Just a few words

Twice today, people have remarked that my blog looks very sad and neglected. I know. Same story as my friends, my diary. Words are not as plentiful as one might think, and I am using them all for my chapters. They are being torn from me, very slowly and painfully. I don't even twitter, and that doesn't use up many words. Less words.

A long time ago, I read an issue of Wired about very short fiction. Shorter than Twitter, shorter than a haiku. In short, it is best illustrated by the first attempt at the genre by Hemingway:

"For sale: baby shoes, never used."

Here are a few more by famous - or less famous - people:


Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so. - Joss Whedon

Longed for him. Got him. Shit. - Margaret Atwood

Wasted day. Wasted life. Dessert, please. - Steven Meretzky

It’s behind you! Hurry before it - Rockne S. O’Bannon

In 2006, SMITH magazine organised a contest of six-word memoirs, which then became a book, and t-shirts, and a website again where anyone can leave life-stories told in six words. Some are well-crafted, others more therapeutic maybe, reminiscent of PostSecrets.

Or I could try Twitterature. Some of it seems similar to SMS novels in Japan, a short message serialization of a work of fiction. Some are standalone, just very short stories, like the 140 character Twisters created by Arjunbasu. I like this one:

They will not ask for directions. Because they are men. And so their planned wild weekend becomes two days of contemplation at the monestary