Extreme Short Stories
The November 2006 issue of Wired Magazine includes an interesting feature
on extremely short stories. Specifically, they asked a bunch of writers to come up
with striking "stories" in only 6 words. The lineup of writers included prominent science
fiction and fantasy writers such as David Brin, Charles Stross, Neil Gaiman and others, as well
as screen writers (Joss Whedon) and graphic novel writers (Alan Moore, Frank Miller and
Howard Chaykin).
Surprisingly, some of the stories were quite striking. With this length, the goal
seems to be to craft a phrase that, upon reflection, has a host of potential ramifications.
Now, I thought this was an interesting challenge, so I decided to try my hand
at it. Here are some of the extreme stories that I came up with.
The moon shone like the sun.
If you're a science fiction fan, there are some fairly obvious ramifications
to this story. First, it's night time. Second, the moon shines by reflected light, so the only
way the moon can shine as bright as the sun is if it suddenly receives a LOT more light, like
from a super nova. Third, if the energy from a super nova has begun to hit the opposite side
of the Earth, then you'll probably be dead by dawn if not sooner.
Silently, the stars all went out.
What could make all of the stars go out? The end of the universe? Or something
else?
Hungrily, I tracked down my murderer.
The idea of being able to track down your murderer is interesting, particularly
since you're dead. Maybe the protagonist is a vampire? Anyway you look at it, somebody's got
trouble on his trail.
Danger detected. Terminate autonomous wetware units.
This looks like the Terminator scenario, where the computer wakes up and
decides that humanity needs to be exterminated.
So, there you have it. Four examples of extreme short stories in only 6 words
each. It's definitely a fun writing exercise, but I doubt there's much of a market for these
stories. After all, at a rate of 5 cents a word, you'll need to write a lot of these to make a
living.
Note: Author Will McCarthy was one of the contributors to the Wired
article on extreme short stories. He revealed that the authors were paid
$20 for their 6-word stories. Still, I don't believe that there's a large market for
these types of stories. — Sep 1, 2007
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