Six-word short stories

     Ernest Hemingway, famous for his Spartan style, is credited with this semi-famous six-word story: For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

     It’s a strong example of creative compression, inviting reader participation to flesh out the story, which all good fiction does.

     Here are a few six-word shorts I came up with:

Life                                                                  

Too young. Too busy. Too old.

Tragedy

Bought a gun. Sonny found it. 

DMV Statistics

One more drink. Four more dead.

Cell Addiction

Drove and texted. Carved in stone.

Parting

Married happily.  Money woes.  Lawyers richer.

Golden years

Growing old.  Looking back.  Shoulda dids.

Panic

:-))    :-)    :-o     :-/     :-<     !!!

Posture

Sat up straight.  On a thumbtack.

Native America

Chargoggagoogmanchoggaggoggchaubunagungamaugg. White people came. Webster Lake.

(The original Indian name for the lake, which is in Massachusetts near the Connecticut border is the longest place name in the United States.)

See if you can come up with a few shorts. It’s great practice for condensing. Most first drafts of any writing, fiction or non, can be cut down considerably, and always with beneficial effect.

Phil

www.philbowie.com

Check out my North Carolina series suspense novels on Amazon. Also see the latest stand-alone novel of Africa, Killing Ground. Easy buy links in print or Kindle through my website.