sounds like the first line of a modern, ennui-drenched David Copperfield.

 

[Luiglin]

I have already decided my beginning was cliched.

If you had that as a start of a story would that be a double cliché or would two clichés cancel each out or maybe a cliché of a cliché is my friend.

Note: I cannot believe my phone spell checker didn't spit it's dummy out with that many clichés.

 

[Coast]

use the optional science part?

Yeah I did too, probably for the worse as mashing all three prompts together gave me fits.

I just realized how little time they gave themselves to choose a winner:

"the author will receive £500 and a VIP pass to this year's festival which runs in London from 27 April to 6 May 2017."

I thought I saw, somewhere, that they'd be announcing the winner on the 24th April. (Although I can't find it now, so it may have been a previous years event, or I may have just imagined it!)

There's a few folks sharing their stories on twitter, and I've seen one that has the same dialogue prompt as I got, so it seems there was a limited number of dialogue prompts as well. Haven't seen any doubled up titles yet...

 

[TheDustyZebra]

That wouldn't be much notice for me if I were planning to attend the festival as the winner.

 

[Cathbad]

That's not much tie for a Londoner!