Can I Beat Hemingway?
I’ve been in a little funk lately. Moving to a new city for my work, which funnily enough is exactly what I’ve been meaning to write to you about, has drained me of all creative energy. My mind’s been only on this move, and though I have been writing, it wasn’t with the same intensity (or interest) that I’m used to.
Well, now I’ve washed my hands of the whole thing, and I figured it was high time I dipped my toes back into the craft. So I cracked open a book I have, called The Very Short Story Starter, which is filled with delightful flash fiction prompts, and stumbled upon this one:
Can You Beat Hemingway? (5 words)
It is said that Ernest Hemingway proposed a bet among a group of friends, while having lunch in a restaurant, that he could compose a story in six words. He wrote the words “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn” on a napkin, passed it around the table, and collected his winnings.
Your challenge is this: can you beat Hemingway? Can you come up with a story (or stories) of fewer than six words? The story should be comprehensible, meaningful, and, like Hemingway’s, complete.
Writing a story in five words or less is surprisingly difficult. Sentences have to be restricted to two, or sometimes even one word. Word choice, naturally, is crucial. I find this exercise teaches two things very well, which Brevity editor Dinty W. Moore stated are the most important principles of flash literature: compression and layering.1
Though I don’t think I quite have Hemingway’s neck under my boot yet, I’ve written a bunch of these over the last two days. Below is a selection of (to my mind’s eye) the best ten.
Enjoy.
Painting by the lovely , who graciously allowed me to use it. In addition to her Substack newsletter, she also has a blog, which you can find here.
Enemy
She eyes the mirror, hatefully.
Unbirthday
He dies. He wakes. Hunger.
Interior Designer Wanted
Heart ugly. Please help.
Modern Banking
Loan request denied. Insufficient funds.
Privacy
Don’t come in. I’m dying.
Consequences
Since you died, it’s rained.
Ambivalence
Wilted flowers, reminders of you.
Dad’s Broken Promise
I’ll be back.
A Problem
Excess weight detected. Please regurgitate.
Grandpa’s Wisdom
Big feet, big heart, Sally.
That’s it. If you enjoyed this experiment, mind letting me know by clicking on the 💙 button below?
First of all, welcome back to the quill and parchment club! Nice to know the lure of writing has snagged you again, Andrei. Hope the move has gone well.
The challenge of 5 words feels VERY daunting. I’ll play with it but Hemingway’s bar is very high.
I’ve had a weird dry spell … using the 50 and 100 worders to get myself back on the horse.
Happy writing ✍️
‘Interior Designer Wanted’ was my favourite !