Has the success of Rome Sweet Rome—the Reddit comment that spawned a Hollywood movie deal—launched a new era of flash fiction on the social news site?
“What would you do if you were placed in a battle royale in a Home Depot?” Reddit user epic_feel_time asked yesterday, referencing a 2000 cult-hit Japanese film, Battle Royale, that featured a group of high school students battling to the death on a remote island.
Redditor DangerChips responded with a comment-novella.
It stars Javier, a recent immigrant to the United States who gets chosen to fight in a battle royale. In a Home Depot. Against neo-nazis with long legs and some guy named Chain-Gang Tex.
Typo laden and rushed, the story isn’t likely to win any creative writing awards. It’s not quite the quality of the Rome Sweet Rome comments (James Erwin was a professional writer, after all). And it sometimes borders on the nonsensical.
Reads one line: “Moved by such, the unknown organizers of the unlikely battle royale had taken pity on them after the spectators demanded they be released instead of mutually destroyed as per tournament rules in the event of a tie.”
Another: “Sitting atop a crudely crafted throne of pressure treated hemlock fir brown lumber Rueger sat. An imposing man with a stare that could cut orphans in two.”
Some redditors loved it — despite of, or maybe because of all its imperfections.
“Excellent, now I sure hope you are continuuing this story! Instead of browsing reddit,” redditor kirbygay wrote.
“Gripping,” darkmojo wrote.
Just like Erwin’s RomeSweetRome masterpiece, DangerChips’ story has already been featured in r/bestof, where redditors highlight the best content from around the site (though redditors in that section were far less effusive in their praise — “embarrassing,” one wrote, summing things up quite succinctly).
With Erwin’s success, there’s a good chance more redditors will see popular Reddit comments as a chance for real exposure to movers and shakers in the creative industries.
Erwin won a golden ticket to Hollywood — probably the first and the last for any Reddit comment. But, hey, that doesn’t mean we won’t see a book deal soon.
Photo by Jennerally
