POO:Very Short Stories

Gown grabbed my attention but the Time Machine one is so damn cute.

Not quite as short but very good.
http://static.bookdepository.co.uk/assets/images/book/large/9780/2260/9780226044026.jpg

Kafka did several very short stories. There's a whole website about one of them: http://thenextvillage.org/

Most of these completely miss why the Hemingway story works and just try to shoehorn a 6-word plot in there. The Hemingway one doesn't actually include a plot, but rather implies a back-story which almost everyone can fill in.

I quite liked the "Kirby had never eaten toes before" one, but the problem there is that it really reads like a first line of a story, so we can proceed from there, and fill it in later, but the Hemingway one rests fairly completely in itself. Some of the ones not in the poll are better, as well - "Finally, he had no more words" is not very whole in story terms, but does read as a good statement of narration completion in a way that most people can empathise with. Margaret Atwood's ones suffer from the 'get a whole plot in there' problem, but are actually very funny little pieces.

Margaret Atwood's "Longed for him. Got him. Shit." is great. it a long story made short with a little bonus of a philosophic life anecdote.

"Tick tock tick tock tick tick" is the worsem though there several candidates for this prize

"Rained, rained, rained, and never stopped."

That is what I chose. It sounds like it was written by a kid on a day it was raining, or by someone who was half-familiar with the concept of a story. I think it's endearing.

I first heard the Hemingway one out loud, and I thought it went: "For sale: Baby. Shoes (never worn)." The real one was a disappointment after that interpretation.

Like, 'Hi I am selling a baby and I am selling some shoes.'

Neil Diamond has all of these beat in 50% fewer words: I am, I said.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Was there a thread where we wrote our own 6 word stories? I can't locate one myself, but guess that there is somewhere if one knew what to search for...

Thanks.

popular thread, locked by an administrator.

Denied. :-(

i searched for this for you, partly to be helpful and partly because i have a strict deadline so i shouldn't be on here at all, but i couldn't find anything.

In 5 Words Or Less, Describe What Is Wrong With The World ????

Thanks estela.

5 words is really cutting it fine, but thanks koogs as well.

popular thread, locked by an administrator.

― estela, Tuesday, November 10, 2009 4:55 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Denied. :-(

― krakow, Tuesday, November 10, 2009 5:02 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

can't believe u didnt get this

i have one, even shorter than hemingway's:

for sale: baby