POO:Very Short Stories

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http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html

"Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") and is said to have called it his best work."

Poll Results

Option	Votes
I’m your future, child. Don’t cry.	3
Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time	3
Easy. Just touch the match to	1
Rained, rained, rained, and never stopped.	1
We kissed. She melted. Mop please!	1
It cost too much, staying human.	1
“Cellar?” “Gate to, uh … hell, actually.”	1
The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly.	1
From torched skyscrapers, men grew wings.	1
His penis snapped off; he’s pregnant!	1
Longed for him. Got him. Shit.	1
TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! … nobody there …	1
“I couldn’t believe she’d shoot me.”	0
Kirby had never eaten toes before.	0
Tick tock tick tock tick tick.	0
Broken heart, 45, WLTM disabled man.	0
Don’t marry her. Buy a house.	0
To save humankind he died again.	0
We went solar; sun went nova.	0
Husband, transgenic mistress; wife: “You cow!”	0
I’m dead. I’ve missed you. Kiss … ?	0
Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses.	0
Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?	0
Vacuum collision. Orbits diverge. Farewell, love.	0
Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so.	0
Automobile warranty expires. So does engine	0
Internet “wakes up?” Ridicu -no carrier.	0
With bloody hands, I say good-bye.	0
Wasted day. Wasted life. Dessert, please.	0
Epitaph: Foolish humans, never escaped Earth.	0
It’s behind you! Hurry before it	0
1940: Young Hitler! Such a cantor!	0
Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket.	0

― Zeno, Wednesday, 1 April 2009 19:47 (sixteen years ago)

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

― Nate Carson, Thursday, 2 April 2009 11:00 (sixteen years ago)

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

― commons hack spat (Ned Trifle II), Thursday, 2 April 2009 11:08 (sixteen years ago)

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

― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 2 April 2009 11:41 (sixteen years ago)

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.

― emil.y, Thursday, 2 April 2009 11:56 (sixteen years ago)

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

― Zeno, Thursday, 2 April 2009 12:03 (sixteen years ago)

"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'm shy (Abbott), Thursday, 2 April 2009 19:40 (sixteen years ago)

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.

― i'm shy (Abbott), Thursday, 2 April 2009 19:42 (sixteen years ago)

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

― i'm shy (Abbott), Thursday, 2 April 2009 19:43 (sixteen years ago)

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

― Monkey Pocket Boob (libcrypt), Friday, 3 April 2009 03:29 (sixteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 23:01 (sixteen years ago)

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

― System, Thursday, 9 April 2009 23:01 (sixteen years ago)

seven months pass...

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.

― krakow, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 09:35 (sixteen years ago)

popular thread, locked by an administrator.

― estela, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 09:55 (sixteen years ago)

Denied. :-(

― krakow, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 10:02 (sixteen years ago)

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.

― estela, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 10:14 (sixteen years ago)

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

― koogs, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 10:38 (sixteen years ago)

Thanks estela.

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

― krakow, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 12:27 (sixteen years ago)

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

― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Tuesday, 10 November 2009 20:20 (sixteen years ago)

i have one, even shorter than hemingway's:

for sale: baby

― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Tuesday, 10 November 2009 20:20 (sixteen years ago)

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