Challenge Corner #3 – Cerberus

Hello, hello again! Before I begin, let me take a moment to congratulate niteowl and wherethewindgoes for defeating last week’s beast!

Now, if you’ve been paying attention to Writing Gooder for the last couple of weeks, you’ll have got the hang of Challenge Corner by now. For any new visitors, here’s how it goes: I give you a challenge, and you write something inspired by it. Simples!

This week, though, I want to give you a little bit of background to the challenge.

A lot of you probably know about Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld. He’s been portrayed in a lot of media, from the original Greek myths, where he’s a rather passive maintainer of balance, to the flame-haired antagonist of Disney’s Hercules. But it’s not Hades I want you to focus on just now – it’s Cerberus.

Cerberus is Hades’ dog. He’s usually shown with three heads, although sometimes he’s been shown with two, fifty, or even as many as a hundred! He’s a loyal watchdog, and his job is to make sure that no living beings come into the Underworld, and no dead ones escape.

That’s all very nice, you say, but what’s this got to do with challenges?

Well, this week, I challenge you to write something from Cerberus’ point of view!

What about the special bonus options? If you’re new to Challenge Corner, these are optional extras to add into your story if you’re feeling the need for something a little more daring!

+ Bonus Points if you have a dog treat somewhere.

++ Double Bonus Points if you include a game of frisbee.

+++ Triple Bonus Points if you do all this with the 100-headed version of Cerberus.

Remember, you can write anything at all for challenges – poetry, prose, academic articles if that’s what takes your fancy. I’m always super interested to see what people do with these, so do let me know what you choose to try in the comments, and share some links to your works when they’re finished!

Cadi x

PS: Here’s a fun song about Cerberus by the lovely British band Flipron.