Ernest Hemingway once said his best work was a story he wrote in just six words: ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’, this being the most famous example of breathtaking brevity coupled with brilliant imagery.
In a similar vein, our Creative Director James recently set us our weekly creative challenge.
We were each asked to compose a six-word story and he gave us precisely two minutes to do it. The heat was on!
Some of us stared blankly ahead (clearly attempting to assemble our thoughts into some kind of cohesiveness.) whilst others immediately moved their pens hurriedly across the page.
Oh no, someone had already written two…..what to do? I know, write what you know, something familiar. Think! Aha! Got it!
I had recently had an “escape of water” at home (….. in other words….a flood) so my story went something like this: “Broken toilet. Water everywhere. Crossed legs!”
I particularly liked Hakim’s humorous example: “Venison is deer, isn’t it?”
It was a really fun exercise to carry out and we look forward to being stimulated by the next creative challenge which, knowing James, will be brilliant!
Contemporary authors have been challenged similarly by the six-word story format, though there are also a series of books featuring both famous and obscure writers.
Here is a selection of some of my favourites:
See that shadow? (It’s not yours.)
Jim Crace
Humorous book: critic died laughing. Sued.
Alexander McCall Smith
Megan’s baby: John’s surname, Jim’s eyes.
Simon Armitage
In the end, everything simply began.
Ali Smith
It was a dark, stormy… aaaaargggh!
John Lanchester
Drinking alone, curtains drawn… he smiled.
“I’m a writer.” He lied easily.
His bald spot stole the show.
Iain Murdoch
I wrote it all down somewhere.
Found true love. Married someone else.
Met online; love before first sight.
According to Facebook, we broke up.
If we are to subscribe to the concept that “in advertising, it’s not so much what information your words communicate to the prospect, but what experiences they call forth from the prospect”.
What images and associations does your copy bring to life in the imagination? And how many words does it take to create these images? Can you condense your core message into a power-packed six words?
Have a go………. it’s a really interesting exercise.
Debbie Lewis is a Customer Support Executive at Happy Creative, a full service marketing and creative agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk
