One of the first subjects I completed in my ongoing Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing was Short Story B with Margaret McCarthy. In this class, Margaret introduced us to a variety of short story forms including the ‘six word story’.
How hard can it be to put together six words, right? Wrong!
Those six words need to convey all the elements of a good story—character, mood, setting, theme and plot—while having a definite beginning, middle and end, and using a style that shows rather than tells. Phew!
After the original discussion in class, I scoured the internet for six word stories and found a few sites dedicated to the form and hundreds of great examples. My favourites include:
Found true love. Married someone else. —Dave Eggers
Blind date. Wrong restaurant. Missed destiny. —Clare Hill
Dad called: DNA back: he isn’t. —Helen Fielding
“Apple?” “No.” “Taste!” “ADAM?” Oh God. —David Lodge
Megan’s baby: John’s surname, Jim’s eyes. —Simon Armitage
Every single sight mentions Ernest Hemmingway and his belief the best story he ever wrote contained only six words:
‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’
While new clothes frequently get lost in my children’s cupboards until they are outgrown, I think Hemmingway is alluding that something happened to the baby. The voice is that of an advertisement and hints the author needs the money and is ready to move on from whatever happened. I might be thinking about this too hard, but my reasoning shows those six words imply a much greater story and, more importantly, create a taking point for readers and writers alike.
Over the next week or so, I created more than 50 six word stories of my own; I just couldn’t help myself. I recently submitted my best to Platform Magazine, who commissioned 13 for their 10th, and current, issue. If you’d like an electronic copy of Platform (it’s free!), please email me at emanuelcachia@bigpond.com . You can also pick up a hardcopy at Victoria University’s St Albans campus or one of the Rotunda in the West events.
I’d love to know what you think of the stories and welcome you to post your own.
Thanks for visiting,
Emanuel
Below, in no particular order, are links to the major Australian literary journals and magazines currently accepting submissions, and a little information on each. I've only included those that are reasonably well-known and feature at least two pieces of unsolicited fiction per issue.
"Known primarily as a literary magazine, Meanjin reflect[s] the breadth of contemporary thinking, be it on literature, other art forms, or the broader issues of the times."
Description: "Overland, the most radical of Australia’s long-standing literary and cultural magazines, celebrated its 50th year in 2004. Publishing features, fiction, poetry, reviews, comment, artwork and opinion pieces. Overland is committed to engaging with important literary, cultural and political issues in contemporary Australia. It has a tradition of publishing dissenting articles with a political and cultural focus." 
Description: "Wet Ink is put together by a passionate team of writers and a designer who decided to do something about the lack of opportunities for writers to publish their short works and readers to access them. Inside each issue you’ll find fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction, interviews, photography, book reviews and more. It’s the place to discover some of today’s best up-and-coming talent, as well as new works by established authors." 
Description: "Griffith REVIEW has a proud tradition of creating space for new and emerging writers. [It] is written with intelligent, well-informed and curious readers in mind."
Description: "The Lifted Brow is a bimonthly magazine based in Melbourne. Every two months, the Brow publishes fiction, art, comics, and commentary on everything from maths to celebrity to design. It’s just meant to be fun and smart."
Description: "A bi-annual literary journal ... particularly interested in the work of contemporary Asian, Australian and Indigenous writers."