According to legend, Ernest Hemingway
was once challenged to write a story in a mere
six words. The result of his
literary genius was reportedly, “ For Sale: baby
shoes, never worn.” Now,
that’s a short short-story.
So began the tradition of the six-word memoir. A compendium of 1,000 Six- Word Memoirs were collected in the volume, “Not
Quite What I Was Planning”, which
became a bestseller.
That amusing collection featured the work of the famous, the
infamous and the merely clever. So successful was that effort that a sequel was born, and in
2009 the book Six-Word
Memoirs of Love & Heartache was published.
Perhaps in the age of
Twitter these
are the new memoirs for the 21st century. In fact, Smith Magazine and Twitter originally teamed
together for a contest in 2006, which received 11,000 submissions and resulted in the book deal.
I loved reading “Not Quite What I Was Planning,” a book I
stumbled upon from a review on the blog of Tiffany Shlain, (www.tiffanyshlain.com)
the gifted filmmaker, of the short film “The Tribe.”
Never one to shirk a challenge, I‘ve tried my hand at 6
Six -Word Memoirs that might work for the Love and Heartache book.
Moved in, cheated,
married her instead.
Positive I'm
negative. Call me tonight.
Loved, lied, left.
Took him back.
Black shoe missing
mate. Me too.
Blue eyes,
black heart, saw red.
Slept together Friday, married another Sunday.
I don’t know what Hemingway would have thought about my efforts, but I know I found my super short stories the perfect exercise for a
writer short on time and long on imagination.
Anyone, amateur or pro, can try their hand at writing their own memoirs by registering at http://www.smithmag.net,.
In addition to the memoirs SMITH Magazine hosts a site where
everyone with a story can be a storyteller. Who knows, you might end up in one of
their books.
And at the very least you can share your stories
with family and friends.
