D. loves this podcast/radio show on the CBC called Q. It's a daily show about arts/pop culture etc. hosted by this man named Jian and it does seem pretty cool. I've listened to a few specific things like this interview Jian did with Charlaine Harris last summer and another funny clip about how Facebook is affecting jury selection (both recommended by D.) I have no doubt I would really like Q and would enjoy listening to it on a regular basis. However, I already subscribe to so many podcasts and always have so many to listen to that I just feel I can't add another one. That may change though, because on March 1 Jian is doing a live Q show in Montreal, which D. and I are going to. So maybe after that I'll decide I like Q so much I need to subscribe.
Anyway, this is all just a very long introduction to say that the day we were buying tickets for the show, I was on the Q website and came across this post about a six word love story contest. I was struck by the Ernest Hemingway story: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn" and how apparently he claimed it was the best thing he ever wrote. Later that night, I told D. about all this and he showed me this Ted Talk all about six word stories. I guess they are this total thing I had never before known about. Anyway, if you like Ted Talks (I know L. does!) or are just curious, it's worth watching this one. It's pretty funny, although at times a little too clever. The guy giving the talk said that the claim that Hemingway liked that six word story best of all his writing is an urban legend. I take that view too because while Hemingway's little six word story is poignant, a lot of his other work is better. And I don't think that six words can adequately tell a story. Forcing something to be just six words necessarily limits what the writer can say, and leaves so much out. I'm sure proponents of six word stories would argue that they force writers to get at the essence of what they want to say. But I just feel like it forces people to try too hard to be funny or clever or cute or whatever. I would rather read a novel over a six word story any day.
That said, of course I couldn't resist trying out a few of my own after I learned about them. Here some of them are, in no particular order. They are most definitely not my best writing and most of them are pretty cheesy, if not downright cliched. (See number 3.) Number 4 is also so embarrassing but I did know someone for a while who had purple-ly bags under his eyes (it sounds weird but it was actually really attractive) and when I read Twilight and learned about Edward's purple eyes I kept thinking about the guy I knew with the purply eyes. I used to see him in the daytime though so I know for sure he wasn't a vampire. Anyway, here they are:
1. Goodbye on Bloor, no tears, yet.
2. Saw you, hid, wished I hadn’t.
3. After: cigarette passed back and forth.
4. Your purple vampire eyes stake me.
5. Found: one earring, under your bed.
6. Middle of night, tears for free.
Now for six words of closing: thank you for reading this post. :)
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