Six-word memoir unleashes Americans’ creative impulses

http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2008/3/15/columnists/stateside/20651327&sec=State%20Side

State Side
By FOO YEE PING

An infectious idea about writing a life story in just six words has taken over the American literary landscape. 

SEASONS Of Love, the hit song from the long-running Broadway musical Rent, asks a question that has no right or wrong answer: How do you measure the life of a woman or man? 

525,600 minutes;  

How do you measure a year?  

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee;  

In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife?  

How do you measure a year in life?  

So the lyrics go. 

Now, a New York-based online magazine has dared Americans to sum up their life in six words. 

Apparently, Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to tell a story within that limit and he wrote: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” 

Smith magazine decided to give the idea a fresh twist. Thus the six-word memoir was born and Americans have been hooked ever since. 

“We received at least 15,000 contributions,” said senior editor Rachel Fershleiser.  

That led to the publication of Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure, which has been on The New York Times bestseller list for the past two weeks. 

“Everybody wants an opportunity to tell his story. Sometimes, they are just not asked to do so,” Fershleiser said. 

Those six-word submissions reflected all sides of humanity.  

“It’s funny, it’s sad, it showed that people have a lot of resilience. They revealed their most private moments, how life isn’t what you always expected or planned and yet, things would work out,” she said in an interview. 

“In and out of hot water,” is contributor Piper Kerman's take.  

There is always the humour (“Carbohydrates call my name every day”); regrets (“Should have used condom that time”) and love (“Let’s just be friends, she said.” and “Fell in love. Married. Divorced. Repeat.”) 

These sixers have become great conversation pieces. 

“People talk about it in class, even in eulogies,” said Fershleiser, 28.  

One church minister mentioned it in his column in a Canadian newspaper, asking the faithful to ponder about their relationship with God in six words. 

Last month, The New York Times solicited the “joy of six” from its readers. Its blog has received more than 400 responses so far. 

“More sex would have been nice,” Dan Stackhouse wrote. “Six words? Not sure I can,” went another posting.  

Smith, a two-year-old online magazine, has organised book tours in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Austin to enthusiastic response. 

It was the same scene on Tuesday when a memoir reading was held at an independent bookstore in New York City’s Nolita neighbourhood. 

Contributors gamely shared their mini stories with others.  

“I gave up looking for love,” one man said. This was followed by a woman who admitted that “secretly, I dream of my ex-boyfriend”. 

Someone in the audience chipped in, trying to play matchmaker: “Have the two of you met?”  

Smith magazine, so named because it is the most popular surname in the United States, is a site that celebrates the joy of storytelling. Its tagline: Everyone has a story. 

It is now planning a second memoir written by children. 

Sarah Morrow, a 23-year-old marketing personnel, knew about the memoir from one of Smith’s editors. 

“I love it. It’s short, it makes it easy for people to express themselves,” she said. Her own personal narration? “Climbed mountains, didn’t like the view.” 

“It is a reflection of my goals. Once I accomplished them, it didn't feel as great,” she explained. 

So do you have what it takes to say it all in just six words? 

“It takes desire, guts; and most of all, you have to be honest,” Fershleiser said.  

Sometimes, words are just not enough. Or the less said the better. But for once, this is different. Six words, no more, no less.