Once, Hemingway made a bet with someone that he could write a story consisting of just four words which would be able to touch the heart ...
Once, Hemingway made a bet with someone that he could write a story consisting of just four words which would be able to touch the heart of anyone who read it. He succeeded:
’’For sale: baby shoes, never used’’. Hemingway’s example is something that has inspired many professional and amateur writers. Many people have tried over the years to come up with six-word stories which are able to touch, surprise, and delight the reader in equal measure.
- Strangers. Friends. Best friends. Lovers. Strangers.
- «Wrong number,» says a familiar voice.
- This is not your captain speaking.
- We’re lying in bed. She’s lying.
- Selling Parachute: never opened, slightly stained.
- Indoor cat: a life half-lived.
- Voyager still transmitted, but Earth didn’t.
- Brought roses home. Keys didn’t fit.
- My mother taught me to shave.
- Our bedroom. Two voices. I knock.
- Drunk. Home late. Locked Door. Divorce.
- Rule the night. Rue the morning.
- Won the World. Lost the Girl.
- My reflection just winked at me.
- Sorry soldier, shoes sold in pairs.
- He bottle-feeds his wife’s killer.
- Imagined adulthood. Gained adulthood. Lost Imagination.
- Surgeon saves patient. Patient thanks God.
- Professional writers have also tried their hand at Hemingway’s challenge. The magazineWired carried out a contest to write a story using just six words among assorted fiction, horror, fantasy and science fiction writers. These were some of the results:
- Longed for him. Got him. Sh*t. (Margaret Atwood)
- Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer? (Eileen Gunn)
- We kissed. She melted. Mop please! (James Patrick Kelly)
- I’m your future, child. Don’t cry. (Stephen Baxter)
- I saw, darling, but do lie. (Orson Scott Card)
- Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time. (Alan Moore).
- Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket. (William Shatner)
- He read his obituary with confusion. (Steven Meretzky)
- Vacuum collision. Orbits diverge. Farewell, love. (David Brin)
- I’m dead. I’ve missed you. Kiss...? (Neil Gaiman)
- Wasted day. Wasted life. Dessert, please. (Steven Meretzky)
