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There was a contest a while ago that was brought to my attention. The concept was very interesting.

Did you know that the shortest novella (small novel) ever written was six words long?

"For sale, baby shoes. Never worn."

Edgar Allen Poe I think was the author.

Anyway, the challenge was to write a novella EXACTLY 12 words long. Can you do it? Tell a whole story in 12 words. Here is one of several attempts by me...

"I lost the remote control and found the great outdoors, too funny."

As far as I'm concerned, if a sentence tells a story, then it's a story.

I don't know about reading being replaced by other things, either. It's true that most Americans don't do much reading, but before TV and the internet, there still weren't that many Americans who read anyway.

Either way, there's still some really good writers out there, and there's more good books than I'll ever be able to finish in my lifetime, so I think I'll be alright.

Don't misunderstand me...I'm a huge HUGE fan of reading. I read books faster and more often than anybody I know. The final Harry Potter book to come out, Deathly Hallows...I finished it in 24 hours of purchase. This was not uncommon for that book, it is a well written page-turner.

I read most books like that. There's a prequel to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, it's called Angels & Demons. I read that book in 8 hours straight, from 10 pm. to 6 am. the next morning, then went to work at 9 am immediately after.

I'm telling you this just to confirm that I'm not saying a story has to be 12 words long to be enjoyable.

Now, the idea that a story can be told in a single sentence requires a certain amount of inference and imagination on the part of the reader. Take that first example. Baby shoes for sale, never worn. When I turn that into a full story, this is what I imagine.

"Seamus Stewart and his new wife, Shanna, have just started a wonderful marriage in Scotland recently. The wedding was small and quaint, the vows were heartfelt and loving, and the bride and groom couldn't be happier. Shanna very quickly became pregnant, as they both planned. The child's name was going to be either Jacob or Moira, depending on whether it was a boy or girl. Shanna found the cutest pair of baby shoes and immediately purchased them, waiting for that special moment when she put them on her beloved child. Come time for the birth, the baby came out silent and cold...stillborn...a boy. Jacob was given a modest funeral as Seamus and Shanna mourned. The sight of those shoes brought so much sadness, that she took them out to sell them in order to buy bread for that night's meal. Any stranger or friend passing by would hear her say "Baby shoes for sale, never worn." If that stranger stopped to ask how much, she would only answer in sobs."

Now, if you strip away all the details, all the personality, the story can still be told in six words.

Reading is good, I love it. But I also love my imagination, and I show much appreciation for stories that let my imagination run wild.

Actually, it was Ernest Hemingway. smile

And to those who say it isn't a story, yeah, it is. But it's not a novel or novella. smile Just a story.

Thanks for the correction...as often as I read I admit to being terrible at citing sources.

I'm pretty sure it was never published. razz

There's an awesome thing over here where lots of writers were asked to do what Hemingway did and write a six-word story.

Joss Whedon is made of awesome. biggrin

I never really got into the whole reading thing until about 3 years ago in 7th grade. ((i'm in 9th right now XD)) There's one series that i've ever read that makes every other book in the world not so interesting. The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer (sp?) anyways, her characters Bella and Ed are so cool! i don't like Jacob Black in the book though. He's nice at first, but after the second book i wanted to just throw him under a bus. It's still the best series I've ever read.

I also strongly agree that media is trying to replace reading. Reading is very important, until i started reading a lot my reading level was average. once i starting reading constantly my scores went above and beyond average. I can read books at a 13+ grade level now, yay! ^_^ I might not understand ALL the words but I can try. XD ((woops got a little off topic there sweatdrop ))

I've never seen a story that was 12 lines long before until now. it's cool because it's really short yet tells an entire story..... NEAT! XD