An online magazine in the USA and now the BBC are encouraging readers to write 6 word stories or autobiographies.
The title of this post is an example of one of these, written by Richard Merrington for the BBC site.
This is such a perfect challenge for those interested in story-telling and the Bardic arts!
Here’s the backstory as the BBC explains it:
In the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway bet ten dollars that he could write a complete story in just six words. He wrote: “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” He won the bet.
You can see readers’ efforts at ‘Smith’, the magazine site, and others on the BBC site.
I try to grasp the meaning.
By: Hennie on February 8, 2008
at 9:58 am
Try looking at the examples on the other two websites. They are such fun (and I think worthwhile) because they condense, distill, a whole set of meanings and feelings into a short phrase.
‘Wasted my whole life getting comfortable’ is great I think because at one level it’s just humorous, but at another it is aphoristic – pointing to the way we tend to exert so much effort in sheltering ourselves from the immediacy of life.
By: Philip Carr-Gomm on February 8, 2008
at 10:34 am
I think your right. This is my six word story :
I try to grasp the meaning.
But somehow I think you knew that
By: Hennie on February 8, 2008
at 1:22 pm
What I sought made me seek
Any use, d’you think?
AX
By: Alison Cross on February 8, 2008
at 1:40 pm
Still working on the distillation exercise!
This is quite an interesting challenge, as the way we look at life really focuses on what words are appropriate. I read somewhere that it is important that we look at life as a game to be played and enjoyed; so my story todate seems to be:
Learnt, played. Now earn to play
By: magpieschest on February 8, 2008
at 1:50 pm
Wondering if life ever makes sense.
By: serenarian on December 19, 2008
at 4:21 pm