The Plumbago Magazine Six-Word Short Story Contest
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
That's a fairly famous short story, cited in its entirety, that Ernest Hemingway wrote. Writing six-word micro-fiction stories is much more difficult than it looks. It forces you to consider every word and find just the right one to make it count in the face of extreme restraints. And often, a good six-word story will be richer when the reader has to read between the lines, as with Hemingway’s story.
To celebrate the fiction and poetry theme of Issue 3 of Plumbago, we're hosting a six-word story contest! Here's how it works:
- Before December 1, 2017, submit one or multiple short stories — exactly six words — that somehow involve stationery. Pencils, paper, pens, ink, staplers, three-hole punches... anything!
- Submit them via this form, below, or in the comments of a corresponding post on our Erasable Podcast Facebook group.
- Our panel of judges will review each story for richness of plot, choice of words, and pick five winners.
- Those five winners will be published in Issue 3 of Plumbago Magazine, receive a free copy of that magazine, and get a $20 gift card to CW Pencil Enterprise (redeemable online or in-person).
A couple examples of a stationery-themed six-word story:
- Knife sharpening: honed pencils, nine fingers.
- Patiently, Eraser waits for a victim.