The Rambling Story Part 2: Six Word Memoirs

December 18, 2009 at 10:09 am katemorgan1 Leave a comment

Yesterday I talked about not being a rambling writer and instead focusing on being concise. Today I want to extend that thought and present you with a challenge – write your life story in six words. Sound impossible? It’s probably easier than you think.

I first heard about six word memoirs from a story on NPR about a year ago. Apparently, it all started when Ernest Hemingway was once asked to write a short story in six words. His famous six words were: For sale: baby shoes, never worn. Intriguing? Yes, I think so. A glimpse into his life? Definitely.

Telling a powerful story or giving a glimpse like Hemingway did is the whole point of six-word memoirs. Larry Smith, founder of the online SMITH magazine, took the idea of short storytelling to the masses in 2006 when he started asking famous and not famous people to post their memoirs on his Web site, smithmag.net (a precursor to Twitter perhaps?). He eventually took the best posts and put them in a book – Not Quite What I Was Planning – which ended up on the New York Times bestseller list. Two “sequels” Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak and I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous and Obscure have since been released.

Now that you have some background on what six-word memoirs are, my question to you is, could you write your life story in six words? Could you sum up the plotline of your book in six words? I challenge you to try. Take a few moments, think about your life, think about your book, play with some words and see what you get.

In an interview with School Library Journal, Rachel Fershleiser, editor/curator of SMITH magazine offered some tips for writing great six-word memoirs.

Be specific
Be honest
Forget the thesaurus – choose interesting words that come naturally to you
Use your speaking voice
Experiment with structure – one statement vs. six separate ones, two three-word sentences, etc.
Stop trying too hard – just start scribbling and see what happens!
(Read the full interview at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6678973.html)

And, in case you’re still stuck, here are some six-word memoirs to get you started:

Be patient with me. I grow
Build my coffin out of books.
Doing everything in my life backwards.
Muddled through. Broke even. Future hopeful!
Tell me, who should I be?
*Taken from www.smithmag.net – the original home of six word memoirs.

We’d love to read what you come up with to describe your life or your book or both. Post them in the comment section below.

Happy writing all day every day,

Kate

Entry filed under: Uncategorized, Writing. Tags: concise writing, six-word memoirs.

The Rambling Story Part 1: Why rambling is bad for your book and what you can do about it so your book doesn’t go on and on and on… A Writer’s Friend: Brainstorming

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Imagine a setting or situation in which you would be an outsider. Say it’s your first day learning karate and the rest of your class are black belts. Or perhaps you find yourself smack dab in the middle of an NRA conference and you adamantly oppose firearms. How would you react? How would you feel? Being an outsider can often provide the perfect springboard into your character’s mentalities as well as an objective viewpoint that can be used to describe settings more naturally. (2/4/11)

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When it comes to writing, seeing isn’t always believing. Next time you find yourself in front of your keyboard about to begin another piece, try closing your eyes and typing. Imagine the setting, characters, thoughts and emotions you’re trying to capture and start writing without opening your eyes. Just the look of a sentence can often disrupt your flow or rhythm, and rereading what you’ve already written will not only slow you down, but upset your train of thought as well. (2/4/11)

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