Not Quite What I Was Planning

Why have so many writing teachers adopted Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure? Because it a treasure trove of topics for classroom discussion and writing assignments. Not only is the six-word memoir a terrific writing exercise, the examples in the book can be used to prompt longer writing assignments.

When Hemingway famously wrote, “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn,” he proved that an entire story can be told using a half dozen words. When the online storytelling magazine SMITH asked readers to submit six-word memoirs, they proved a whole, real life can be told this way too. The results are fascinating, hilarious, shocking, and moving.

From small sagas of bittersweet romance (“Found true love, married someone else”) to proud achievements and stinging regrets (“After Harvard, had baby with crackhead”), these terse true tales relate the diversity of human experience in tasty bite-sized pieces. From authors Jonathan Lethem and Richard Ford to comedians Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris, to ordinary folks around the world, everyone has a six-word story to tell.