Short Story

Short Story
Short stories are what most writers start off with. Many of them never learn to master the art of writing a short story before they move on to trying to write a novel. The main difference is the writer bring forth a story in fewer words and pages. Why is this important? According to a study published by the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning and Development Centre, students retain only 20% of what they hear and only 10% of what they read (Glaser, 1983).

With this study in mind, it makes one think that all the adjectives and adverbs may be wasted on most readers. Do they do anything to help the story along? How short should a short story be? Ernest Hemingway is said to have asserted that his best work was a short story of only six words. Six words? What kind of story could be written using only six words? A carefully crafted story that lets the readers mind work is the answer. The story Hemmingway wrote is as follows: For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Let’s examine the words. “For sale,” what does that tell you? Someone is selling something but who is selling them? “Baby shoes,” is pretty plain, we know what is for sale. “Never worn,” brings more questions to mind. Why were they never used? Did the parents have too many baby shoes that they received at a shower and the baby outgrew them before it wore them? Maybe something more sinister happened. It is left up to the reader to decide.

A story like this is easy to remember because it challenges the mind of the reader. More over it is good practice for a writer. Most of the bestselling books on the market, challenge the reader. They make them participate in the story. This is something all writers strive to accomplish.

The six word short story also introduces to the writer to using third-person, limited narration. This narrative device was used by Hemmingway in his novel “Old Man and the Sea.” Using his six word story, a writer could expand it to an interesting tale simply by asking and answering a few questions. I know that many of my stories began with a word or phrase that I heard or thought about and then asked myself why or why couldn’t.

I want to challenge you to take ten minutes and write your best short story using only six words. Post them as replies to my blog if you like.

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