What about some super short stories to exercise the brain?

         Who knows? ¨Probably the best known short short story is this six worder by Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” That leaves a lot up to the reader’s imagination, don’t you think? That’s precisely the idea of the super short tales. Here are some more (thanks to “Wired” magazine:

º           “He read his obituary with confusion.” Steven Meretzky.

º           “It cost too much staying human.” Bruce Sterling.

º           “To save human-kind he died again.” Ben Bova.

º           “Corpse parts missing. Doctor buys yatch.” Margaret Atwood.

º           “When he woke up the dinosaur was still there.” (Cuando despertó el dinosaurio todavía seguía allí) Augusto Monterroso.

And then there is this jewel by Nancy Cavanaugh: "Santa loses it all in Wall Street crash."

            More daring writers, have tried for even less:

º           “How nice.(Que bueno), Luisa Valenzuela. (However the title was a bit longer: “El sabor de una medialuna a las nueve de la mañana en un viejo café de barrio donde a los 97 años Rodolfo Mondolfo todavía se reúne con sus amigos los miércoles por la tarde.)

º           “Yo” (I) by Aloé Azid, with the title “Autografía” (Autograph) probably has no competitor for shortness.

            The idea of the super short stories is to provoke the active participation of the reader and for that reason there are as many versions as there are readers. Taking the classic by Hemingway, you might ask yourself questions such as: who is selling the shoes? Why? Why have they not been used? Has something happened to the baby? Who has placed the sign to sell the shoes?

            Notice that these stories are concise, awaken the imagination, invite diverse interpretations and frequently suggest a very dry sense of humor.

Although all of this sounds simple, once you sit down to write a short-short short story you might well come to the conclusion that nothing worthwhile is easy.