Ernest Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn." --Ernest Hemingway
In this spirit, Wired Magazine asked a bunch of sci-fi and fantasy authors to write stories of their own using six words or less. The results are fantastic! Here are a few of the gems from the article:
"Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?" - Eileen Gunn
"Vacuum collision. Orbits diverge. Farewell, love." - David Brin
"Internet 'wakes up?' Ridicu -
no carrier." - Charles Stross
"Epitaph: Foolish humans, never escaped Earth." - Vernor Vinge
"It cost too much, staying human." - Bruce Sterling
"We kissed. She melted. Mop please!" - James Patrick Kelly
"Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket." - William Shatner
The aim of these six word stories isn't so much to tell an entire story but to set the reader's mind in motion, filling in the gaps, wondering why and how. Never one to skip up a game like this I thought I'd have a go. One of the fist ones I wrote:
"Born, grew, loved, lost, withered, died"
fails completely in the same way that William Shatner's story does, it leaves no room for the reader's imagination and storytelling instinct. Here are a few more that hit a bit closer to the mark, unfortunately I didn't come out with anything stunning, but regardless, here is my own selection of six word stories:
I'm pregnant. Not yours. Meet Colin.
'Sky wasn't always purple', he said.
She's not breathing now. Oh God.
No belief. I'm scared they know.
Antiseptic rooms. Dying alone and frightened
Skies darken, aliens arrive, we depart.
Finally, based on my brand new domain name:
'...geometric rate? Christ!'. Machines rule earth.
I would heartily recommend that anybody has a go at this, it is a lot of fun trying (and failing) to compress an idea into six words. It's also a lot faster than writing a proper story.
geometricrate.com update: Now contains photorecipes, and I have begun placing some sort of maintainable structure in there
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn." --Ernest Hemingway
In this spirit, Wired Magazine asked a bunch of sci-fi and fantasy authors to write stories of their own using six words or less. The results are fantastic! Here are a few of the gems from the article:
"Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?" - Eileen Gunn
"Vacuum collision. Orbits diverge. Farewell, love." - David Brin
"Internet 'wakes up?' Ridicu -
no carrier." - Charles Stross
"Epitaph: Foolish humans, never escaped Earth." - Vernor Vinge
"It cost too much, staying human." - Bruce Sterling
"We kissed. She melted. Mop please!" - James Patrick Kelly
"Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket." - William Shatner
The aim of these six word stories isn't so much to tell an entire story but to set the reader's mind in motion, filling in the gaps, wondering why and how. Never one to skip up a game like this I thought I'd have a go. One of the fist ones I wrote:
"Born, grew, loved, lost, withered, died"
fails completely in the same way that William Shatner's story does, it leaves no room for the reader's imagination and storytelling instinct. Here are a few more that hit a bit closer to the mark, unfortunately I didn't come out with anything stunning, but regardless, here is my own selection of six word stories:
I'm pregnant. Not yours. Meet Colin.
'Sky wasn't always purple', he said.
She's not breathing now. Oh God.
No belief. I'm scared they know.
Antiseptic rooms. Dying alone and frightened
Skies darken, aliens arrive, we depart.
Finally, based on my brand new domain name:
'...geometric rate? Christ!'. Machines rule earth.
I would heartily recommend that anybody has a go at this, it is a lot of fun trying (and failing) to compress an idea into six words. It's also a lot faster than writing a proper story.
geometricrate.com update: Now contains photorecipes, and I have begun placing some sort of maintainable structure in there
