Yesterday I came across an idea of writing very short stories in just six words. Here are some examples from Wired Magazine written by sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers:
Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back.
– David Brin
Lost, then found. Too bad.
– Graeme Gibson
Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses.
– Richard Powers
TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! … nobody there …
– Harry Harrison
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
– Ernest Hemmingway
The last one was written by Hemmingway in the 1920s after his colleagues bet him that he couldn’t write a complete story in just six words. They paid up. Hemingway is said to have considered it his best work. So this certainly isn’t a new idea. There are many more on Six Word Stories.
On discovering this, I started wondering whether such stories could be written in languages other than English. I thought it might be easier in some languages than in others. So can you come up with any six word stories in any language or combination of languages? If it’s not possible in six words, maybe ten words would work better.
People have investigated the “Baby Shoes” story and the conclusion is that Hemingway probably didn’t write it:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/01/31/for_sale_baby_shoes_never_worn_hemingway_probably_did_not_write_the_famous.html
It might be easier in a language that has compound words, e.g.:
Französischlehrer gibt Französischlernerin einen französischen Kuss.
Better yet, in a polysynthetic language. Lol.
Here’s one in Welsh:
Amser cysgu wedi cyrraedd… Nos da!
Another one in Welsh:
Breuddwydion. Ymdrechion. Llwyddiant. Cyfoeth. Enwogrwydd. Unigrwydd.
Dreams. Struggles. Success. Riches. Fame. Loneliness.
Ufoentdeckung unterminiert Weltverständnis — Nihilismus erfasst Kleinstadt.
Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso wrote this (seven words):
Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba allí.
(When [s]he awoke, the dinosaur was still there.)
The Japanese haiku are a good example of creating a whole story with few words. My favourite, by Matsuo Bashou, is this:
Furuike ya, kawazu tobikomu, mizu no oto.
(Old pond, frog leaps in, sound of water.)