Flash Fiction: "For Sale: Baby Shoes, nEVER wORN." Creative Writing Activity
American author Ernest Hemingway is often given the credit for writing the six word short story "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Though perhaps the stuff of legend, Hemingway's purported authorship of this six word story is considered to be one of the earliest example of flash fiction--stories that are extremely short (usually 300 words or less).
Writing flash fiction can be a creative--though challenging way--to encourage students to explore how authors can tell a complete--though brief--story. Additionally, examples of Flash Fiction such as Hemingway's and others can be helpful in encouraging students to develop their own short stories. The activity I devised consists of five steps:
1. Students will read about and discuss Hemingway's short story. For a brief article on the legend behind "For sale: baby shoes, never worn" follow the link here.
2. Students will practice writing a complete story in less than ten words. As this is the trickiest part of the activity, the instructor will provide examples pulled from Flash Fiction websites, and will model writing Flash Fiction for the students.
3. Once students have written their own Flash Fiction pieces, they will share them with the class by writing them on the board.
4. Each student will be assigned a Flash Fiction piece that is not their own; once each student has been assigned a piece they will use the sentence as a starting point for a longer short story. Students may choose to use the Flash Fiction piece in whichever way they see fit:
Writing flash fiction can be a creative--though challenging way--to encourage students to explore how authors can tell a complete--though brief--story. Additionally, examples of Flash Fiction such as Hemingway's and others can be helpful in encouraging students to develop their own short stories. The activity I devised consists of five steps:
1. Students will read about and discuss Hemingway's short story. For a brief article on the legend behind "For sale: baby shoes, never worn" follow the link here.
2. Students will practice writing a complete story in less than ten words. As this is the trickiest part of the activity, the instructor will provide examples pulled from Flash Fiction websites, and will model writing Flash Fiction for the students.
3. Once students have written their own Flash Fiction pieces, they will share them with the class by writing them on the board.
4. Each student will be assigned a Flash Fiction piece that is not their own; once each student has been assigned a piece they will use the sentence as a starting point for a longer short story. Students may choose to use the Flash Fiction piece in whichever way they see fit:
- As a first sentence.
- As a last sentence.
- As a way to develop a character.
Example
As an example of how students can use Flash Fiction as a starting point for a larger creative writing piece, I have written a brief character sketch using the Hemingway story as a starting point.
In writing my piece, I considered how the tragedy implied by Hemingway's short piece would weigh on a family. For this piece I wrote a brief character sketch of the father. |
My father was never known to talk much. Though he would share polite chit chat with the fellows down at the store, and though he would politely nod and grumble a short, yet warm "hello" at passers-by, his wind-chapped lips would remain tightly closed when invited to weigh in on the various topics that the armchair experts down at the shop would expound upon over cups of black coffee. That being said, my father was not a man without opinions on politics and religion, in fact he was a good Christian, and a card carrying Republican (though my brothers and I often suspected--though never made our suspicions vocal--that he had voted to the left in the last election). No, my father was a man like any other: full of conviction, though utterly defeated by everyday concerns. Rather than work, my father let his callused hands do the talking, and his shrugged shoulders--perpetually bent from years of labor--spoke louder than his voice ever could. This morning found father seated before a cup of stale coffee (all signs--the burnt odor of charred coffee grounds above all--indicated that it had been brewed days before, before the overwhelming pall shrouded our house) and a plate of burnt, tar black bacon. To the left of this bounty lay a coffee stained newspaper, the brown rings encircling each other like the links of a chain, the pages yellowing and creased, opened to the classified pages. When I came down for breakfast, father had appeared already engrossed in his work, circling ads in the paper and making notes in the mildewed memo book he kept tucked in his back pocket. In fact, the book had been with him so long that every pair of trousers he owned--from the sun faded denims he wore while in the garage to the wool slacks he wore to church and the few town functions he begrudgingly attended--showed the tell-tale signs of wear associated with the black leather book.
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REFLECTION
What I find most attractive about this exercise is that it relies on the introduction of an interesting--and possibly apocryphal--anecdote in order to introduce Flash Fiction to students. Aside from this aspect of the activity, the exercise is also deceptively simple, as it may prove difficult for students to tell an entire narrative using such a small amount of text. Anticipating this potential difficulty, it is my responsibility as an instructor to model the activity for students. As this activity would prove difficult for me (in a good way, of course) this is a great opportunity to learn from students as well.
Additionally, I was both annoyed (that I wasn't the first to think of using this literary legend in a lesson) and relieved (that the short short story had been previously used in a lesson) to find that a teacher had already created a lesson plan using Hemingway's short story as an example of Flash Fiction. I have linked the lesson plan (courtesy of the New York Times) here.
Additionally, I was both annoyed (that I wasn't the first to think of using this literary legend in a lesson) and relieved (that the short short story had been previously used in a lesson) to find that a teacher had already created a lesson plan using Hemingway's short story as an example of Flash Fiction. I have linked the lesson plan (courtesy of the New York Times) here.