Six Word Stories
Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway once won a short story competition with a sad tale of only six words: "Baby shoes; for sale. Never worn".
Larry Smith, a magazine founder, asked readers to submit their life stories online in six words. He received more than a million responses, and from it published a few books, one of which became a New York Times bestseller.
Schoolteachers and lecturers use the format to teach how to write concisely. HarperCollins created a teacher's guide to encourage the six word memoir form as a tool for teaching.
So why am I telling this?
For no specific reason other than I find it intriguing; the thumbnail format of using only a few select words. Searching around here are a few that caught my eye.
Blues singer haunted by happy past.
loop. Help, I’m trapped in a
Sensitive kleptomaniacs always take things literally.
Scientists develop first atomic bomb. Again.
I’m beside myself. Cloning machine works!
Living in existential vacuum; it sucks.
Rapunzel! I am slipping! A wig?!
Torched the haystack. Found the needle.
We connect better with no wi-fi.
Last man on earth: knock, knock?
Thinking of it, there actually is a reason for my writing this. Blog posts are getting ever shorter and some on BeBee are no longer writing in any long form at all. With the coming tide of short form posts, I thought to have a tryout in the future format. My new maxim:
Ponder. Write short. Be clear. Polish. Post.
Ahh well...that's seven words...still working on brevity...
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Comments
John Rylance
5 years ago #25
🐝 Fatima G. Williams
5 years ago #24
Ken Boddie
5 years ago #23
Randall Burns
5 years ago #22
Gert Scholtz
5 years ago #21
Gert Scholtz
5 years ago #20
Lada 🏡 Prkic
5 years ago #19
John Rylance
5 years ago #18
I note Ken you told your tale in six lines. You could have expressed it in 6 words. Hextexted tales stifle my inate creativity. As I wrote earlier Brevity is the soul of wit, and you are very witty.
Ken Boddie
5 years ago #17
Lupita 🐝 Reyes
5 years ago #16
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5 years ago #15
Phil Friedman
5 years ago #14
Ali Anani
5 years ago #13
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5 years ago #12
Ren\u00e9e \ud83d\udc1d Cormier Dinosour said: What's that big bang? Many thanks Rennee, Debasish and Pascal for sharing.
Pascal Derrien
5 years ago #11
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