Famous Last Words: No Plot Summary!

This week, while grading student papers for the edTPA and for other assignments in class, I could not help but notice a pattern in my comments. It seemed as though every other paper earned the comment of “No plot summary.”

Naturally, after writing these 13 letters multiple times, I began to wonder if I could write a Six-Word Memoir about them. Then, it hit me:

Famous last words: no plot summary!

A few weeks ago, I introduced Six-Word Memoirs to my Creative Writing class. I gave them Ernest Hemmingway’s famous example of “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Ever since this class, I have been continuously thinking of Six-Word Memoir’s – most of the time, without even meaning too. Oops?

For those who have never heard of a Six-Word Memoir, it is essentially a short story comprised of six words. Over the years, I have compiled several of my own six word memoirs, and much like the one I came up with about plot summary, they tend to just hit me. After my students wrote a few themselves, I shared a few of my examples with them. My examples are below:

1.      I laugh when nothing is funny.

2.      Small fire. Baking soda. We’re okay.

3.      Big dreams in a small world.

4.      Destination: sandy beach in Southern Florida.

5.      Pen to paper; hands to keyboard.

6.      Six words with nothing to say.

7.      Meaningless or meaningful? You pick.

8.      Wanted: the wardrobe of my dreams.

With my examples, I was trying to show students that Six-Word Memoirs can range from the serious to the not-so serious. My students shared what they came up with, and it was clear to me that they really understood the point.

As a writer, and now, as a teacher, Six-Word Memoirs are definitely a personal favorite.