By Charis Negley
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
It evokes a particularly tragic image, right? Maybe you’ve heard this famous six-word story before, maybe not. Many attribute it to Ernest Hemingway, though the first mention of this anecdote came thirty years after his death, so we can’t be sure. But the little tale goes like this:
Hemmingway made a wager among his writer friends, claiming he could write a story in six words. They took him up on the bet, and on a napkin, Hemingway wrote the famous words: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” His friends paid him $10, no questions asked.
Whether the story stems from Hemingway’s mind or not, it is an extreme example of what we now call flash fiction (a term first coined in the early nineties), and many writers since have tried to capture an emotion in their own “six-word story.”
But how can you do so in so few words? Is there even a market for writing like this? I’m here to tell you, you can, and there is.
Step by Little Step
- Structure your story around conflict, emotion, and resolution.
Introduce some kind of conflict that invokes an emotion: sadness, anger, humor, nostalgia—anything you’d like! Your story must also feel like it resolves at the end. Don’t leave your reader hanging, wondering what they’re supposed to get out of your work.
- Make sure your story follows a narrative.
‘Even in six words?’ you may ask. Yes! Especially in six words. ALL stories need a narrative arc. Masterclass offers a great article on writing a narrative arc.
- Select your words carefully.
After all, you only have six! Don’t sell your reader short: they can fill in some of the blanks for themselves. No need to hand-feed them. Make sure each word of your story is necessary to the narrative. Use contractions to save space. Use nouns and verbs to drive the story further! And guess what? Use punctuation to your heart’s content, as long as it fits your story, because it won’t add to your word count.
- Don’t be afraid to write from experience.
Does this have to be fiction? Not at all! You could write what is called a six-word memoir. Choose a striking moment from your life and condense it to evoke that core emotion mentioned in step one.
Where Would I Share My Story?
I invite you to check out Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. This book shows just how versatile and profitable the six-word story can be. Let me share with you one of my favorites from the book (it’s a pun!):
“Act two curtain brought dramatic improvement.”
There are several places to submit your story when it’s ready. Check out these magazines:
Six-Word Story Guidelines | Narrative Magazine
Submit a Story – Six Word Stories
Six-Word Sci-Fi: Stories Written by You | WIRED (This one is for sci-fi specifically!)
So, get writing, make it snappy, and you’ll have a complete piece ready for submission in no time!
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
PWR Blog 