OK, so last year, quite some time since I’d answered any challenges to write fast fictions, I wrote twelve stories in response to twelve challenges issued by friends and creators. I had a blast doing them, the creators seemed to have a blast reading them, and from the responses I had to the tales, and the downloads of the ebook that resulted, so did people reading them.
And then in March, for Comic Relief, I did it again. Well, I didn’t write twelve stories in twelve days; I wrote twenty-four in twenty-four hours. Yeah, that was… fun probably isn’t the word, but hell, it was a unique experience and unique challenge, (unless I do it again, of course), and again, people seemed to like them. And we – the creators, the readers and I – raised about £1,600 (about $2,600) doing so.
So, that was nice.
So, why not do it again? Why not indeed?
Once again I invited twelve writers and friends to challenge me. (There’s one notable exception to the ‘writers’ rule – a lady who I’m so incredibly pleased said ‘yes’ that I literally shouted “YES!” when she agreed. That’s the wonderful Corrie Corfield, a voice that if you’re British you’re almost certainly with, and if you’re not British, you really should listen to her wonderful speaking voice. But more about her when I write her story…)
But I’m delighted that each of the twelve has said yes. There are some names from previous challenges you might find familiar; I’m particularly delighted that Neil Gaiman has once again said yes, as has Sarah Pinborough. And I now can’t imagine doing such a challenge without asking Mitch Benn…
The challenge was the same in each case, the usual fast fiction challenge:
Give me a title of up to four words in length, together with a single word you want me to include in the tale, and I will write a story of exactly 200 words.
So, starting Friday 13th December, I’ll be answering challenges from twelve very special people, friends all, each of whom are supremely talented in their own fields.
Who are the twelve?
Well, in no particular order, and not necessarily the order in which they will be written:
- Neil Gaiman (the story)
- Sarah Pinborough (the story
- Paul Cornell (the story)
- Leah Moore (the story)
- Mitch Benn (the story)
- Corrie Corfield (the story)
- Si Spurrier (the story)
- Cherie Priest (the story)
- Jamais Cascio (the story)
- Emma Vieceli (the story)
- Tiernan Douieb (the story)
- Kelly Sue DeConnick (the story)
I’m very grateful they’ve agreed to challenge me; the stories will start appearing tomorrow. (Note: entry edited to include story links as they were written.)
Edit to add: An ebook of all twelve stories is available for $0.99. Click here for details.