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If You Could Write a Memoir in Six Words, What Would It Say? [VIDEO]

Posted by Larry Smith, SMITH Magazine at 12:01 PM on February 8, 2008.


When the online storytelling magazine SMITH asked readers to submit six-word memoirs, it proved that a whole, real life can be told this way too.
Six Word Memoir

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When Ernest Hemingway famously wrote, "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn," he proved that an entire story can be told using a half dozen words. When the online storytelling magazine SMITH asked readers to submit six-word memoirs, it proved that a whole, real life can be told this way too.

From small sagas of bittersweet romance ("Found true love, married someone else") to proud achievements and stinging regrets ("After Harvard, had baby with crackhead"), these terse true tales relate the diversity of human experience in just a half-dozen well-chosen words. We're proud to present this trailer, a sampler showing that from bestselling authors like Dave Eggers and Stephen Colbert to the "slightly psychotic, in a good way" girl next door, everyone has a six-word story to tell.

You can submit your own six-word life story at www.sixwordmemoir.com and be considered for SMITH Mag's next book. And if anyone ever wonders whether you've got a short, short life story, you can make like mini-memoirist Joe Lockhart and reply: "Asked and answered, Asshole, next question."

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Tagged as: books

Larry Smith is the founder and editor-in-chief of SMITH magazine


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View:
here are six words
Posted by: Sapator J Cleck on Feb 8, 2008 4:58 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Nine-Eleven Was An Inside Job!

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6 words
Posted by: bugs1946 on Feb 9, 2008 3:57 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
George Dubya Bush is no Christian...

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six explanatory words
Posted by: Suzon on Feb 9, 2008 4:52 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Ill-gotten gains defended at any cost.

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The Big Raven says
Posted by: The Big Raven on Feb 9, 2008 6:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Thanks for all the great laughs

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Solution
Posted by: Jack Saturday on Feb 9, 2008 7:37 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A Guaranteed Livable Income For All

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johncc
Posted by: johncc on Feb 9, 2008 7:47 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Good stories aren't helped by pictures.

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» RE: johncc Posted by: Quannah
» RE: a related story Posted by: davidg
To solve most of our problems
Posted by: Doubtom on Feb 9, 2008 7:47 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My one wish, eradicate all ignorance!

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But with Complex Severe PTSD
Posted by: Prairie Waif on Feb 9, 2008 8:38 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Family tried to kill, I lived.

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gentlewoman
Posted by: lokicat on Feb 9, 2008 8:39 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
gave love, sought to serve others

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» RE: gentlewoman Posted by: PeaceLove
Not really stories
Posted by: tenzing on Feb 9, 2008 12:25 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Few of those contributions really told stories, as Hemingway's did, brilliantly--most were statements without narrative or the hint of narrative--but I enjoyed the premise and was reminded of a haiku by Richard Wright ("Native Son," Black Boy") that in 14 words and 17 syllables told a very poignant story with brilliance equal to, and maybe surpassing, Hemingway's 6-word story:

Suddenly one spring
She did not skip any more,
And her eyes grew grave.

--from HAIKU: This Other World by Richard Wright; the poem should be centered but I couldn't do that here.

Here's my own 6-word effort, which I'll dedicate to Bill O'Reilly (yes, I'm a war vet):

found myself living under a bridge

Peace.

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Here's mine...
Posted by: Quannah on Feb 9, 2008 3:07 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Life before Bush... I can't remember.

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peace
Posted by: davidg on Feb 9, 2008 3:13 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Didn't hurt anyone; smiled, walked away.

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thegodmurders.com
Posted by: Gary DeVaney on Feb 9, 2008 3:43 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Judeo-Christian-Islamic God / Allah not a good God

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» RE: thegodmurders.com Posted by: Quannah
yup
Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line on Feb 9, 2008 4:11 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
farming, kicking ass and taking names!

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Dog
Posted by: bobhume on Feb 9, 2008 5:35 PM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This is an old chinese saying:

Dog no Stone
Stone no Dog.

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6
Posted by: Aleksonder on Feb 9, 2008 5:41 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
tender heart finally healed helping others

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bookie
Posted by: bookie on Feb 9, 2008 9:35 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
broken body, loving heart, peaceful mind

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6 words
Posted by: luckypuck on Feb 9, 2008 11:50 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I came, I saw, I'm amazed.

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six word memoir and two word summary
Posted by: blondesprite on Feb 10, 2008 6:09 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Sunshine,
blonde heads
and black asses.

In two words, civil rights.

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» Black Asses Posted by: Prairie Waif
» RE: Black Asses Posted by: blondesprite
TIME TO TAKE BACK MY AMERICA
Posted by: AMERICAN VETERAN on Feb 10, 2008 7:34 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
ALSO

"I want the benefits congress has"

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Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six mots...
Posted by: morticia on Feb 10, 2008 10:20 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
How much is that doggy innuendo?

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6
Posted by: UnEasyOne on Feb 11, 2008 12:59 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Lived hard, outlived usefulness, don't care.

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6
Posted by: kelston on Feb 15, 2008 9:21 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Frequently old enough to know better.

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my life continuing...
Posted by: jrh1 on Feb 17, 2008 3:26 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
bitter sweet beginnings
Mystery marches on.....the seer

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