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This story's just six words long - The online computery journal thingy of a turtle

Oct. 25th, 2006

06:59 pm - This story's just six words long

Wired Magazine has an article titled Very Short Stories: stories of only six words, written by 33 famous authors.

This article is a fun and quick read, and it got me thinking. First, I was reminded of Isaac Asimov's short story "Silly Asses", which I realized could easily be crunched down to six words:

"A-bomb tests on OWN PLANET? Dumbasses."

And then I came up with a six-word version of the entire Harry Potter series, including the not-yet-written seventh book:

Survived evil wizard. Kill him someday!

Ooo, I can also trim Arthur C. Clarke's 10-word story, thus:

God: "Cancel GENESIS.EXE." No more universe.

What other stories can be shortened to six words (or fewer)?

Current Mood: calm

calm

terse

Current Music: Weird Al - (This Song's Just) Six Words Long

(23 comments | Leave a comment)

Comments:

From:	electronin
Date:	October 26th, 2006 12:40 am (UTC)

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Dune series:
Complicated outer space desert planet wars.

Hell's Angels(Hunter Thompson):
Nosy writer got stomped by bikers.

The Master Key(l. Frank baum):
Humanity isn't ready for imaginary gadgets.

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From:	bluerain
Date:	October 26th, 2006 12:46 am (UTC)

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Guess what this one is?

"Holden Caulfield sulks around New York."

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From:	wolflahti
Date:	October 26th, 2006 12:59 am (UTC)

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Gatsby had a fairly good day.

Sauron rose and fell. Bad ring!

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From:	patcat
Date:	October 26th, 2006 01:07 am (UTC)

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"Whitewashed a fence?" Soon, all were.

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From:	rogerirrelevant
Date:	October 26th, 2006 01:23 am (UTC)

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Lolita:
"She's a bit young, isn't she?"

George's Marvellous Medicine:
"Poisoned grandmothers grow large then disappear"

Fight Club:
"Bish bash wallop punch smack wibble"

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From:	masem
Date:	October 26th, 2006 02:15 am (UTC)

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Blown-up Earth? See the universe!

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From:	patcat
Date:	October 26th, 2006 02:44 am (UTC)

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Bastion, once upon a time there

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From:	halfelf
Date:	October 26th, 2006 02:46 am (UTC)

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Three siblings face numerous perils, cry. (Series of Unfortunate Events)

Jesus was human after all too! (DaVinci Code)

Virus clears battleground; good versus evil. (The Stand)

Searching for what's inside takes time. (Wizard of Oz)

(Reply) (Thread)

From:	bassfingers
Date:	October 26th, 2006 02:55 am (UTC)

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I used to do similar, but shorter, at Four Word Film Review.

Some of my old ones:

"The Loin King" (Tarzan)
"Swine Trek: First Contact" (Muppets From Space)
"Shaved By the Belle" (Beauty & the Beast)

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From:	bassfingers
Date:	October 26th, 2006 02:59 am (UTC)

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And my favorite from there (not mine)

"Icy dead people." (Titanic)

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From:	darksasami
Date:	October 26th, 2006 03:08 am (UTC)

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Let's see, how 'bout "Fahrenheit 451?"

Burn books! Wait, no, memorize them.

Too easy. How about "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid:"

Herptile confounds Achilles, brandishing syntactic jigsaws.

Shoot, now that I'm on Hofstadter I have to:

Translate: "Girl, / sick; / recover; / nosh, / girl!"

(Reply) (Thread)

From:	deckardcanine
Date:	October 26th, 2006 03:22 am (UTC)

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I could do this with plays:

Prince avenges dad; many more die.

Forbidden lovers get confused, kill themselves. (Actually, this could apply to more than one play I know.)

Men going by Ernest get girls.

Two bums wait endlessly for savior.

French diplomat falls for Chinese... actress?

Mephistopholis betrays warlock with conflicted conscience.

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From:	thecanuckguy
Date:	October 26th, 2006 03:28 am (UTC)

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My two favourite books (hint, both are by George Orwell:)

Animals eject humans, run farm.

Lies are truth, government wins.

(And yes, I deliberately was shooting for UNDER six words.)

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From:	darksasami
Date:	October 26th, 2006 03:33 am (UTC)

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I thought about doing Animal Farm, but your condensation really needs that one more word.

Animals eject humans, run farm identically.

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From:	nefaria
Date:	October 26th, 2006 04:47 am (UTC)

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Tolkien's masterpiece, Readers Digest condensed version:
Melt ring most convoluted way possible.

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From:	darksasami
Date:	October 26th, 2006 05:14 am (UTC)

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Whereas

wolflahti's didn't, this makes me think of:

Liquify ringlet; utilize hardest earthly methods.

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From:	kinkyturtle
Date:	October 26th, 2006 06:09 am (UTC)

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Hahahah! Perfect!

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From:	klepsydra
Date:	October 26th, 2006 06:10 am (UTC)

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"Silly Asses" by Asimov, not Bradbury.

(There, six words. :p)

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From:	kinkyturtle
Date:	October 26th, 2006 07:04 am (UTC)

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Coulda sworn it was Bradbury. Edited.

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From:	fionacat
Date:	October 26th, 2006 08:16 am (UTC)

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Car crash, legs broke, forced writing.

Porcine trio, straw, wood, bricks. 2/3 dead.

Space virus arrives, kills, mutates, harmless.

Two Italians, love. Familes hate. Death.

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(no subject) -

haystack (Expand)

From:	octan
Date:	October 26th, 2006 12:56 pm (UTC)

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(stolen from a TV sketch)

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway: Old guy goes after big fish.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville: Buncha guys go after big fish.

Jaws by Peter Benchley: Big fish goes after buncha guys.

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From:	ajoreilly
Date:	October 26th, 2006 04:19 pm (UTC)

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Sideways Stories from Wayside School: Blueprints, turned quarterwise, make school kooky. (I didn't even like this book all that much.)

Maniac Magee: Transient kid unites city, homers amphibian.

Circuit of Heaven: Love in the Matrix; furry servants.

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