Wired's Very Short Stories 665
Wired's games blog Game|Life alerted me to a great feature on the main Wired site. Called Very Short Stories, the piece features the work of 33 well-known writers practicing their craft in six word chunks. Their work is combined with several talented graphic designers to generate some very creative works of art. Some of my favorites: "The baby's blood type? Human, mostly'. - Orson Scott Card
'Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses.' - Richard Powers
'Kirby had never eaten toes before.' - Kevin Smith" The games blog makes a point to highlight the works of game writers Mark Laidlaw and Steve Meretzky. Laidlaw's contribution: ">Help! Trapped in a text adventure!" Alrighty, folks ... let's hear yours.
'Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses.' - Richard Powers
'Kirby had never eaten toes before.' - Kevin Smith" The games blog makes a point to highlight the works of game writers Mark Laidlaw and Steve Meretzky. Laidlaw's contribution: ">Help! Trapped in a text adventure!" Alrighty, folks ... let's hear yours.
I don't get it. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't get it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Christnuggets on a stick, that man!
He doesn't know when to stop.
Until the readers care no more.
Re:I don't get it. (Score:5, Funny)
Fucker can't even finish a 6 word story. Guess we'll have to buy the sequel....
Re:I don't get it. (Score:5, Funny)
Nothing happens for most of book (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
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Woman smooths dress. Is she nervous?
Untalented hack milks series to death!
Over done, even sex gets boring.
Series unfinished: angry mob kills writer.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
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Finally the secret recipe to making money. (Score:5, Funny)
and the sixth word is (Score:5, Funny)
Re:and the sixth word is (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:and the sixth word is (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
From Ran, I believe it was.
Here's mine (Score:3, Interesting)
Six word sentences can't say much.
Please rewind brain before returning body.
That's no alien, that's a man!
You get that thing I sent?
Mind comprehends perfect knowledge. Now what?
Buy OxLox: our air tastes better!
Great, now the moon wants royalties.
It was alive just now, I swear!
I could go on all day.
Re:I don't get it. (Score:4, Funny)
Have a nice day.
Besides, I know someone who won't even touch six words with a ten-feet pole and came up with two even shorter stories - one consisting of 4, another one consisting of five words - that became instant classics in world literature (well, oral culture, that is):
Story #1: Developers. DeVElopers. DeVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!!
Story #2: I. Love. This. Company. YEEEEE-HAAHH!!!
The best part is: both have already been turned into movies.
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Re:I don't get it. (Score:5, Funny)
Oh crap...
Seinfield? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I don't get it. (Score:4, Funny)
The lameness filter is the lamest.
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Sorry, but the one-worder has already been done. It's "42." :-)
Impossible Mission (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't get it. (Score:4, Interesting)
The Beginning. The Middle. The End.
and there you've got the whole story.
I was surprised that some of those stories are really good.
Ahem (Score:5, Funny)
hm.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:hm.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:karma (Score:3, Funny)
Oh god. (Score:5, Funny)
Slashdot: a place for one liners. (Score:2, Funny)
Here goes (Score:2)
Wife bought a Mac,
Now Vista sucks,
But Slashdot will love me.
Re:Here goes (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
No use, Still can't be understood.
Mine's an autobiography! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Mine's an autobiography! (Score:5, Funny)
Oh shit... (Score:5, Funny)
I was taught by the master. (Score:3, Funny)
My 2 cents (Score:5, Interesting)
Yawn. (Score:3, Funny)
Going to jail for that... (Score:5, Funny)
At $250,000 per violation, that will be One MILLION DOLLARS!
I'll be happy to accept the fine as proxy for Wired. Just to make things go smoothly, you understand, right?
Re:Going to jail for that... (Score:5, Funny)
Impeachment: It's not just for blowjobs.
Re:Going to jail for that... (Score:5, Funny)
"The baby's",
"The baby's blood",
"The baby's blood type?", or
"The baby's blood type? Human",
convey the brilliance which exists in the flow and structure of the whole story.
Also, they considered just quoting "The", but were afraid you'd confuse it an exceprt from another story by another author.
I suppose the closest you'd get, would be to quote "The baby...Human, mostly.", but that kinda ruins it by giving the ending away.
E.
Sure (Score:5, Funny)
One more word? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:One more word? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
"Poison; meditation; skiing; ants - nothing worked." -Edward Albee
Re:One more word? (Score:5, Funny)
It is really not that interesting (Score:4, Funny)
Re:It is really not that interesting (Score:5, Funny)
6w (Score:5, Funny)
Re:6w (Score:5, Interesting)
Wait, that one has been done before. Let me try again.
Protagonist and young tease conquer villain.
Drats, someone wrote that one too. Hmm, I better be original then:
Loss. Emptiness. Poignant cry: Future, why?
Regards,
--
*Art
Only 6? (Score:5, Funny)
And thanks for all the fish (Score:5, Funny)
6w2 (Score:4, Funny)
My son and I have been doing these... (Score:5, Funny)
The cow spoke.
I went vegetarian. {Prof. Jonathan}
Umm (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Umm (Score:5, Funny)
ew (Score:4, Insightful)
battle cry of the internet age (Score:5, Funny)
Ugh... (Score:5, Funny)
Ummmmm.... (Score:5, Interesting)
This Post... (Score:4, Funny)
Only 6 (Score:3, Informative)
This should be obvious... (Score:5, Funny)
No way! Too stupid. Next story. (Score:3, Funny)
mine (Score:3, Funny)
Good... (Score:5, Funny)
Ryan Fenton
Won the lottery (Score:5, Funny)
Failure to meet criteria. (Score:5, Funny)
gus
She was dead; it mattered not. (Score:5, Funny)
Can't Count (Score:5, Funny)
The best one... (Score:5, Interesting)
"In the room was the last person on Earth. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door."
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Actually, people are mistaken thinking that this is a short story that is published as such.
This is part of a story by Fredric Brown. The story is called "Knock", is eight or nine pages long, and it starts like this:
"There is a sweet little horror story that is only two sentences long: The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door... Two sentences and an ellipsis of three dots. The horror, of course, isn't in the story at all; it's in the ellipsis, the implication: what knocke
Ob. (Score:3, Funny)
And the longest is, "I do."
Re:The best one... (Score:4, Interesting)
Last man alive, someone just knocked.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Last man on Earth hears knock.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Essence of Slashdot (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Fun (Score:3, Funny)
Here are some: (Score:3, Interesting)
The sound waves still permeate us.
Sweat-stung eyes envision green landscapes.
The hair samples were conclusive: Sasquatch.
Unfortunately, the meds had undesirable side-effects. (is the hyphenated word cheating?)
It wasn't a gateway to Andromeda.
(this one should ring a bell, though not my line, obviously!)
My God... it's full of stars.
A story weirdly inappropriate for slashdot (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Panama (Score:5, Funny)
my attempt (Score:4, Funny)
/. Dupes (Score:3, Funny)
So that's why! (Score:5, Funny)
obligatory entry (Score:4, Funny)
Last words (Score:3, Funny)
Easier in German! (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, just got back from a beginner's German class.
kidney story (Score:3, Funny)
A favourite of Ernest Hemingway: (Score:3, Interesting)
"For Sale. Baby shoes. Never worn."
I think this is one of the saddest stories ever.
Then there's the world's shortest horror story: "The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door—"
And of course some science-fiction ones [everything2.com], courtesy of Everything2.
Cannibal says (Score:4, Funny)
My turn (Score:4, Funny)
Disintermediation
Xenophobia.
Six Word Story (Score:3, Insightful)
My feeble effort (Score:3, Funny)
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