Inspired by the book Not Quite What I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs from Writers Famous and Obscure, edited by Penn alumni Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, the Hub decided to write their own six-word stories.
Have your own six-word contribution? Email us! wh@writing.upenn.edu
Learning to embrace my imperfect self.
Izzy Monocchio
Sunny outside, but it's cloudy inside.
Anonymous
Mirror held truth. Mind held fantasy.
Lisa Marie Lopez
Parents love like a candle bright.
Ren Aldrich
Learn to teach. Teach to learn.
Jessica Brent
Don't contractions count as two words?
Thomas Abers Lourenço
My eyes, they deceive me daily.
Jude Ratajczak
Fretful, but less so when outside.
Bart Hollingsworth
Never let NO-ONE steal your joy!
Stormyweather Banks
Expect and accept unexpected and unacceptable.
Judi Gedcke
Anticipation is not just about ketchup.
Amy Hostetter
Out of everyone, I chose you.
Samantha Yanez-Chavez
you must live through the night
Leslie Loredo
Found a new mountain to scale
Melody Wren
I came, I saw, I conquered!
Sheldon Fredrickson
live. contemplate. learn. keep moving forward.
Grace Juhlin
Never really am where I want.
Irvin P. Delatorre
Ringling Bros. demise - the bookkeeper's balance
Ken Olson
Others seldom rise to my expectations.
Debra Posthumus
A reader longing for the stars.
Rajshri Thakur
Looking ahead. Looking back. No middle.
Gabe Oppenheim
My. pace. is so different…SEE?
Radall Hogue
I love being indoctrinated by you
Violette Carb
So many spaces, so few words.
Greg Djanikian
Sarah Arkebauer
pacifist: an enemy of the state
Ken Olson
moved every year then came home.
Allison Harris
So, um, what's up with you?
Sam Donsky
Sometimes I have a good notion.
Al Filreis
I still dance to "Octopus's Garden."
Kristen Martin
I am looking for the (g)riot.
Greg Romero
Sounded much better in my head.
Chris Milione
ask me again in a month
Jessica Lowenthal
Striving to remain
How to Use 6-Word Memoirs in the Classroom
I launched the Six-Word Memoir project in 2006 with a question on what was then a strange new platform called Twitter: “Can you describe your life in six words?” While I suspected that the constraint of six words would fuel creativity, it wasn’t until I was invited to my nephew’s third-grade classroom to talk about six-word storytelling that I got my first glimpse of the format’s powerful possibilities in school. That morning, a few dozen elementary students shared stories of identity (“Born to be a spy, unnoticeable”), self-worth (“I live bigger than your labels”), agency (“Brainy, talkative, will never be quiet”), and more.
Since then, Six-Word Memoirs has become a valuable tool in many teachers’ toolboxes because it takes away the pressure of a whole blank page while helping kids focus on what’s important in writing: honest and specific storytelling. And what’s important in any young life: an understanding that no one knows or can tell your story better than you.
The six-word form is simple and adaptable and provides a great entry point for almost any subject, grade level, and topic. Below, I share six steps that apply to any Six-Word Memoirs lesson, followed by three classroom lessons.
Teaching Six-Word Memoirs
1. Introduce the Six-Word Memoir concept as a way students can describe their life using just two rules: one, they must use six words exactly, and two, they should be words that the students believe to be true and are exclusively their own.
2. Pick a topic or prompt. “How would you describe your life in six words?” is a great first prompt for any grade level.
3. Show examples of Six-Word Memoirs so students can see a variety of ways to think about the topic.
4. Give them time—either 10–15 minutes in class or as a homework assignment—to write their six words, and have each student read theirs aloud. Remember to share your own.
5. Leave time for discussion, either in small groups or wit
Six-Word Memoirs
Project and book series
Type of site
Online Magazine
Editors
Larry Smith, Rachel Fershleiser
URL
sixwordmemoirs.com
Launched
2006
Six-Word Memoirs is a project and book series created by the U.S. based online storytelling magazine Smith Magazine.
History
In November 2006, Smith's editors Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser asked Smith readers to tell their life story in just six words, taking inspiration from a six word short story, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn”, popularly misattributed to novelist Ernest Hemingway.Smith readers submitted their memoirs via www.smithmag.net and Smith's Twitter account. In early 2007, Smith signed with Harper Perennial to create the Six-Word Memoir book series.
Six-Word Memoirs books
The first in Smith's Six-Word Memoirs book series, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure was released in early 2008. It collected almost 1,000 memoirs, including contributions from celebrities such as Richard Ford, Deepak Chopra, and Moby. It was a New York Times bestseller, featured in many stories in The New Yorker, and was highlighted on National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation.
In early 2009, Smith released a follow-up, Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak, containing hundreds of personal stories about romance. Another follow-up was released in late 2009; I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure dealt with the experiences of teenage life and as such was written by and for teens. The most recent in the series, It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure, was released in early 2010 and was marketed as the general sequel to Not Quite What I Was Planning.
Recognition
The Six-Word Memoir format has been used as
Six-word memoirs examples
6-word memoir examples for students
Famous six-word memoirs
Sometimes I stumble upon an idea or story that sparks a creative teaching idea to use with my homeschool writing students. The story of Ernest Hemingway’s six-word memoir was one of those stories that lead to a memorable and fun creative writing project for the teens.
As soon as I read the story of the original six-word memoir, I knew I could create a short but fun writing project with this idea.
{This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure.}
Writing a Six-Word Memoir with Teens
According to legend, Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a novel in six words. He responded, “For Sale: Baby Shoes. Never worn.” And thus, the six-word memoir was born.
I decided this would be the perfect challenge for my writing students.
Of course, I was pretty sure that coming up with six words to summarize their entire life might be a bit challenging, so instead we decided to do a shorter time period and write one each day.
Introducing the Six Word Memoir
We discussed a few published six-word memoirs from some of the books below. I did preview the books to select specific ones to share with the group because these books aren’t meant for children. Some of the memoirs referred to topics that might not be appropriate for your kids, select examples wisely.
Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Rachel Fershleiser The Best Advice in Six Words: Writers Famous and Obscure on Love, Sex, Money, Friendship, Family, Work, and Much More by Larry Smith It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Larry Smith
We read several examples and discussed the power of the six words chosen in each one. Each six-word memoir told us much more about the emotions and feelings of the writer. We could infer more about the situation than what we saw on the page.
