From: scimon	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:10 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Zombies attack. Store clerk saves day?

	From: jonnynexus	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:22 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Not bad. But I'm not sure about the end.

	From: scimon	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Ooo! Ooo!

Zombies attack. Store clerk has shotgun.

That's better but Gar is much better than me.

	From: mytholder	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:16 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Earth wasted. Mars awaits. Fresh start?

Flying honeymoon. One parachute. She survives.

	From: jonnynexus	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:21 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Dammit! They're brilliant! :)

	From: mytholder	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:23 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Amazing Pacific discovery... soon, televised Cthulhu!

	From: jonnynexus	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:25 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Look, this isn't big, or clever!

Alright, it is clever. Dammit!

	From: mytholder	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:26 pm (UTC)		(Link)

New writing trope traps writer! Help!

	From: jonnynexus	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:26 pm (UTC)		(Link)

You know if we (i.e. the roleplaying world) can come up with a load of these, we could do our own version of the Wired article.

Perhaps this is a meme we should pass around?

	From: mytholder	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:29 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Slay dragon, get treasure, level up.

	From: mytholder	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:30 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Letter from dead friend... Agh, tentacles!

	From: former_pirate	Date: October 26th, 2006 05:48 am (UTC)		(Link)

Chaosium scenarios, too many red herrings.

	From: oldson	Date: October 25th, 2006 05:53 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Star Wars, D20 Bad, D6 Good

Phoenix Command, Need Calculator, and Anadin

	From: jdigital	Date: October 26th, 2006 12:37 am (UTC)		(Link)

Azoun is dead, long live Azoun

	From: jdigital	Date: October 26th, 2006 01:03 am (UTC)		(Link)

Half price sale: lich's life's savings

From: dace_holenfor	Date: October 25th, 2006 04:57 pm (UTC)		(Link)
6 word story

Hero’s Unspoken, Serve Evil Ends Unknown.

	From: luciddestiny	Date: October 25th, 2006 05:07 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Parents interfering, had enough. Vegas baby!

	From: oldson	Date: October 25th, 2006 05:51 pm (UTC)		(Link)

World Ending Shortly, Best Get Shagging

World End Cancelled, Best Keep Shagging

Hero dies, Villain Lives, Hero Wins

Droids shot in pod, Empire Saved

Too many Beers, not enough Excuses

Minefield? Never, any sensible person would

From: cp_evilref	Date: October 25th, 2006 06:20 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Man bites dog, dog wins lawsuit.

Explosion in London, cow methane blamed.

Zombies pushed back, christmas ceasefire expected.

	From: jugglervr	Date: October 25th, 2006 07:27 pm (UTC)		(Link)

ohh ohh, i've got one!

"A headline doesn't a story make"

Seriously, lots of these are just funny headlines, NOT stories.
doesn't a story have to have a climax and a resolution?
I guess that the hemmingway story had an implied climax, and lots of the ones you're reading here have implied resolutions (because the climax is more interesting to write about).
It just feels like funny haiku as as opposed to real haiku. anyone can string 17 syllables together and make it funny. Only a poet can make it mean something that also uses the simplicity of the form to aid in the meaning of the piece.

	From: _tonylee_	Date: October 25th, 2006 07:40 pm (UTC)		(Link)

The point was to make the reader realise the story behind it - Hemmingway's is a simple line, but you make the story in your own head. Did the baby die? Were they bought by a husband for a wife who left him? So many answers.

But yes. Many of these are high concepts, not stories...

	From: jdigital	Date: October 26th, 2006 12:24 am (UTC)		(Link)

I found it quite unambiguous, if packed. One would only buy baby shoes when expecting, and would only sell them again unused having lost the baby. That it manages to be so accurate in only six words, and still manages to convey emotion, is what's most impressive.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: October 27th, 2006 03:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

while you point out the most obvious and likely story it is hardly the only possibility, for fun here are a couple of 6 word alternative interpretations.

obsession cured she sold the shoes
giant feet make a champion swimmer

Admittedly one has to work a bit for other interpretations which what makes the Hemmingway line impressive (i.e. it carries a great deal of implied and yet fairly unambigous information)

	From: _tonylee_	Date: October 25th, 2006 07:38 pm (UTC)		(Link)

She told him why. Then left.

	From: ffutures	Date: October 25th, 2006 08:06 pm (UTC)		(Link)

The writer cursed. Six words? Impossible!!!

	From: bastun_ie	Date: October 25th, 2006 08:36 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Man murdered. The butler did it.

Sodom destroyed, wife lost, daughters pregnant.

Apocalypse averted again. Must be Tuesday?

In the end, there was One.

Chaos loomed. Incompetents intervened. Discworld saved.

	From: cartoonlad	Date: October 25th, 2006 09:38 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Most of mine came out sounding like headlines instead of stories. Here's as close as I could get.
---

Too soon, the bride wore black.

He made a wish; she's gone.

	From: snesgirl	Date: October 25th, 2006 10:06 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Writer seeks inspiration. Muse mysteriously avoids.

	From: jdigital	Date: October 26th, 2006 12:27 am (UTC)		(Link)

These are harder to do than they look.

	From: foxfour	Date: October 26th, 2006 12:45 am (UTC)		(Link)

a lot of those were more suggestive of stories, rather than actually stories. doesn't mean they're bad, but i'm interested in what one can do in terms of an actual story — beginning, middle, end, complete with character development and climax & dénoument. also, how one can make it work on its own, and not with much outside cultural knowledge (that is, Dorothy: "Fuck it, I'll stay here." is right out.)

i think atwood's Longed for him. Got him. Shit. is the most storyful.

	From: yojimbouk	Date: October 26th, 2006 01:44 am (UTC)		(Link)

"I want your body."
"Let's swap."

Over on Metafilter, inspired by the same topic, someone posted their own shortest story ever:
.Mr.?
which reads as "Dot missed her period. Question Mark."

	From: former_pirate	Date: October 26th, 2006 05:54 am (UTC)		(Link)

We all changed when plague came.

Ozymandias' overgrown grandeur now lies abject.

	From: natural20	Date: October 26th, 2006 09:11 am (UTC)		(Link)

Vecna's head. Vorpal? Clever party wins.

Birth. Preaching. Miracles. Eating. Death. Rebirth.

	From: puritybrown	Date: October 26th, 2006 12:14 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Daddy, I -- "
"Sh! Our little secret."

	From: jonnynexus	Date: October 26th, 2006 12:34 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Ag. That's very good, and very, very disturbing.

	From: bastun_ie	Date: October 26th, 2006 10:46 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Gandalf flung Ring from Gwaihir's back.