I have always wanted to write a novel. My characters would be deep and complicated, my story full of twists and turns. But it takes rather a long time to write a novel. So I have decided to start with something shorter. Shorter than a novella is a short story. Shorter than a short story is a work of flash fiction. Shorter than a work of flash fiction, like the haiku of stories, is the six word story. This story is for the wannabe novelist who really doesn’t have much time, or who is actually quite lazy.
Here are a few six word short stories I came up with. First I’ll give the stories, and then explain what is going on.
1
I wipe Darling’s drool, remembered smile.
2
Skyscraper window: “Unbreakable”. Airy demonstration, defenestration.
3
Neanderthal: “Welcome!”
Man: “Ug.”
Nobody laughed.
4
Feline, drugged, dreams final
dalliance. Snip!
5
Purgatory threshold. Angel growls, “Wrong level.”
6
To
jump or not to... Oops!
Explanations:
1 – Drool is water produced in our mouths to help us swallow. So in this story, one character is helping to wipe the mouth of another character, who cannot do it for themselves. Perhaps sadly, they remember when their darling’s mouth used to smile.
2 – “Airy” speech is too casual, or not serious. And a defenestration is the act of throwing someone out of a window. So in this story, one character casually says that the skyscraper (high tower) window is unbreakable. He tries to demonstrate that the window is unbreakable, perhaps by running into it at full speed. Then, unfortunately, he suffers defenestration.
3 – In this story I imagined an early homo sapiens (modern human) meeting a Neanderthal. The modern human makes a racist joke when he says “Ug,” because he is pretending that the Neanderthal cannot talk, but can only grunt like a stupid caveman. “Nobody laughed” suggests that the relationship between modern humans and Neanderthals will not be a happy one.
4 – A feline is a cat. A dalliance is a casual romantic relationship. So this cat, who has been given drugs to make him sleep, is dreaming of a romantic encounter. Unfortunately the “snip” sound indicates that something is being cut off, and he will never have the chance to enjoy a dalliance again.
5 – In Christian belief, very good people go to Heaven. Very bad people go to Hell. People who have committed some crimes in life have to spend a number of years in Purgatory, being punished, before they can go to Heaven. A “threshold” is an entrance or doorway. So in this story, a newly dead person goes to Purgatory to receive his punishment. Unfortunately, an angry angel at the door tells him that he has come to the wrong place. Does that mean that he will be sent to Heaven instead, or Hell?
6 – This is probably not too difficult to
understand. A character is standing on a
window ledge, considering suicide. Maybe
he should climb back inside the room?
Suddenly he slips…
Vocabulary:
a wannabe – A casual word. Someone who unrealistically desires fame,
success, etc. It is pronounced as in
“wanna be.”
drool – saliva which falls out of someone’s
mouth (eg, I told my son to wipe away his drool with a tissue)
airy – of an explanation, theory, reason,
etc., overly casual or not serious (eg. I asked my boss why I didn’t get a
bonus this year, and he airily said that the company needed to use the money in
other ways.)
defenestration – the act of throwing
someone out of a window
a dalliance – a casual romantic or sexual
relationship (eg., He had many dalliances in his youth.)
a threshold – this is what you step across
when you enter a room or building; the entrance or barrier separating one place
from another
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