Use the 6 Word Memoir to Begin a Story

For the last few years, I’ve taught writing workshops to adults in memoir writing and short stories.  Most of my students are new to creative writing and come in feeling intimidated about being judged or expected to achieve more than they feel capable of managing in a weekend workshop.  As I listen to people’s concerns, one consistent worry I’ve heard is that writers have a hard time putting the first words on the page. 
 
It seems like those first words are particularly intimidating, but once they are down, then the rest of the story flows pretty well.  When teaching essay, article, and blog writing, I recommend that my students write the middle portion first then the introduction.  It lessens the heightened expectation that writers put on themselves to be perfect the first time around. 

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When first-time writers are breaking ground with their first stories, whether they are taking on a memoir story of childhood or a fiction short story, those first words can be the hardest.  But, one of the truisms of creativity is that novices borrow but professionals steal.  And stealing words from another source is a tool we can use to get our stories started.  If you are a first-time writer or if you need a bit of a booster, give this a try.  We are going to steal stories from another genre to use in our stories.

Brief Story or 6 Word Memoir
 
As the legend goes, a journalist asked Ernest Hemingway to write a story that could make a person cry with just six words.  In true Hemingway fashion, he responded with a challenge accepted bravado and wrote the first 6-word memoir.  Now, whether or not this story is historically accurate or not is unimportant to me, because it is such a great story that, I love it for the point it makes.  So, what was Hemingway’s 6-word memoir?
 
For sale: baby shoes, never worn. 
 
When you read that 6-word memoir, you a full sense of the story: it’s a missing childhood, shoes never used, an adult who missed out, or someone who never was a child and longed for maturity from a young age.   

The takeaway is that if we boil down what we want to say in just six words, then we have achieved a significant accomplishment, because we have communicated a full thought, a full story in a small amount of space.  Communicating so precisely with few words is a powerful way to begin a story.  Instead of explaining your setting or your character, begin your story with a 6-word memoir and start with a bang. 
 
Here are a few more examples to get you thinking:

• Three great kids.  One terrible accident. 
• Hard work. Low pay.  Still nothing. 
• Who was counting the calories anyway?
• I didn’t think this would happen.

 
With each of these 6 word memoirs, you can imagine the story that could unfold from them.  From “Three great kids.  One terrible accident,” the reader is instantly intrigued and wants to find out what happened.  What was the accident?  Was there an accident to one of the children?   What happened?  When you introduce a scenario that causes your reader to ask questions about what is going on, you have the reader hooked. 

How about the second example?  “Hard work.  Low pay.  Still nothing.”  After reading that line, the reader knows they will come across a story of struggle with little reward.  Struggle is a classic theme in memoirs, so this kind of story can pull your reader into your story right away.  The reader will hope for a happier ending but will be intrigued to know what happens in this unfolding tale. 
 
Another example is “Who was counting the calories anyway?”  I always imagine this as the first line for a chef’s memoir.  After reading this 6 word memoir, the reader will expect a story about the joy and pleasure of food rather than the tedious monotony of counting calories.  That kind of story pulls readers in right away. 
 
Finally, the 6 word memoir “I didn’t think this would happen” leaves the reader with questions.  The reader wants to know what happened.  What was the situation?  Who was involved?  How did things work out?  Anytime that you get your reader asking questions about the story, you have them engaged and will keep them reading.

I have seen the 6-word memoir used a couple of different ways, which may give writers more ideas on using this tool.  You can use it as the first line of a story.  Or you can use it as a transition between scenes, themes, or settings in a story.  Another idea is to use it as the title of chapters in a book.  If you need a way to start your story, try the 6 word memoir.  Anytime you use the 6 word memoir to capture your reader’s attention, you have a winning strategy from the start.
 
Try out this strategy with your next short story and see how it works for you.  Every technique doesn’t necessarily work every time, but when we try out different methods, we expand our skills and add more tools to our writer’s toolboxes.  And those can come in handy indeed when we are writing. 

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