Hemingway once wrote a very short, very famous story using just six words:
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
Despite it being only six words, he considered it his best work.
Many other writers have followed the same 6 word formula since then:
"Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?" - Eileen Gunn
"Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time" - Alan Moore
"The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly." - Orson Scott Card
"Epitaph: He shouldn't have fed it." - Brian Herbert
etc etc etc. You get the picture.
So the goal of this contest is to create AT LEAST ONE 6-word story. You can create more if you'd like (this is a great idea-forming exercise, if nothing else) and submit them in the same "story" as the first.
I'd limit it to under 50 six-word stories, though, per person (in one "story" page on the site). Any more and I think my mind would boggle.
So there's the rules!
1. Write a complete story in six words. Make it clever. Make it creative. Make it good.
2. Submit AT LEAST ONE, and UP TO FIFTY 6-word stories in a single "story" submission.
3. Check grammar and spelling. They're six words, people! It's not so hard to edit six friggin words!
4. Have fun! Use your imaginations! Be amazingly clever and brilliant!
5. I'll be judging this not on quantity of 6-word stories, but on quality. So please keep that in mind.
Good luck! Please feel free to submit!
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
Despite it being only six words, he considered it his best work.
Many other writers have followed the same 6 word formula since then:
"Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?" - Eileen Gunn
"Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time" - Alan Moore
"The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly." - Orson Scott Card
"Epitaph: He shouldn't have fed it." - Brian Herbert
etc etc etc. You get the picture.
So the goal of this contest is to create AT LEAST ONE 6-word story. You can create more if you'd like (this is a great idea-forming exercise, if nothing else) and submit them in the same "story" as the first.
I'd limit it to under 50 six-word stories, though, per person (in one "story" page on the site). Any more and I think my mind would boggle.
So there's the rules!
1. Write a complete story in six words. Make it clever. Make it creative. Make it good.
2. Submit AT LEAST ONE, and UP TO FIFTY 6-word stories in a single "story" submission.
3. Check grammar and spelling. They're six words, people! It's not so hard to edit six friggin words!
4. Have fun! Use your imaginations! Be amazingly clever and brilliant!
5. I'll be judging this not on quantity of 6-word stories, but on quality. So please keep that in mind.
Good luck! Please feel free to submit!
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on April 30, 2007
- Rewards: Gold: 100, Silver: 50, Bronze: 25, Honorable mention: 3 people
- Final notes: Oh man. I had no idea so many people would submit their stories for this contest. And they were all so good! Seriously! So so so so so many of them would have made absolutely WONDERFUL full-length stories and there were TONS of brilliantly original ideas.
Thank you all for entering the contest. I really liked reading them all and I hope you enjoyed writing them (it's sort of fun, isn't it?).
Merci boucoup!
Contest Winners
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by Dirty and Broken <100 words, 6 comments, on Apr 16 5:51 PM 2007. In Contest, Dark, Depression, Love
Gold trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
by Heart of Everything 200 words, 14 comments, on Apr 17 12:20 AM 2007. In , Multiple stories, Short, Variety
Bronze trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. [remove] - Error: Unable to find finalist item 79083, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
- Error: Unable to find finalist item 77603, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
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Brother, runner, soldier, leg blown off. / / 3200 run, sore legs, painfully slow.• Commented on by judge. [remove]
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by Kyoku Luv 400 words, 7 comments, on Apr 16 10:09 PM 2007. In 6 word stories, Blah, Contest entry, Random, Weird• Commented on by judge. [remove]
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Daddy's name was Jack the Ripper. / / The cat's in the fridge again! / / He laughed; she was busy screaming. / / Please, don't trip overby lovely nightmare 100 words, 3 comments, on Apr 22 10:24 PM 2007. In• Commented on by judge. [remove]
Silver trophy winner
Honorable mention
Entries [36]
1 - 36 of 36
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• Commented on by judge.
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1. Check the mainframe. It's a bug! / / 2. Her perfume. I can smell it. / / 3. Let go! It will hold you! / / 4. Robot. What were the test results? / / 5. Keep it hidden in your pocket. / / 6. No one is permitted before master.by Jacqui 200 words, 3 comments, on Apr 16 8:43 AM 2007. In• Commented on by judge.
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by Mel-the-Believer <100 words, 6 comments, on Apr 16 4:43 PM 2007• Commented on by judge.
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by Jargo Oberan <100 words, 3 comments, on Apr 16 2:50 PM 2007• Commented on by judge.
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by jtnbuck <100 words, 4 comments, on Apr 16 3:48 PM 2007• Commented on by judge.
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by StephLippitt <100 words, 3 comments, on Apr 16 4:14 PM 2007. In Humor• Commented on by judge.
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by iPoopAThug <100 words, 9 comments, on Apr 16 4:12 PM 2007• Commented on by judge.
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by DemApples <100 words, 1 comment, on Apr 17 2:13 AM 2007• Commented on by judge.
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by leolord5235 <100 words, 3 comments, on Apr 17 7:37 PM 2007. In Other• Commented on by judge.
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by Rosemary <100 words, 2 comments, on Apr 18 12:16 PM 2007. In• Commented on by judge.
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/ / Six of you are is truble1by User name1 <100 words, 2 comments, on Apr 22 4:46 PM 2007. In• Commented on by judge.
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He should have said no, idiot. / / On both sides all are dead. / / Pulling the trigger, blood splattered hair. / / I screwed up...I l• Commented on by judge.
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I wanted him to love me.by Radiance <100 words, 6 comments, on Apr 24 3:51 PM 2007• Commented on by judge.
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Death, It's not all that bad. / / What to do, oh look waffles. / / Ya, you'd think so wouldn’t ya. / /• Commented on by judge.
Add a comment
Comments
1 - 17 of 17
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And don’t forget the epitate:
I told you I was sick.
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hee!
I totally want that on my future gravestone!
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Did you...
Read that issue of Wired, too?
I shall take this challenge
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yep
I saw the article online and that's where I got the idea (and the quoted stories!) from.
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Ahh, I'm so writing something for this....although, I doubt it'll be worth reading.
I shall try!!
This is a challenge....! -
Hmmm.. I heard this somewhere, who was that first one by? I might enter this, but I'm notoriously bad at entering things I say I'll enter.. but I'll try!
Omegaaa. -
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It's a six-word minimum, so I doubt it'll take too long to come up with something. *grins*
Allllppphhhhaaaaaa
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Neat
I'm definitely going to do this! -
You and me both. I just love it. My favorite one, a little longer, is: Beat you to death with a wet noodle.
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I love Hemmingway
his hills like white elephants rock great contest!
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Note
Normally I would NEVER put stories in the finalists list before the contest was judged, but in this contest, i'd literally have to read every entry three times if I didn't sort them out by which ones I liked/didn't like. There are just so so so many, most of which with similar titles.
So apologies to those who may not like this system, but it's what I need to do for this particular contest.
And just because you're not in the finalists list now DOES NOT MEAN YOU WON'T BE in the future. So there! Hah! I give you HOPE! -
That, right there, is a crazy picture up there.
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isn't it, though?
I got it from this news article about freak shows. It's my most favorite Random Picture ever. -
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LoL
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Haha, random pictures rock. My favorite is a bunny with a pancake on its head
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lol, that sounds ... weird lol
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*yuck*
Weird picture
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1 - 17 of 17
