Write a novel in 6 words
Tuesday, February 12th by CarlaDescribe your life in six words!
That’s the premise Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser work with in a recent article in the LA Times. They recount the famous Ernest Hemingway tale, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Hemingway’s piece, of course, was fiction. Smith and Fershleiser invite readers to submit autobiography. You can read some of the models at their site. (My favorite is by Jancee Dunn: “ABCs MTV SATs THC IRA NPR.”)
I could see a creative writing class working on this, and it would certainly encourage students to be concise. I could also see it as a book report (write Jay Gatsby’s life story in six words) or as a prewriting task before a character analysis. It might ask too much of very young writers, but should work well with high school and older.
If you try this, let me know how it works!
February 12th, 2008 at 5:33 am
Carla- I blogged about this here at eNotes just a few days ago. I like your take on doing it as a book report, too! Check out my entry and some of the responses:
http://www.enotes.com/blogs/book-blog/2008-02/your-life-in-six-words/
May 21st, 2008 at 11:59 am
I taught Hemingway this week and assigned a six word novel. I didn’t make it about their own life, but tried to get them to write six words that conveys a story with so much meaning like the baby shoes. It was a huge success. I teach lower level juniors and they got pretty excited about a 6 word homework assignment. Most thought it would be easy when they started. I gave them two days to get a really good one and then we read them aloud in class and picked the best one in each period. Here are the winners:
Cherell K. - Music is playing but nobody’s listening.
Marcea S. - She lost her soul to him.
Thanks for the idea!
May 21st, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Mark, I’m delighted to hear that it worked well with your students! Sometimes we think the cool creative assignments only work with upper level kids — good for you for letting all of your students try the challenge!
Carla