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Rough Draft of Six Word Stories:

The unique form of poetry typically called a "six-word story" or "six-word poem" was invented by [[Ernest Hemingway]]. Traditionally very minimalist, the poems consist of only six words. These words must tell a story. According to Open Culture, Hemingway began writing these because of a ten dollar bet that he couldn't write a novel in six words. In reality, it may be more accurate to consider the impact that "Terse Tales of the Town" had on young Hemingway's style. Since the days of the six word newspaper classifieds, the style of the poem has expanded to be recognized by organizations such as NPR. In a book review on a collection of "Six Word Memoires," NPR brings the relatively young poetic form into the spotlight. The extremely condensed style is a challenge to write, but conveys a lot of meaning if written well. Narrative magazine even calls them "dramas in one breath," which is a very accurate description.

As previously mentioned, the well-known author, Ernest Hemingway, was one of the first to write six-word stories. His "bare-bones" style in writing novels lent itself well to the writing of six word stories. Hemingway first wrote, "For sale, Baby shoes, Never worn." The underlying meanings are key to the value of the form. This particular story implies that someone purchased baby shoes and never used them. This could be interpreted as a person with excess, but Hemingway most likely intended this to mean that there was a miscarriage or a still birth. The beauty in this form is that there can be infinite interpretations of the six words set out by the poet. One would be remiss not to address the controversy involving the integrity of Hemingway's "original" six-word poem. In his "Terse Tales of the Town," Hemingway also wrote "For sale, baby carriage; never been used. Apply at this office." The resemblance of these two phrases is intriguingly similar. Beyond all of this, there seems to be evidence in one of Hemingway's plays that a friend of his, Frederick A. Wright, actually wrote this famous poem. However, with only six words at his disposal, there is also a possibility that this was indeed a coincidence. While this form did not necessarily catch on during Hemingway's life, they have become immensely popular as technology evolves. Twitter is a perfect location for these quick, witty tales as seen in this account: https://twitter.com/sixwordshort?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor.

Additional examples include:

"Met wife at her bachelorette party.

Eddie Matz

I picked passion. Now I'm poor.

Kathleen E. Whitlock

Normal person becomes psychotic on Twitter.

Robin Slick

Yale at 16, downhill from there.

Anita Kawatra

After cancer, I became a semicolon.

Anthony R. Cardno

At least I never voted Republican.

Tony Kushner"

"I asked. You answered with silence."

Writing an entire story with a beginning, middle, and end in just six words is not an easy feat. Every word must be chosen carefully to convey the exact meaning of the poet. Most connotations of a word should be considered. The newly popularized form involves a great deal of consideration that seems disproportionate to the writing left to show for it. In general, the process used for most poetry writing can be applied to the six-word story. Freewriting is always a good technique for writing, so thinking about another person or a specific event that you're very familiar with will help in the process. Stealing is a rather controversial technique for this, but can be very successful. "Vibing" off of another person's work allows you to have a footing in where you want to start, just like good writers of novels are good readers of novels. In the end, the only requirement of this form of poetry is that it is six words. Well, that and it must tell a story. According to H. Porter Abbott, author of The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, requires just one event. A complete thought is not even mandatory. This is good because many six-word stories throw grammar to the wind. The rest, the meaning and the word choice, is up to the poet.

My own work: "Three beers in, yesterday. Never again."

"But I want... I need perfection."

"Dawn. Silence fell over the hall"

"Can't stop! Won't stop! And crash!"

Late night Snapchats. early morning calls.