Six-word Short Stories

Hemingway is credited with creating the six-word short story "For sale: baby shoes, never worn" to win a bet. There's something seductive about the idea of creating a story in a mere six words. In fact, Wired recently solicited a variety of writers (mostly sf and horror) for what they could come up with (click here to see their results).

As an exercise, I recently had a couple of my creative writing classes come with their own six-word short stories. I was impressed with their stories, the best of which I've posted below:

Missing hubcap: will pay finding fee.

Lost Mastercard: five thousand dollar limit.

And then Godzilla attacked Tokyo, again.

Sweet sixteen party--no one came.

Three white walls. Stuck in hell.

Six die in freak poetry slam.

Pink bunny. Little fingers. Sweet dreams.

Montana. Out of gas. New plan.

Wedding canceled, viewing tomorrow, funeral Sunday.

Knee bent but she said no.

Small town: plane ticket: tail lights.

Crowded market: then he opened fire.

Layover, Bangor International, next stop Iraq.

Can I catch my breath now?

We did all that we could.

Hard day, pour me another glass.

I'm sorry--I lost your shoe.

She bought tickets but headed home.

Not easily distracted--look, a bug!

3 subjects; 120 sheets; college sucks.

First kiss, going in blind, missed.

What lies beneath the empty sandbox?