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Short & Sharp

by The Copy Nazi Banned
33 replies
Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a complete story in six words. He wrote - "For sale: baby shoes, never used."

I'm wondering if this could be applied to headlines.

Like - "For Sale: Marketers Brain, Never Used"

That's pretty tame. I'm sure you can do better.
#sharp #short
  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    How about, "Dyslexic atheist says he’s never believed in Dog."
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  • Profile picture of the author RickDuris
    Originally Posted by Metronicity View Post

    Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a complete story in six words. He wrote - "For sale: baby shoes, never used."

    I'm wondering if this could be applied to headlines.

    Like - "For Sale: Marketers Brain, Never Used"

    That's pretty tame. I'm sure you can do better.
    I think that's the whole concept behind Twitter.
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    • Profile picture of the author mmzcreates
      Originally Posted by RickDuris View Post

      I think that's the whole concept behind Twitter.
      I would agree Twitter is the same concept.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
      Banned
      Originally Posted by RickDuris View Post

      I think that's the whole concept behind Twitter.
      Close. But we're talking 6 words here. And the average length of an English word is 4.5 characters. So lets say you have an average number of 27 characters. Whereas Twitter allows up to 140 characters. Like I said - "short & sharp".
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    • Profile picture of the author copyassassin
      Originally Posted by RickDuris View Post

      I think that's the whole concept behind Twitter.
      Gotta include Adwords, as well. Close to the same number of characters as twitter. (105 vs 140)

      Headline - 25 characters
      Line 1 - 35 characters
      Line 2 - 35 characters
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  • Profile picture of the author Iconik
    For Sale: Robert Collier Letter Book, read once.
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  • Profile picture of the author mccflo99
    This one time, at band camp...
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  • Profile picture of the author DougBarger
    Parachute for Sale: Only Used Once, (Never Opened)

    (Courtesy of warrior Matt Pickstone)
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    => Stay tuned...

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    • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
      Banned
      Originally Posted by DougBarger View Post

      Parachute for Sale: Only Used Once, (Never Opened)

      (Courtesy of warrior Matt Pickstone)
      Not bad - but 8 words if you include what's in brackets. But I like it. There's still a story there - as in, took the jump but scared him(her)self stupid so never did it again.
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      • Profile picture of the author DougBarger
        Originally Posted by Metronicity View Post

        Not bad - but 8 words if you include what's in brackets. But I like it. There's still a story there - as in, took the jump but scared him(her)self stupid so never did it again.
        Yeah, I tried to trim it down to 6 words, but I'm no Hemingway.

        It actually had 2 more words: (small stain.)

        Apparently the previous owner didn't mind the jump as much as the





        landing
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        => Stay tuned...

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  • Profile picture of the author maximus242
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin-VirtualProfitCenter
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    Thanks for the workout Mal. This is good practice.

    Edit: OK, I just went back and read the "assignment" again. Not headlines, stories. OK, so it's before 6am here and I missed it. Still was good for my soul. Want a six word story? Here it is:

    Foggy head; went back to bed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rezbi
    Grow 10 inches in two days

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    • Profile picture of the author DCromwell
      Originally Posted by Rezbi View Post

      Grow 10 inches in two days

      I'm referring to flowers, or course.
      You almost sold me. I've always wanted bigger shoes - this is why I don't like hype
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      • Profile picture of the author Rezbi
        Originally Posted by DCromwell View Post

        You almost sold me. I've always wanted bigger shoes - this is why I don't like hype
        Hey, don't have a go at me, mate, bigger shoes shouldn't be a problem.

        Feet, on the other hand, would be if you don't already have them.
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  • Profile picture of the author balsimon
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  • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
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    I just discovered there's a whole site devoted to this concept - Six Word Stories
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  • Profile picture of the author mccflo99
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  • Profile picture of the author mccflo99
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    • Profile picture of the author MontelloMarketing
      One Sentence - True stories, told in one sentence. is a site that allows people to tell entire stories in one sentence.

      Not exactly like short headline writing but...

      Very interesting if you're looking for ways to tell stories in sales letters in a concise way.

      Granted... much of what's posted there... sucks. And more than a few aren't one sentence stories, rather five or six sentence stories thrown into one long run on sentence.

      But here are a few neat little packages I found...

      "After surfing dozens of porn sites and downloading thousands of songs illegally, I finally got a virus on my laptop from a website containing quotes from the Bible." (Even comes with an unspoken moral to the story.)

      "While my dad told us not to throw any more rocks in the creek, I launched my last big one over my brother's head as he stood up." (Leaves the big third act to your imagination, but still...)

      "The hardest thing was driving to the funeral alone." (Definitely a whole story in that)
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      • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
        Banned
        Originally Posted by MontelloMarketing View Post

        One Sentence - True stories, told in one sentence. is a site that allows people to tell entire stories in one sentence.

        Not exactly like short headline writing but...

        Very interesting if you're looking for ways to tell stories in sales letters in a concise way.

        Granted... much of what's posted there... sucks. And more than a few aren't one sentence stories, rather five or six sentence stories thrown into one long run on sentence.

        But here are a few neat little packages I found...

        "After surfing dozens of porn sites and downloading thousands of songs illegally, I finally got a virus on my laptop from a website containing quotes from the Bible." (Even comes with an unspoken moral to the story.)

        "While my dad told us not to throw any more rocks in the creek, I launched my last big one over my brother's head as he stood up." (Leaves the big third act to your imagination, but still...)

        "The hardest thing was driving to the funeral alone." (Definitely a whole story in that)
        There's some beauties amongst that lot. Really good.
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  • Profile picture of the author balsimon
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