Writing Battle's Fear 2025 Flash Fiction—David Danger's Deviants Have Pets—The Discards and Both Are Heating Up For Halloween

Jason Kurtz
7 days ago
2 min read

What Is a Writing Battle?

Three illustrated cards labeled Adventure, Charlatan, and Tobacco; text by Jason Kurtz; an older man holds a glowing object titled Anunnaki Gold.

A writing battle is a contest, judged by either professionals or peers, where a writer submits a story that meets certain criteria. For example, word count. Some Battles are 250 words max, some are 500 words, and others are 1000 words, as is Fear 2025 Flash Fiction. The main elements of these contests are prompts and head-to-head battles. Each contestant draws three cards—a Genre card (there are only 4 genres), and two other cards that could be a character or an object. The contestant is allowed five re-draws if they don't like their initial prompts, however, since there are only four genres, a Genre card may only be re-drawn once. My first and only battle this past spring, I only entered because I thought it was a sci-fi contest. The genres were adventure, fairy tale, fantasy, and sci-fi. I drew "fairy tale" to start so I exchanged it and got "adventure". I used all four of my remaining draws to end up with "charlatan" and "tobacco".

I won two of the head-to-head battles and lost three, sealing my fate for that contest. It was a good experience overall though, as I received some good feedback from the other writers and the judges.

Writing Battle's Fear 2025 Flash Fiction

Three tarot-style cards: "Horror" genre with a green, masked face; "Surveillant" character in blue tones; "Spear" object. Text: "Genre Draw" and "Redraw".

My prompts. I'm happy with them: Horror with a Surveillant and a Spear. Notice, I still have three draws, and one of those—the Genre Draw—is the only one you get. The four genres in Writing Battle's, Fear 2025 Flash Fiction contest are: Horror, Thriller & Suspense, Dystopia, and Mystery. I drew Horror, which is what I've been preparing for these last few months. In cooperation with David Danger, of course—which, if you didn't know, is my... shh... my pen name, my pseudonym, my Richard Bachman. Yes, I have to admit, the Deviants are my misguided creation. I also have to admit that sometimes I scare myself! My wife even said, "Slow down on the Deviants shenanigans, it's scary". Of course it's scary, that's the point. Not scary enough, though. So, I dig deeper, working within the constraints of YouTube's PG-13 rating. And I dig deeper, searching for a story that scares the ever-livin' outta ya, but also makes you bust a gut laughing.

So there's the stories, but I'm also creating an online RPG complete with dice and collector's cards. Here are some examples, one from each Class, front and back, along with a couple Jokers.

Deviants Collector's Cards displayed in a fan shape. Each features stylized, eerie figures with vibrant colors. Central text: Deviants Collector's Cards.

But, I'm a good husband and I never want to go against my honey's wishes. But I'm right smack down in the middle of this Deviants franchise and I can't turn back now! What do I do? What do I do? I'll tell you what I do. I go and create thirty-three more monsters. But these mini deviants are cute and cuddly. They're the Deviants' pets—The Discards!

A whimsical lineup of cartoon creatures on a red background. Text "DISCARDS" in bold white. Characters include a bunny, cat, hamster, duck, and green creature.

Skeleton in an orange hood holds binoculars and a scythe. Text reads "Twisted Wicked Animations." Black background.

I've written and produced 11 of the Deviants™ Short Stories, which you can find on my YouTube channel: https://www.

youtube.com/@TwistedWickedAnimations.

Smiling sun with clouds and butterfly in a cartoon field. Text reads "Wonderful Day Animations." Bright, cheerful design.

We're Heating Up For Halloween at Narrative Niche, Twisted Wicked Animations™, and don't forget—Wonderful Day Animations™! We have something for everyone here!