Friday, March 6, 2009

Six word stories about WoW

I’m a blogger of many words. Scroll down this page and you’ll see what I mean. I’ve never quite understood the point of Twitter.

At work I’m just the opposite, often preaching that less is more. Keeping your message short is essential if you want to get any attention in the media flood. I never hesitate to put my butchers knife into a mass of text that is too heavy to be readable.

But when it comes to blogging I allow myself to go wild; I let the words and sentences grow as they like. It’s nice to slip out of control for a change and there’s no customer around to complain about it. I’m the innkeeper here and if it doesn’t suit you, you can go to another bar and hang around.

There are exceptions though, and this post is about one of those. I’ve just stumbled upon a website, Six Word Stories, which made me fall in love on the spot. In case you haven’t seen it, it was inspired by a challenge that once was given to Ernest Hemingway. He was supposed to write a complete story in just six words. He did. The famous story: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn”

The site is full of other six word stories in all sorts of genres. Some are written by real authors, others have been provided by enthusiastic readers, more or less anonymous. Like this one:

“Checked Facebook. Apparently we broke up.” Being an old science fiction fan, I checked out the SF six word stories and immediately found a few that I liked:

“Computer becomes conscious. Immediately commits suicide.”

“TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!!....nobody there….”

“Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back.”

I’m really not a creative writer in the sense that I can make up fantastic stories, but I couldn’t resist the thought that it should be possible to write “stories” from Azeroth in just six words. Here's a couple:

"Icestone melted. Prime Directive violated. Engage!"

"Baby cries nine months after servercrash."

"Last mage quits. Working as intended."

Now I’m pretty sure you can make up better ones. So I challenge you to make up your own six word story with WoW connection and share it with us - in a comment to this post or on your own blog.

31 comments:

David said...

Here's a couple for ya. It's hard to tell a story! They come out more like headlines.

Heroes went in, came out purple.

Overlord Saurfang discovered his feminine side.

After smashing, Orc goes home, cries.

Polymorph, mirror image used in bedroom.

Tink, tink, tink. Four cobalt ore.

Goblin, gnome engineers make a Whatchamakaliterizoratorthingamabob.

Anonymous said...

Armaggedon’s coming with great fiery balls!

Need I say more than that?

Anonymous said...

News: Warlock arrested for kidnapping souls.

Kitty bites face off, hunter pleased.

Bah - I like a lot of words... and imagery. I can't do it D:

Shwitz44 said...

Ret nerfed. Paladins cried. Crab laughs.

Anonymous said...

The correct story by Hemingway was "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Klepsacovic said...

Self ressed and casted frost shock.

Divine shield killed the whole raid.

Ten stacks on Gluth, I died.

I drain your soul, mine now.

Goblin creations lead to goblin destruction.

Larísa said...

@Geoffrey: corrected. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

What fun!

I posted several on my site. But they're more like headlines, like David said. Stories are hard.

But I guess I can't even try to reach the level that Ernest Hemingway did. I can tell myself that, right?

Andrew said...

Divine storm strikes, many left wounded

Anonymous said...

Gothik: Undead or Alive; you decide!

Unknown said...

Avoided fire. Boss died. Collected loot.

On forums, everyone complained about everything.

Tempest Keep was merely a setback!

No new engineering plans. How surprising.

rasputin said...

Sarth plus two hurts me head.



Clifdog
Ramblings of a Misguided Hunter - http://wowclifdog.blogspot.com/

rasputin said...

Ya I'm BM, and your dead.

BM, the spec will never die.

Distract with pet, shoot with gun.

Which bush am i shooting from?


This is a fun lil brain teaser.. LOL


Clifdog
Ramblings of a Misguided Hunter - http://wowclifdog.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I think you guys are missing the point, largely. The goal is not a six word phrase. The goal is a story. Hemingway's example conjures up feeling of sympathy for the parent who purchased baby shoes for an infant that was never born. Now, I don't know if this is possible to do for WoW, because it's just a game, and so the drama factor is limited. I don't have anything, but I thought this needed to be said.

Anonymous said...

@Geoffrey: Well, I think some of the tries are decent, some haven't quite understood the idea. But I think the major problem is that it's pretty difficult to make up something that resembles to a story.

Anyway I think it's fun to give it a try... It's a good excersise in creative writing, really. And I don't think that the fact that WoW "only is a game" should make storytelling impossible. The WoW is full of stories and emotions. Our mind is the limit. Not the setting as such.

Anonymous said...

I really like yours about the baby crying after the server crash! That's vivid, hilarious, and more than likely has happened a time or two! :)

I like David's example of the heroes who come out purple too. It's sort of headlinish, but I know exactly what happened "in there".

I'd have to spend some time thinking to see if I could come up with one that was more than just a tagline.

Anonymous said...

Here's my last try:

Mankrik's wife is missing, found dead.

Kromus said...

Fire, Blood, Anguish; tooltip says all.

Hehe awesome post as always Larisa, enjoyed thinking of a couple but in the end that was my best shot.

Many words can be good but sometimes refining your convosation to one word really can work.

Anonymous said...

@All: I won't give you each individual feedback this time. Just a big, collective Thank you! It was great fun to read your contributions to this thread. Many of those stories left me with a big smile on my face. Speaking for myself I think I'll ponder upon a few more stories. It's a perfect thing to occupy you're thoughts with if you're cought in a pocket of time just waiting (for surrection, an AFK to come back, whatever).

Anonymous said...

One that stands above all others...


"You have been disconnected from server."

Anonymous said...

Hard mode, same stuff, really bored.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Bah, stupid Button, can't edit commment.

25 heroic, Kel'Thuzad down. Huntard Needs.

Anonymous said...

Heart destroyed, Arthas is no more.

Unknown said...

Zebby receives [Twilight Proto-drake]
"Ninja!"

You cast [Rebirth] [Zebby].
[Zebby] dies.

Dearest Emma, the crops are dying.

Forsaken again at Wrathgate, vultures feast.

"Arthas! Welcome home, my son!"

Anonymous said...

Where did my free time go?

Anonymous said...

Life balanced on an Ebon Blade

Stabs said...

Here's mine:

The Pink Pigtail Inn, it's great!

Anonymous said...

Guess I got mine wrong to start with.

I will change it to :

Gothik the Harvester, harvested this morning.

Unknown said...

Penny Arcade did a
contest with 10 word stories

Vyaaren said...

Having fun playing with this form:-

Overnighted at gnome inn: Awoke female!

LF Imba Healer, at first boss.

Heavy repairs, /gquit, now regretting decision.

Told to respec - I decline inelegantly.