The 6-Word Memoir

This challenge has ended!

So this was recently an assignment in my AP Composition class, and I wanted to see what the people here could do with it.

The challenge is this – write your life story, a part of it, or something about who you are in just 6 words. (It probably won’t meet the minimum character requirement, so add a bunch of ellipsis at the end or something, I don’t know.)

Ernest Hemingway was the first to come up with this, being the master of condensed prose. His memoir: For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.

Some anonymous examples:

Born sane. Went crazy. Found peace.

Sun rises. Sun sets. Keep hoping.

Was born. Will die. That’s life.

Love feels good, but heartbreak hurts.

That hurt, but I’ll keep going.

You have…two weeks.

  • Started January 25th, 2010.
  • Ended February 7th, 2010.
  • Created by someday_93

Think you have what it takes to accept this challenge?

Participate

Challenge has ended

Thanks for participating!

The winner of this challenge is:

Same Thing Different Name

Author: peritales

Discussion

  1. Avatar someday_93

    *amazed. I was just amazed =]

  2. Avatar someday_93

    Okay, so I was totally overwhelmed just by the number of entries to this challenge. Of course, they were all fairly short =]

    In third place is Paige Elizabeth’s P is for… – bonus points for being an acrostic poem of her name, as well as an excellent summary of a character, for which I had to break out the dictionary! (Well, dictionary.com)

    In second place is PJ Dean’s Hate to sound cliche but this is my life… for it’s striking vulnerability, and the trust it shows. Almost heartbreaking but universal, true for almost all of it. And it rhymed, whether intentional or not, and that made me happy =]

    And, of course, in first place peritales’ Same Thing Different Name, which I think more than any entry truly told the story of an entire life in six words, while also leaving us to question exactly what it means.

    Thanks to all who entered, I really liked learning bits about you, and like I said, I was just amazing at how many entries this challenge received!

    ~someday_93

  3. Avatar someday_93

    Oh. My. Goodness…this is way more that I expected! I have no idea how I’m going to judge this one, there are so many!

  4. Avatar Paige Elizabeth

    A hit!

  5. Avatar someday_93

    Oh my goodness look at them all…

  6. Avatar Abby Wall (LoA)

    Nice idea!

Want to join in the fun? Of course you do!

Sign in to add your two cents.

The Ficly matchbox

This challenge (like all challenges on Ficly) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. What does this mean?

Participants

  • kaellinn18
  • Racing
  • Kellyoko
  • Sam Ervin
  • Marli
  • stargazer1960
  • Mr.Gabriel
  • Wolfie
  • Horrorfan13
  • Abby Wall (LoA)
  • Jenni Summers
  • Chrys W
  • Hobohemian
  • PJ (Jae) [[LoA]]
  • peritales
  • Paige Elizabeth
  • Heather Rebellina x
  • Browncoatben
  • See More
  • Gradual Uprising {LoA}
  • Quinn
  • Charlie K