Miscellany
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Aug
31
The art of the shortest shorts
Filed Under Brevity, Fiction theory, Hemingway, Short stories
Hemingway’s shortest story (For sale: baby shoes, never worn) is the best evidence of the power of concise fiction. Six words can break a heart in a way some novels can’t even touch.
Wired had a fantastic collection of similarly short strings of six that they posted here. None match the elegance of Hemingway’s, but if it weren’t for that elegance, we wouldn’t be concerend with brevity.
There was a time when the novel was seen as cheap, because the novelist was given so much room to craft a character. The art, it was said, was in telling a story in just the space that needed.
The writer wasn’t making a world, just an emotion. An impression.
Maybe that’s not a fair critique of novels or long-form fiction, but it is certainly an endearing challenge to fans of the short form to muscle in every word into a lattice work of emotion.
Maybe all short writers should aim for six –even if we miss be a few or three thousand.
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“Automobile warranty expires. So does engine.
- Stan Lee”
This made me giggle. I’m going to try to make my own six word short story.
“Blind pedestrian. Car without any brakes.”
Kinda sad but it’s the first thing that came upon me.