Story Dice Drabblefest
Welcome to June's Drabblefest, The Story Dice Drabblefest.
What are Story Dice you may ask? They're the stock plots that action/adventures series run on. As you look at the list below, think of all the times you've seen that plot or a variation of that plot on one of your favourite series. They have become clichés precisely because they never get old, and always illuminate different aspects of characters and their relationships. Think about how much fun they are, and how they can change from show to show. For example, what would be a tragedy in one series would be an hysterical comedy on another. Or, if you're Farscape, BOTH. Think about how different "Turnabout Intruder" might have been had it been Kira who suddenly found herself in a Gul Dukat's body. Or "The Enemy Within" if Number One had been split in half--logical and efficient on one side, sultry and violent on the other... And who doesn't love a Trek twist on "The Prince and the Pauper"?
All of the examples below after the name of the prompt itself are guidelines--feel free to interpret the prompts creatively!
The Rules:
1) Prompts are not exclusive. There is no limit on the number of people who may write about a prompt, and there is no need to claim prompts.
2) Post responses in the comments and include the lead character and your prompt in the subject line. If you choose a long prompt, you may use just the first few words.
3) Responses may be any length from a proper 100-word drabble to a multi-chapter epic. If the story is too long for comments, you may post it elsewhere and comment with the link.
4) There is no time limit for this challenge. I will return to index the responses in a week or so.
5) Please leave feedback, respond to feedback, and advertise this post around.
6) If your response is rated NC-17 or would require a content warning (for rape, graphic violence, etc.), you may post it in the comments here but you must include the relevant rating or warning in the subject line.
The rules are not suggestions. They are not guidelines. They are not optional. They are in fact rules, so please follow them, folks!
Story Dice Drabblefest
What are Story Dice you may ask? They're the stock plots that action/adventures series run on. As you look at the list below, think of all the times you've seen that plot or a variation of that plot on one of your favourite series. They have become clichés precisely because they never get old, and always illuminate different aspects of characters and their relationships. Think about how much fun they are, and how they can change from show to show. For example, what would be a tragedy in one series would be an hysterical comedy on another. Or, if you're Farscape, BOTH. Think about how different "Turnabout Intruder" might have been had it been Kira who suddenly found herself in a Gul Dukat's body. Or "The Enemy Within" if Number One had been split in half--logical and efficient on one side, sultry and violent on the other... And who doesn't love a Trek twist on "The Prince and the Pauper"?
All of the examples below after the name of the prompt itself are guidelines--feel free to interpret the prompts creatively!
The Rules:
1) Prompts are not exclusive. There is no limit on the number of people who may write about a prompt, and there is no need to claim prompts.
2) Post responses in the comments and include the lead character and your prompt in the subject line. If you choose a long prompt, you may use just the first few words.
3) Responses may be any length from a proper 100-word drabble to a multi-chapter epic. If the story is too long for comments, you may post it elsewhere and comment with the link.
4) There is no time limit for this challenge. I will return to index the responses in a week or so.
5) Please leave feedback, respond to feedback, and advertise this post around.
6) If your response is rated NC-17 or would require a content warning (for rape, graphic violence, etc.), you may post it in the comments here but you must include the relevant rating or warning in the subject line.
The rules are not suggestions. They are not guidelines. They are not optional. They are in fact rules, so please follow them, folks!
Story Dice Drabblefest
- Handcuffed together - Your Heroine is mentally or physically shackled to her best friend/worst enemy/commanding officer/junior officer/love interest/random person
- The Suburban Episode - Your Heroine must go undercover on a mission posting as Domestic Partners with her best friend/worst enemy/commanding officer/junior officer/love interest/random person
- Snowed Into a Cabin aka Cave-in aka Huddling Together For Warmth - Your heroine is trapped in an enclosed space with her best friend/worst enemy/commanding officer/junior officer/love interest/random person
- Evil Twin - Your Heroine meets/is replaced by her Evil Twin/is split in two by a transporter accident/wakes up in the Mirror Universe/etc.
- It's A Wonderful Life - Your Heroine has her wish to see what the universe would be like had she never been born
- Body Swap - Your Heroine swaps bodies with her best friend/worst enemy/commanding officer/junior officer/love interest/random person
- Temporary Blindness! - Your Heroine loses her sight or some other sense she relies on heavily, and must learn to cope, ask for help, find new ways to doing her job and interacting with people...
- Temporary Amnesia! - Your Heroine loses her memory (all of it, some of it, only the parts pertaining to her best friend/worst enemy/commanding officer/junior officer/love interest/random person, you decide). WACKYNESS ENSUES.
- Shag Or Die! - Aliens/Sex Pollen/Biology Made Her Do It, whether "it" is dancing on tables, signing in public, shagging the man or woman she's been eyeing from afar, or what have you--what is your heroine like when her inhibitions have been removed, or her life is on the line unless she acts out of character?
- Historical AU - Your Heroine is a frigate captain/Revolutionary War soldier/boarding house owner/Amazonian Queen in ancient Greece/you name it.
- Flowers For Algernon - Your Heroine gains extraordinary physical or mental powers for a brief period due to science/magic/a Q-like being/the Amazon's Purple Healing Ray/etc. How does she cope? Does absolute power corrupt absolutely?
- I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Drawn That Way - The best villains thinks they're the heroes of the story and believe their cause is just. Show a familiar story from your favourite Bad Girl's POV
- Tabula Rasa aka Everyone Wakes Up With Amnesia - Just what it says on the tin.
- Grandfather Paradox aka The Terminator Effect - Time Travel is everyone's friend!
- The [Insert Holiday Here] Episode - How does your heroine celebrate Solstice/Chanukah/Ramadan/Christmas/Kwanzaaa/Hogswatch/New Year's Eve/Federation Day/etc.?
- Rascals! - Your Heroine is (temporarily) Reduced In Age to a Twenty-something/Teenager/Pre-pubescent child
- Bobby In The Shower/It Was All A Dream - Along the lines of Alan Moore's "For The Man Who Has Everything" what dream/nightmare would your Heroine try to escape from/never want to leave?
- How Much For Just The Planet? i.e. Star Trek: The Musical
- Anastasia aka The Lost Heir aka Long-lost Parent/Child/Sibling - Your Heroine discovers she's not who she always thought she was and/or suddenly discovers heretofore unknown relative
- If it Weren't For Bad Luck, I'd have No Luck At All aka The Curse - Your Heroine breaks a mirror/is cursed by space gypsies (only not actually gypsies since that's a horrible negative stereotype of the Romany people)/foils a prophecy/steals the tikki statue and has the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day until she can right what once went wrong (whether she believes in luck or cures or not)
- The Jane Austen AU - Your Heroine wakes up in the 19th century/visits a planet stuck in Earth's 19th century a la "A Piece Of The Action"/was born in the 19th century. (Zombies and/or sea monsters optional.)
- The Babysitting Job - Your Heroine gets stuck babysitting her temporarily reduced to an infant/pre-pubescent/teenaged best friend/worst enemy/commanding officer/junior officer/love interest, and/or diplomat's offspring/random child, and Hijinks Ensue
- It's The End of the World As We Know It - Your Heroine has to stop the apocalypse, or wakes up after the apocalypse, or brings about the apocalypse, etc.
- Cinderella Story - Your heroine is crowned Queen of the Universe/mistaken for the Queen of a powerful alien society/accidentally declared a God by a group of natives who don't know any better/is the identical twin of a powerful monarch of a non-Federation society and has to pass herself off as said Monarch just like Davy Jones on The Monkees that one time/etc.
- Reports Of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated - Your heroine fakes her own death/is presumed dead/goes into the 23rd or 24th century version of WITSEC/etc. and then returns to her old life, spies on her old life, etc.