xkcd

Forums for the webcomic xkcd.com

Skip to content

Very Short Stories

Things that don't belong anywhere else. (Check first).

Moderators: Moderators General, Prelates, Magistrates

Post a reply

Very Short Stories

Postby synaesthesia » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:06 am UTC

Recently I discovered a brilliant activity that involves writing short stories in six words. So, I decided I would put the creative and language skills of the XKCDers to the test. Try to tell a story in only 6 words, no more, no less...five, is right out, etc.

A few examples...
"You survived. I didn't. Who's narrating?"

She was sultry. I was horny.

"Purple sleeps loudly."
"It's dysphasia."
"Tramway."

He tried; the world moved on.

From famous people:
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
- Ernest Hemingway

Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket.
- William Shatner

With bloody hands, I say good-bye.
- Frank Miller

Try not to simply write six-word sentences, rather than actual stories. Attempt a plot. Well, maybe not a plot, but at least the implication of an event or some sort of occurence, characters or character development, etc. Enjoy :D
Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.
User avatar
synaesthesia
 
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2006 11:24 pm UTC
Location: La La Land
Top

Postby Peshmerga » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:18 am UTC

Roar with me.
We must change.
i hurd u liek mudkips???
User avatar
Peshmerga
Mad Hatter
 
Posts: 2061
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 1:56 am UTC
Top

Postby mwace » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:22 am UTC

You're parents say you're an accident.

Used to kill kittens. Upgraded girlfriend.

Server is empty. Now watching televsion.

America seeking qualified president, know constitution.


(This is fun!)
mwace
 
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:28 pm UTC
Top

Postby fletch44 » Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:05 pm UTC

Chimney smells bad. Child sweep missing.
fletch44
 
Posts: 40
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:43 pm UTC
Top

Postby Verysillyman » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:18 pm UTC

Writers block. Story comes out bad.
User avatar
Verysillyman
"Do me! Do me!"
 
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:25 am UTC
Location: Drinks Cabinet.
Top

Postby Twasbrillig » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:18 pm UTC

Guy.

Hates Evil.

PLOT TWIST (ZOMG.)

Wtf?!
I want to have Bakemaster's babies. It's possible, with science.

I wonder if you can see...
...what is wrong with my signature?

wing wrote:I'm sorry... But that was THE funniest thing I've ever read on the interbutts.
User avatar
Twasbrillig
Tawsbirlig
 
Posts: 1941
Joined: Mon Nov 20, 2006 5:50 am UTC
Location: British Columbia
Top

Postby thomasjmaccoll » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:27 pm UTC

why not here? oh, killed?! SUSAN?!
slow down, you move too fast
User avatar
thomasjmaccoll
 
Posts: 541
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:27 pm UTC
Location: cupar, fife, scotland
Top

Postby Verysillyman » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:28 pm UTC

He could not find his glasses.
User avatar
Verysillyman
"Do me! Do me!"
 
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:25 am UTC
Location: Drinks Cabinet.
Top

Postby Mix » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:32 pm UTC

Lady Luck smiles as lightning strikes.

Empty cookie jar. My stomach hurts.

Weatherman: A butterfly flapped its wings.

Flashes of light, a broken mirror.

My coffeemaker is dead, I weep.

It was a miracle, I'm sure.

And then the music stopped again.

Gone, for once and for all.
"This solvent-soaked rag opens my mind to startling insights."
-from here

Don't Click
User avatar
Mix
 
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2006 6:00 pm UTC
Location: Avalon
Top

Postby Narsil » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:33 pm UTC

What he lacked in brains, he made up with others'.
(Damn I couldn't cut this one down.)

Death was just a hurdle for him.
(closer, not quite)

"Cross?"
"Check."
"Garlic?"
"Check."
"Silver Bullets?"
"......"
Spoiler:
EsotericWombat wrote:MORE JUNK THAN YOUR BODY HAS ROOM FOR

Mother Superior wrote:What's he got that I dont?
*sees Narsil's sig*
Oh... that.
User avatar
Narsil
Ask me about my junk!
 
Posts: 2994
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:59 pm UTC
Location: Columbus.
Top

Postby Oort » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:24 pm UTC

He was a waste of carbon.

Former artist now just watches movies.

Buffy stole a year of television. (dang, it didn't work. The idea was that I watched the entire show, and it stole many hours of my life.)

Hulking monster seeks strong, reanimated woman.

Whos is cool? I'll never understand.
User avatar
Oort
 
Posts: 522
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:18 pm UTC
Top

Postby Peshmerga » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:28 pm UTC

Who's on first base? Who is!
i hurd u liek mudkips???
User avatar
Peshmerga
Mad Hatter
 
Posts: 2061
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 1:56 am UTC
Top

Postby Oort » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:32 pm UTC

I'm a fan of all seven.

What is love? Baby don't hurt me.

Giant squid found.What happens now?
User avatar
Oort
 
Posts: 522
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:18 pm UTC
Top

Postby fletch44 » Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:01 pm UTC

Peshmerga wrote:Who's on first base? Who is!


What's on first? He's on second!
fletch44
 
Posts: 40
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:43 pm UTC
Top

Postby Twasbrillig » Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:57 pm UTC

No more of those jokes, children. ^^^^



Guy. Big brother. Tortured. Girl dies.
I want to have Bakemaster's babies. It's possible, with science.

I wonder if you can see...
...what is wrong with my signature?

wing wrote:I'm sorry... But that was THE funniest thing I've ever read on the interbutts.
User avatar
Twasbrillig
Tawsbirlig
 
Posts: 1941
Joined: Mon Nov 20, 2006 5:50 am UTC
Location: British Columbia
Top

Postby Peshmerga » Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:03 am UTC

Oh that was very original, Twasbrillig.
i hurd u liek mudkips???
User avatar
Peshmerga
Mad Hatter
 
Posts: 2061
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 1:56 am UTC
Top

Postby German Sausage » Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:12 am UTC

He was so ugly, everybody died
User avatar
German Sausage
3 of 5
 
Posts: 2933
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:45 am UTC
Top

Postby SpitValve » Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:52 am UTC

Woke
Ate
Bored
Ate
Bored
Slept
User avatar
SpitValve
Not a mod.
 
Posts: 5102
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:51 am UTC
Location: Kiwi in Canada
Top

Postby Kin » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:36 am UTC

No one watched, Big Brother won.
User avatar
Kin
 
Posts: 141
Joined: Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:54 am UTC
Top

Postby Nomic » Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:13 pm UTC

The world is ending. Nobody cares.
User avatar
Nomic
 
Posts: 542
Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:29 pm UTC
Location: Gibbering in the corner
Top

Postby digitrev » Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:24 pm UTC

What now? The world ends. Shit.
Together we will make the octopus nervous.
Image
User avatar
digitrev
 
Posts: 123
Joined: Fri Dec 15, 2006 10:22 pm UTC
Location: Ontario, Canada
Top

Postby mwace » Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:55 pm UTC

BRAAAIIINNS! BRAAAIIIIIIINS!!! BRAAAAAIIIINS!! BRAAAIIIIINNNNS!!! BRAAAIIIINNNNNS!! BRAAAIIIIIIINNNNSSS!!!!
mwace
 
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:28 pm UTC
Top

Postby Verysillyman » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:01 pm UTC

i'm sure i nearly bought a book of these. They were mostly famous stories compressed. Like pride and prejudice.

Oh and to stick strictly to topic:

Man in bookstore. Doesn't buy anything.
User avatar
Verysillyman
"Do me! Do me!"
 
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:25 am UTC
Location: Drinks Cabinet.
Top

Postby rockintom99 » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:18 pm UTC

Meteor coming! Run! Wait, false alarm.
THIS IS A SIGNATURE.
User avatar
rockintom99
 
Posts: 215
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:28 am UTC
Location: Washingtonland!
Top

Postby Ephphatha » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:19 pm UTC

Boy meets girl. Falls in love.

A dead man sees many ghosts.
I'm not lazy, I'm just getting in early for Christmas is all...
User avatar
Ephphatha
 
Posts: 625
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:03 am UTC
Location: Bathurst, NSW, Australia
Top

Postby wmoonw » Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:08 pm UTC

Man explodes marshmallow factory. Chaos ensues.
User avatar
wmoonw
 
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 5:43 pm UTC
Top

Postby rockintom99 » Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:11 pm UTC

Got in a fight; Triangle wins.
THIS IS A SIGNATURE.
User avatar
rockintom99
 
Posts: 215
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:28 am UTC
Location: Washingtonland!
Top

Postby LE4dGOLEM » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:20 pm UTC

I ran, but failed, Congratulations Bush.

Let him who hath understanding reckon.

"And so we stand.
"Damn. Stood."
Image Une See Fights - crayon super-ish hero webcomic!
Spoiler:
Nullcline wrote:What a colossal waste of stupidity.
fjafjan wrote:I got quite a lot of "batter" left
natraj wrote:skydiving is p fun (in this respect it is almost exactly unlike centipedes)
User avatar
LE4dGOLEM
is unique......wait, no!!!!
 
Posts: 5902
Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:10 pm UTC
Location: :uoıʇɐɔol
Top

Postby Verysillyman » Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:33 am UTC

rockintom99 wrote:Got in a fight; Triangle wins.


:D
User avatar
Verysillyman
"Do me! Do me!"
 
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:25 am UTC
Location: Drinks Cabinet.
Top

Postby fjafjan » Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:13 am UTC

Fire to fleeing, the battle they lost.

Noob Lucky HS, timed out
//Yepp, THE fjafjan (who's THE fjafjan?)
Liza wrote:Fjafjan, your hair is so lovely that I want to go to Sweden, collect the bit you cut off in your latest haircut and keep it in my room, and smell it. And eventually use it to complete my shrine dedicated to you.
User avatar
fjafjan
THE fjafjan
 
Posts: 4762
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:22 pm UTC
Location: Down south up north in the west of eastern west.
Top

Postby Pau! » Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:45 am UTC

Glimpsed briliance, then lost to love.
"Materialism and vanity are tools of youth and fear. We'll grow up. " Sarah Lyons
User avatar
Pau!
Dutiful Sycophant
 
Posts: 213
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:20 am UTC
Location: Ottawa
Top

Postby LE4dGOLEM » Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:30 pm UTC

I am writing this meta story
Image Une See Fights - crayon super-ish hero webcomic!
Spoiler:
Nullcline wrote:What a colossal waste of stupidity.
fjafjan wrote:I got quite a lot of "batter" left
natraj wrote:skydiving is p fun (in this respect it is almost exactly unlike centipedes)
User avatar
LE4dGOLEM
is unique......wait, no!!!!
 
Posts: 5902
Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:10 pm UTC
Location: :uoıʇɐɔol
Top

Postby Narsil » Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:50 pm UTC

One split atom. So much destruction.
Spoiler:
EsotericWombat wrote:MORE JUNK THAN YOUR BODY HAS ROOM FOR

Mother Superior wrote:What's he got that I dont?
*sees Narsil's sig*
Oh... that.
User avatar
Narsil
Ask me about my junk!
 
Posts: 2994
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:59 pm UTC
Location: Columbus.
Top

Postby Arkohn » Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:00 pm UTC

My personaly favorite short short story:

"machine. I accidentally created a time"

It was written by someone famous but for the life of me I can't remember. It was in Wired last month
Arkohn
 
Posts: 83
Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:57 pm UTC
Top

Postby Ronfar » Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:17 am UTC

[url=http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html]Longed for him. Got him. Shit.
- Margaret Atwood[/url]

^^ Not my own, but quite awesome.

How's this for an attempt...

"What does this button do? . . . Uh-oh."
- Doug
Ronfar
 
Posts: 124
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 6:04 am UTC
Top

Postby hermaj » Sun Jan 07, 2007 7:18 am UTC

Bump bump ouch grargh ouch bump.
User avatar
hermaj
 
Posts: 6117
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 10:37 am UTC
Location: Sydney, Australia
Top

Postby xooll » Sun Jan 07, 2007 9:11 am UTC

Here's a condensed version of Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground:
People suck. It's nice down here.
So, I got tired of the fact that the appearance of my band name in my signature made my posts on this forum the dominant result when googling for my music. Anyway, if you think I might happen to be a good musician, you can test this theory here.
User avatar
xooll
 
Posts: 804
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:11 pm UTC
Top

Postby LE4dGOLEM » Sun Jan 07, 2007 1:30 pm UTC

And here's Tolkein's LoTR:
Powerful ring, Big Journey, Ring Destroyed.
Image Une See Fights - crayon super-ish hero webcomic!
Spoiler:
Nullcline wrote:What a colossal waste of stupidity.
fjafjan wrote:I got quite a lot of "batter" left
natraj wrote:skydiving is p fun (in this respect it is almost exactly unlike centipedes)
User avatar
LE4dGOLEM
is unique......wait, no!!!!
 
Posts: 5902
Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:10 pm UTC
Location: :uoıʇɐɔol
Top

It goes on.

Postby Wedge » Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:28 pm UTC

Love games. Give me five minutes:

Wife missing, filesystem next in line.

We say: Ex Kay, Nix Nei!

Complex in numbers, simple in life.

Segmentation fault. Core dumped. You suck.

Life! Don't tell me about life!

Binding Ring with lifetime guarantee returned.

Nuff said, GL HF.
Wedge
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:14 pm UTC
Top

Postby Kin » Sun Jan 07, 2007 4:46 pm UTC

System error, self-destruct in three...two...


____

^Although I just thought of that, I can't shake the feeling it's been ripped from some bottom of the memory-memory.
User avatar
Kin
 
Posts: 141
Joined: Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:54 am UTC
Top
Next
Post a reply

Return to General

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: icanus and 7 guests

Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
Protected by Anti-Spam ACP