The shortest of short, short stories are referred to as “The Six Word Story;” it’s Flash Fiction Story in just six words!
I don’t think that the Six-Word Story is always, or rather is ever a story. When writing this page, I spent around one minute creating four examples. As with a lot of twitterature and nano fiction, it is easy to throw a few words together. But do these words make a real story?
I know this is written elsewhere within Flash Fiction and potentially somewhere else around the internet, but can you get the elements of having a protagonist, some form of conflict, the odd obstacles or complications, and a resolution all within six words? No, comes to mind.
Please bear in mind that although I thought of these examples while developing this section; I can’t guarantee that they haven’t been written by someone before. If they have then sorry for using them here uncited.
My first attempt at a six-word story is:
Mind racing; heart racing; car racing.
Is mind racing a conflict? Not really, however, it could potentially suggest one. The obstacle could potentially be the fact that the protagonist is racing a car which can suggest danger. However, there is no resolution other than what your mind adds to the “story”.
The wind blew; rain is coming.
In this we have no protagonist; I guess the wind blowing or rain coming could be an obstacle or complication it could even be a resolution; especially if it was a farmer desperate for the rain to water his crops. But a storey? No!
Two buses together; an hour wasted.
An hour wasted does suggest that someone is in the story; there was an obstacle or complication of sorts; the person had to wait for an hour and as the theory suggests; buses always turn up together. That hour was wasted; a tentative resolution maybe? I still don’t see it as a story. However, it does have a lot of unanswered questions, and I do like it when I have to use my imagination to fill in the missing parts.
I walked to the shops; closed!
I am the protagonist, and I am walking to the shops. There must be a reason to walk there, which could spark some imagination as to why. The shop, being closed could be an obstacle but would you not need to know why I am going to the shops in the first place for it to be one. Maybe this six-word story is a story as there is a kind of resolution; the shops are closed; I can’t do whatever it is I wanted to do.
More to follow…