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48 STORIES · SIX WORDS EACH · ALL ORIGINAL

Six Word Stories: 48 Tiny Tales

By LiveLore · AI-assisted fiction · Published · Updated

A six word story has a beginning, a middle and an end, and only six words to hold them. The best six word stories make you fill in everything they leave out. Every story below is original to LiveLore, grouped by mood: scary, sad, funny, love and hope. After the stories you will find the real history of the most famous six word story, which almost certainly was not written by Hemingway, and a short guide to writing your own. For more tiny fiction, try our two sentence scary stories and one sentence horror stories.

Scary Six Word Stories

Six word horror stories work like a door opening in the dark.

  1. Night light burned out. Something sighed.
  2. My mirror reflection blinked. I hadn’t.
  3. Baby monitor: two voices. One baby.
  4. Found my own obituary. Dated tomorrow.
  5. Last human alive. Someone knocked anyway.
  6. Buried him Tuesday. He called Wednesday.
  7. The doll was facing me again.
  8. Grandma’s ghost still hates my boyfriend.
  9. Counted the stairs. One extra tonight.
  10. Lights off. Hand found mine. Alone.

Sad Six Word Stories

The saddest six word stories say the least.

  1. Two coffee cups. Habit. Still pouring.
  2. His voicemail. Saved. Played every birthday.
  3. Learned sign language. Too late, Dad.
  4. Dog still waits by the door.
  5. Her side of the bed: cold.
  6. Finally said sorry. Gravestone didn’t answer.
  7. Kept the cradle. Sold the hope.
  8. Hospital bracelet in my coat pocket.
  9. Mom forgot my name. Remembered love.
  10. Graduation photos. One chair left empty.

Funny Six Word Stories

Six words is the perfect length for a punchline.

  1. Diet starts Monday. Which Monday? Unclear.
  2. Asked for space. Got a telescope.
  3. Cat knocked it off. Zero regrets.
  4. Autocorrect ruined my wedding toast. Ducking.
  5. Gym membership: twelve months. Visits: one.
  6. Plant died. I watered it daily.
  7. Wi-Fi dropped. Family dinner happened. Terrifying.
  8. Read the manual afterwards. Oh. Oops.
  9. Toddler negotiations failed. Cookie surrendered completely.
  10. Smoke alarm: my cooking’s biggest fan.

Six Word Love Stories

  1. Wrong number. Forty years. Right person.
  2. Same umbrella. Different directions. Same umbrella.
  3. She laughed. I stopped looking elsewhere.
  4. Strangers on Monday. Inseparable by Friday.
  5. Fifty years later, still holding hands.
  6. He learned her language. She stayed.
  7. Letters stopped. Then he knocked instead.
  8. Our first apartment had no furniture.

Hopeful Six Word Stories

  1. Chemo finished. Hair growing. Ringing bell.
  2. Rejected forty times. Forty-first said yes.
  3. Moved cities. Knew nobody. Now home.
  4. Sober today. Also yesterday. Counting up.
  5. Seed planted in winter. Spring answered.
  6. Fell down. Got up. Kept walking.
  7. Adopted at nine. Finally, someone stayed.
  8. Lost everything. Found myself, eventually, anyway.
  9. First word: “again.” Then she laughed.
  10. Hospital hallway. Newborn crying. Everything changed.

The Most Famous Six Word Story Is Not Hemingway’s

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn” is often called the greatest six word story and credited to Ernest Hemingway. The credit is almost certainly wrong. Newspaper classified ads with similar wording appeared from the 1880s on, and a version appeared in 1906, when Hemingway was seven. The story was first attributed to him in print decades after his death, and no evidence ties him to it (source: Wikipedia; Quote Investigator).

The modern six word craze grew from Six-Word Memoirs, a project started in November 2006 by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser at the online storytelling magazine Smith, who asked readers to tell their life story in six words (source: Six-Word Memoirs). The form is now a classroom staple and a corner of flash fiction.

How to Write a Six Word Story

Start with a moment of change: something found, lost, or suddenly different. Use the first half to set up a normal picture and the second half to turn it. Cut every word that does not move the story, and let punctuation do the work of pauses. Read it aloud: if a listener asks “what happened next?” or “what happened before?”, the six word story is working. For longer practice, our scary story ideas give you prompts, and how to write a horror story covers structure.

Using Six Word Stories in Class or Online

Six word stories make a quick warm-up: give students five minutes to write one about their weekend, a book character or a historical event, then share. Online, they fit a caption or a Short. Want longer reads with the same punch? Try short horror stories with a twist or our spooky stories for all ages.

Six Word Stories — FAQ

What is a six word story?

A complete story told in exactly six words, with a situation and a turn that lets the reader imagine the rest.

Did Hemingway write “For sale: baby shoes, never worn”?

Almost certainly not. Similar newspaper ads appeared from the 1880s, a version existed in 1906 when Hemingway was seven, and the attribution to him first appeared decades after his death.

Who started the six word memoir trend?

Smith Magazine editors Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, who launched Six-Word Memoirs in November 2006.

Are the six word stories on this page original?

Yes. All 48 stories were written for LiveLore. The famous baby shoes line is discussed as history, not counted among them.