Saturday, December 13, 2008

short stories in six words

A writer friend recently told me that Hemingway once wrote a short story in six words, and claimed it was his best; (FOR SALE: baby shoes, never worn.)

I was fascinated. So we decided to play with some ideas... okay so I cheated on the first one; and got cryptic on the second... but it was fun. Feel free to try it out! :P

***

He loved her. She lied. It was murder.

***

I love you. Dead flowers. Rain.

***

I do. A crash. Funeral honeymoon.

***

Thirty days. Paycheck. Paid rent. Broke.

***

One muffin. Pink icing for two.

***

A bottle. A rattle. Empty cot.

***

Fake flowers. Perfume. Fifty dollar nights.

***

Broken windscreen. Dead bird. No insurance.

***

One cake. Two people. Happy birthday.

***

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Two words. F*&% Off! Me alone.

JT ;)

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

Aiyayayayayyyyy, joe.
Lol...

I published here:

http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/
story.php?did=42800

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

and here:

http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/
story.php?did=42804

Anonymous said...

to uncheat the first one you could go:

'he loved. she lied. it was murder.'

Anonymous said...

ok wait. thats still not six!

Saaleha Idrees Bamjee said...

"He knew about her peanut allergy"

"The flowers weren't meant for her"

(why do we tend towards the morbid in brevity?)

"David aimed carefully at the giant" (ok, that's been done already:))

"You should run for president, Barack"

We had a similar competition running on twitter with a 140 character limit, quite fun too.

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

oooh, i love the impending doom that six words can convey :P
peanut allergies hey...
*evil laugh*

i really enjoyed this! its a great procrastination tool which takes it thru the roof on the popularity scale ;)

M Junaid said...

We did this while I was tutoring at ukzn and I tried myhand at it earlier this year with my first years and it proved to be a lovely exercise. Six word short stories are actually quite popular with many celebrities partaking in it. If I find them i'l post them up here :)

Anonymous said...

Bravo! Bravo!
ok this has inspired me to shoot!

They died. They wake. Eternal everafter.

He walked in, I walked out.

They loved. Postponed death. Got Married.

He cheated. I loved. We divorced.

Life is unfaithful. I promised faithfulness.

I read it out loud, muted.

Thank you Shafz... I think I will consciously have to stop before I really rub the essence off :D

Anonymous said...

one more.

Shafz is inspirational. She inspires again!

hehe

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

MJ, thanks :) although... i was hoping to read some of your own, mr.celeb!

seher! keep going, really! you were on a roll, i thought :)

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

oooh, seher... thank you for the cute tribute :)

Anonymous said...

Six-word stories are easier to write in German or Afrikaans. You can say more per word.

Die onskuldige waterbesprinkelde suigeling huil ongelooflik.

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

hi tania...

thats unbelievable! :P
thanks for sharing...
how about something in german, too... i have an adopted sister who lives out in namibia/ she's german/afrikaans and she says its too difficult to put everything she has to say into just six words ;)

Anonymous said...

oooh! what fun! :D

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

lol... hey sweet-e... so try it then! :P

Anonymous said...

ok,so let me have a go in urdu...

Aap ne kiya kaha? Humse Mohabbat ?

(what did you say ? you love me? ....clearly more economical in the venacular, when you play around with it !)

And a bollywood version of the 007 hero doing his fave lines...

Mere naam Bond hai. James, samjha ?

Mujhe martini hilla ke dena yaar.

and to plagiarise from a song title...

Ho ure jab jab zulfe theri (hey ... whenever your hair flies ...: )... I reckon it sounds better in urdu)

And in heenglish... here goes...in light of recent events

The shoes missed him by inches.

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

LOL

CC you'r brilliant hun!

I loved every one of those playful twisty vernacular ones... and of course the shoe fetish holds :P

KiLLa said...

Most famous one..

"We came.. We saw.. We conquered"

Some KiLLa ones now..

On your marks.. Get set.. GO !!

One ring to rule them all..

Did you use soap wena, Jabob..

Muhammad came down and embraced her..

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

lol! u KEEL me, dude! lol

KiLLa said...

Ok I'm bored..
And this is a blog i know im always welcomed at.. So here's some more..

Mustapha strapped himself up.. Breaking News..

Bite me.. You sure.. Band aid..

Draft.Sent.Inbox. Luv you too..

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

mo, i like ur Vegas one! wheres the Vegas one?!!! that one rocked... oh and these too... hmm lets see...

oooh, killa does mushy slushy! so cute. oi on the mustapha one. i like that name. have you read the book 'House of Peace' anychance?

KiLLa said...

We filled up. We Left. Vegas.

The more apt question wud be.. When last did u read a book with no pics of gadgets and half naked chicks..
So NO, i did not..

Mustapha has terror written all over it. Beautiful name

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

Mustapha is a peaceful name, bro... no terror implied. Hence the 'oi'//...