‘Starlet sex scandal. Giant squid involved.’- a Daily Mail headline, maybe? No, it’s actually a very, very short story indeed, penned by Canadian novelist and poet Margaret Atwood in response to the ‘Hemingway Challenge’. Nicknamed for the author who once claimed that his best work was the succinct ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn’, this short, sharp format has produced some diverse and brilliant pieces both online and in print.
The website www.sixwordstoryeveryday.blogspot.com is one of my favourite responses to the challenge, combining graphic design and illustration with the few words allowed, and now containing a story for every day of 2010. Their newer site, www.sixwordstoryeveryday.com furthers the project, including appropriated lines from sources such as Shakespeare and The Police alongside writers’ original stories and a huge variety of illustrations and typefaces.
Having tried, failed, and persuaded my friends to give it a go too, I can confidently say that making a story work in just six words is a lot more difficult than the tiny end products might suggest. This about sums up my efforts...
...it was definitely an interesting challenge to undertake. The pieces which really seem to work without the support of graphics or illustration are like Atwood’s or Hemingway’s- a little bit bizarre, intriguing or sad (why were the baby shoes unworn and for sale?), and carefully crafted by their author.
Or, like Joss Whedon, you could just go for the murder mystery. ‘Gown removed carelessly. Head less so.’
Or, like Joss Whedon, you could just go for the murder mystery. ‘Gown removed carelessly. Head less so.’
