Write A Story With Only 6 Words!

Today, I want to show all of you—specifically the reluctant writers out there—that you shouldn’t be scared of writing, especially if the reason you are afraid to write is because you think stories need to be long and lengthy. I bet most of you assume all stories need to be at least six pages long, filled with vivid descriptions and flowery language.

However, did you know that six words can actually make up a story, too? I am sure some of you are shaking your heads in disbelief. How can a story be so short? Six is less than the number of fingers we have on our hands. Well, let’s look at one example of a six-word story and see if we are able to make sense of it together.

Here’s the six-word story:

Strangers. Acquaintances. Friends. Best friends. Strangers.

Take some time to process this six-word story. What do you think is happening here? If you look closely, you will actually find that there is a storyline unfolding behind these six words.

Two strangers meet for the first time. Perhaps they are colleagues at work, classmates at school, or customers at a supermarket.

Whatever the circumstance, they meet and become acquaintances, which means they are polite enough to wave at each other should they bump into each other again.

However, sometimes, our acquaintances become our friends. Maybe two colleagues at work realise that they both love watching anime, or perhaps two classmates at school bond over a shared hatred for Mathematics.

Again, whatever the reason for their blossoming friendship, these friends soon become best friends. These two people enjoy the company of each other so much that they probably spend a lot of time together, meeting often for hangouts and going out for meals together.

However, we suddenly reach the last word of the story: strangers. What has happened for these two best friends to suddenly become strangers? For those of you who have perhaps experienced this yourself, I am sure some answers are already coming to mind. Perhaps, after joining different secondary schools, one of the friends changed so greatly that the two friends no longer have anything in common to talk about. As a result, the friends drift, and they no longer keep in touch—resulting in their becoming strangers to one another once again. Or maybe it was a messier ending between the two friends when one of them reveals a secret of the other, or spreads nasty rumours about the other. No friendship can recover from such a deep betrayal of trust, and thus they return to being distant strangers.

As we have just seen, this simple six-word story succinctly summarises one of the most tragic cycles of human life: how some friends come and go. After all, it is inevitable that we drift from our friends as we grow up and change, and not all friendships are made to last. It is a painful cycle of friendship universally experienced by all of us, and I extend my deepest empathy to any of you out there who has already gone through this before. All in all, there is a beauty of portraying this cycle in these six simple words, without any specific details or examples, because it applies to anyone and everyone.

And there you have it! Definitive proof that six simple words can make up a story, as long as we make sure to capture a storyline behind these words. Usually, as we saw earlier, this storyline is universal and widely applicable to all readers. If you are interested in learning HOW to write such short and impactful stories, check out my Write for Fun blogpost on Flash Fiction, a type of story that uncovers a storyline in a flash, just as we saw the six-word story do earlier.

I hope this video inspires you to experiment with writing your stories, no matter how long or short! What are your 6 words? Leave a comment below to inspire others! See you next time, and happy writing!