During the program segment, Ms. Norris highlighted how writer Ernest Hemingway is famously reported to have challenged some colleagues to write a short story using only six words. So the story goes, Hemingway urged his fellow writers to pony up $10, stating that if his assertion was true - if he could actually write a complete short story using only six words - he would take the pot. If he failed, he would match it.
Hemingway's story is purported to read:
Baby shoes for sale. never worn.
Although the veracity of the legend has never been fully confirmed, the exercise can certainly make for a challenging writing exercise. As Hemingway did, can you write a story with a beginning, middle and end using only six words?
My blogs are usually much longer than six words as I try to adequately articulate the points I'm trying to raise and explore.
To all my writer friends, and anyone else for that matter, please respond with your six words. Then we can all ponder the depth of each story...
X
That's insane! Seriously? Six words? All right. Here goes nothing.
ReplyDeletePhone rang. She sobbed. He's dead.
That is awesome!!
Delete:D YEY! LOL I may actually use this as an outline for a short story. Now I have to answer all these questions. Who is she? Why is he dead? Why did the phone ring? Why wasn't she with him? Etc. Etc. Etc. Now look what you did. :/
DeleteIf it makes you feel any better, I did it to myself, too! Fell off a cliff; still no bottom? What cliff? Where? How long have I been falling? Is this like Alice in Wonderland or more like Gandalf plummeting through Middle Earth atop the Balrog? What do I see on the way down? Do I eventually lose the sense of falling and begin to exist in the space and time in which I find myself?
DeleteIt's all good!!
The man emerged, revenge was spurned.
ReplyDeleteNice! There's some things to work with there!
Delete