Short Story Saturday: Tell a story in six words

Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words - "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." - and is said to have called it his best work.

Here are some other six word (very) short stories by some of the brightest and best science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers around.

Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so.
- Joss Whedon

Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time
- Alan Moore

From torched skyscrapers, men grew wings.
- Gregory Maguire

“Cellar?” “Gate to, uh … hell, actually.”
- Ronald D. Moore

Epitaph: Foolish humans, never escaped Earth.
- Vernor Vinge

It’s behind you! Hurry before it
- Rockne S. O’Bannon

I’m your future, child. Don’t cry.
- Stephen Baxter

Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilisation collapses.
- Richard Powers

The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly.
- Orson Scott Card

Kirby had never eaten toes before.
- Kevin Smith

To save humankind he died again.
- Ben Bova

We went solar; sun went nova.
- Ken MacLeod

TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! … nobody there …
- Harry Harrison

Tick tock tick tock tick tick.
- Neal Stephenson

Easy. Just touch the match to
- Ursula K. Le Guin

New genes demand expression -- third eye.
- Greg Bear

WORLD'S END. Sic transit gloria Monday.
- Gregory Benford

Epitaph: He shouldn't have fed it.
- Brian Herbert

Batman Sues Batsignal: Demands Trademark Royalties.
- Cory Doctorow

Heaven falls. Details at eleven.
- Robert Jordan

Bush told the truth. Hell froze.
- William Gibson

Nevertheless, he tried a third time.
- James P. Blaylock

Help! Trapped in a text adventure!
- Marc Laidlaw

Thought I was right. I wasn't.
- Graeme Gibson

Rapture postponed. Ark demanded! Which one?
- David Brin

Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back.
- David Brin

Bang postponed. Not Big enough. Reboot.
- David Brin

Temporal recursion. I'm dad and mom?
- David Brin

Death postponed. Metastasised cells got organised.
- David Brin

Osama’s time machine: President Gore concerned.
- Charles Stross

Ships fire; princess weeps, between stars.
- Charles Stross

Will this do (lazy writer asked)?
- Ken MacLeod

Cryonics: Disney thawed. Mickey gnawed. Omigawd.
- Eileen Gunn

Finally, he had no more words.
- Gregory Maguire

There were only six words left.
- Gregory Maguire

In the beginning was the word.
- Gregory Maguire

Corpse parts missing. Doctor buys yacht.
- Margaret Atwood

Starlet sex scandal. Giant squid involved.
- Margaret Atwood

He read his obituary with confusion.
- Steven Meretzky

And to finish, here's a ten-word short story by the late Arthur C Clarke: "God said, 'Cancel Program GENESIS.' The universe ceased to exist."

More writers on writing

Some Black Library-related updates today...

Josh Reynolds has published a video in which comics legend Alan Moore gives some... interesting, shall we say?... advice to the unpublished writer.

William King has blogged on the commitment of regular blogging.

There's an in depth interview with Clint Werner over at The Black Library Bolthole.

And Rob Sanders (who does a great line in soundtrack advice) has been interviewed about his work for the Black Library over at Imagined Realms.

A story in six words? Really?

I spotted this on the Angry Robot blog* the other day:

The concept of Six Word Stories apparently started, or at least gathered a great apocryphal origin, when someone bet Ernest Hemingway he couldn’t tell a story in such a short space. The response of the great man - “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.” - still carries a real punch today, where in these times of Twittering and Flash fiction the six worders have made a real comeback.

You can find the best recent Science Fiction entries here. My personal favourite has to be this one by Watchmen scribe Alan Moore:

Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time

* BTW - on the same blog was this exciting news!