“Say It All in Six Words”by Lizzie Widdicombe The New Yorker, February 25, 2008 Every single sentence six words long! Brilliant. |
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Brevity: a good thing in writing. Exploited by texters, gossip columnists, haikuists. Not associated with the biography genre. But then—why shouldn’t it be? Life expectancies rise; attention spans shrink. Six words can tell a story. That’s a new book’s premise, anyway. “Not Quite What I Was Planning.” A compilation of teeny tiny memoirs. The forebear, it’s assumed, is Hemingway. (Legend: he wrote a miniature masterpiece. “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Slightly sappy, but a decent sixer.) Say It All in Six Words.pdf or Say It All in Six Words.doc versions of this article. |
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“As an autobiographical challenge, the six-word limitation forces us to pinpoint who we are and what matters most — at least in the moment. The constraint fuels rather than limits our creativity.” -- Larry Smith |
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Videos “Told You I’d Be Published Someday: The Story of the Six-Word Memoir Project” Introduction to Assignment -- Teen Memoirs -- I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets Six Tips for Writing Six-Word Memoirs Best Sites
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Specific Books
I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets
Articles CBS News, “Six-Word Memoirs Can Say It All” -- February 26, 2008. Overview of project. TED Conversation: “Life, in six words: Highlights from our chat with Larry Smith.” NPR Six-Word Memoirs: Life Stories Distillled -- February 7, 2008. Includes audio. PowellsBooks.Blog “The Joy of Six” -- January 29, 2010. Discussion of success of form, with links to several videos. Wired, “Very Short Stories” -- (Issue 14.11 - November 2006) 33+ science fictioon versions. Washington Post “Through Children’s Eyes” -- illustrated versions by young children. |
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My Process My process -- I begin the project by showing the introductory video above. Then I show my PowerPoint Directions. I ask them to use a very simple template posted in Google Docs so that there is a consistency of picture size, font, etc. You may choose to let your students have more freedom with design. My Assignment Handout -- One Page I also have a longer PowerPoint of Examples which can be useful if students need more ideas. It also includes directions, blank slides, etc.
Online Six Words website from Smith magazine includes inspiration in multiple categories and a place to share. You can also sign up for a daily email. |
Samples My PowerPoint Examples -- All slides created by former students and fellow teachers over the years. Just some of my favorites. Mr. Wright’s Creative Writing Class -- Each student designed an individual slide in an individual style. Kind of quirky but very creative. O Magazine Mini-Memoirs -- Including Oprah’s. Handouts
Novel Six-Word Memoir -- Adapted as a book project, students write Six-Word Memoirs for the protagonist, the antogonist, and the plot. Historical Six-Word Memoir -- Students write and illustrate a Six-Word Memoir for a historical figure. Would also work well for a biography book report. Stole idea from Glenn Wiebe’s blog post. Short Assignment Handout -- Two-pages inclusive, would work for elementary classes as well. (Ledbetter) |
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Quotes “If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.” “Every piece of writing, no matter how flat and useful, is a crowd of stories, and each of them is a sentence. Every sentence tells a tale: it names someone (or something) and tells you something about them - what they did; what they are; or what happened to them.” |
Six-Word Mini-Poster
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Updated 24 February 2021.