For Sale: baby shoes, never worn

Legend has it that in a Paris restaurant in 1923, Ernest Hemingway’s friends challenged the writer to craft a story in just six words. The novelist responded with:

“For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

After writing the six words on a napkin and passing it around the table, Hemingway collected his $10 winnings from his friends. He later said he believed that it was the best short story he had ever written.

Writing six-word short stories is a favourite pastime of writers. We like the constraint, because we know it will make us more creative. It forces us to challenge every single word. Make every word count.

Along with haikus, a Japanese form of poetry, I often use six-word stories as an exercise in writing workshops to demonstrate the power of constraints. Without exception, people always rise to the challenge writing something far more interesting than if they’d been given an open brief.

There are many other examples in the creative world of artists and writers flourishing under constraints. Bernett Cerf, founder of Random...