Take a look at these extremely short stories based on our ten-word story challenge.
Send in your ten word story to contact@sparkyteaching.com.
The show was fabulous; the leading lady would be his… forever!
Mr Leonard
If this machine works, this sentence will end abrubt…
Milzo
Finds key. Open secret door. Unknown world. Suffer the consequences.
Chelsea
Lottery millionare has firework party but accidently burns his ticket.
Charlotte G.
Magical land, friendly fawn and evil witch… through the wardrobe.
Adam M.
Come on America’s waiting! Hold on I’m scared of you!
Megan
Little boy sells cow for magic beans. Kills Giant.
Year 1, St Just Primary
My dad went hunting. Shot deer. Shot his foot. Owwwww!
Dylay Fletcher
I’m Alex Rider. I saved the world.
Mr Dr
Small boy vs. giant monster! SPLAT!!! Ouch!! Bye bye boy!
SA
David Perkins shot into the goal. Stockport County had won!
Stockport Are My Life
My mum said kids drive her mental in the morning!
Cara
«Make tea tonight.» Oh dear… I can’t cook lettuce sandwiches!
Sophie
An earthquake hit Haiti. A tragic disaster. Many people died.
Miss D.
We snored. We were bored. They scored. We roared.
Alasdair G.
A small boy, lightning scar, unusual school… Lots of magic!
Charlotte S.
We’re going to scare some people tonight. Mwuhaha! Roar!
Lachlan F.
Jack climbs up the very high beanstalk. Giant comes… ARRGGG!!
DCYN
«I don’t like spies.» he said, killing Agent X.
OR
Gets up, saves world and goes back to bed.
MB and BA
The adventures STAR WARS! Oh… I’ve run out of words…
MCRVDYCN
I’m the wolf and my bottom went on fire.
YR
Cannibal ate little Red. «Little girls taste good!» he bellowed.
Henry
Another Sports Day with mean gym teacher. Banana guy arrives!
Anna M.
Cow swapped for seeds, plant grows, giant-killer Jack, rewards.
Jazz
Stupid time traveller sees himself engulfed in blood yesterday.
Felix Diamond
Ferrari driver drifts round the corner and wins the trophy.
Droopy
Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Elements, Magic exists.
IS
Yeeaah Bingo! Finally. Darn it, wrong number!
QTip
KABOOM!! I’ll never press that button again. What’s that?! KABOOM!!
Essy 11
Poor boy finds ticket and goes to factory. The End!
MB and BA
Boom!!! She turned into Wonder Woman and saved the world.
The Ompulumpas
Billy plays football, «Hold on I prefer ballet.»
Hamish
With long hair you can escape the castle.
Katie
My name’s Aggy. I’m a detective. I kill people sometimes.
Mrs Jordan
A cottage in the woods. A mysterious death.
Liam L.
Huff! Puff! House down. Strong house standing.
Ish
Bella. Vampire baby. Edward. Married.
Meg J.
Tom walked in. «The game is on,» he whispered.
Fraser S.
A factory, a boy and a golden ticket. What next?
Carlie C.
He’s big, he’s friendly, he’s a giant. It’s the B.F.G!
Rachel M.
A basement… but is Dad human?
Alice G.
Agent Black gets drunk and Loopy slays him.
Gotcha
The key couldn’t be turned, unless you’re a fairy. Kaboom!!
LMNJ
Little kids eat candy house… Oh no it’s the witch!
CN
I wrote a line of tripe, then put THE END.
Jack
My gingerbread ran out of the oven and into fox’s mouth.
Amelia and Jamelia
World War III. Nuclear missiles launched globally. Bombs explode. Annihilation.
Mr Scott
A ghost lives in the woods. And it’s still here today.
Leelee
«Mmm rabbit stew. Come on Fluffy, into the pot…»
battygirl83
Three children; one horrible uncle; a forced marriage…
Eilidh M.
Deep in the dark woods, mystery bear kills father…
Bailey F.
Comets, sun, moon, planets, black holes, interesting journey…
Rachael M.
My jedi story. Pick up a lightsabre. Oh I’m dead.
Eathan
Tried on my girlfriend’s engagement ring and now it’s stuck!
Megan
The game began. An eye popped out. Game over.
Chris Molnar
Kid does chores. Comes out bad.
Ewan
Woodlouse in polkadots pants.
Jonathan
Jack fell down the hill and Jill came tumbling after.
Rowan
Mouse meets three animals then meets Gruffalo.
Tom
A girl, rat, dodo and dragon… on an adventure.
Kayleigh M.
Jump, crash, bang, sirens’ «ne na». Engines roaring. Pain flaring.
Daniel H.
Wally, Woof, Wanda… who will you find next?
Keith K.
Twin sisters… but one has fangs!
Lucy M.
He’s big, he’s bad and he’s the…
Robbie T.
Willy Wonka opens chocolate factory. Golden ticket wins all.
Kevin M.
Gran drinks unusual medicine …and grows bigger and bigger.
Chris P.
Wolf tried to blow down house of bricks — bad luck!
Year 1, St Just Primary
Girl in red cloak visits gran with big teeth.
Fraser M.
«AHHH… ALIENS! WHY US?!»
Emma
Pink sky, green grass, blue sea, you see…
Fraser RT
A heart… a boy… and a pig.
Katie M.
Wolf eats granny. Man with axe kills wolf.
Rhys
Henry was locked in a castle, but Jago rescued him.
Stan
The story is magic… Guess what? … THE END!
Lukas
One cow. Two cows. Three cows. Four cows… ARGH!! LION!!
Kyle
Aliens invade, humans die.
HS
Three kids kill ogre — save the world before tea!
Alex
Little Red’s nan got eaten and never seen again (nooooo!!)
Leelee
Hello my name is… OH MAN… I’VE RAN OUT OF WORDS!
OM
Pig had house. Wolf blows down.
TR
A butterfly flew high into the sky, high, high, high.
Amelia and Jamelia
Hey guys in this contest you need to make up a bollywood story which conveys the whole context of the story in just 10 words!!!
You just need to write:
Bollywood couple:(the couples name that u want as your stories character-their name)
Mood:
The 10 word story:
Your name:
Tag my name,and put the title as 10 word story contest...
You can post this in you book and please don't forget to tag my name or then your entry will not be accepted!
The deadline is 20th August Saturday.
I want all you entries before 2oth august and I will post the winners by Sunday or Monday... You have 4 full days to think and write so I hope I get good romantic bollywood stories and I hope I get more people to participate!!😊
Just comment 'I'm Joining' in the comment box and please tag any 2 of your friends who are interested in participating in this contest...
All the best👍
Have fun writing and seeya till the next chapter!
This is a guest post by Rebecca Henderson.
Recently, I came across a contest with a word limit of ten words. That’s right, just ten words! I wanted to share with you some techniques I used to make the most impact and possibly win the prize. Here are a few of my first attempts:
Attempt #1:
She waited.
He called.
They talked.
Silence. His breath caught.
Attempt #2:
Doorbell. Sweet intent. Lies in waiting? Hysteria. The world awaits.
Technique #1: Verbs
If I could write a story that used action, then that would be a good vehicle for plot. After all, the majority of stories have to have something going on in them! So I knew that I had to use verbs, and most often they need subjects. The other thing I knew I could bank on was a familiar activity. If readers can take the limited cues you give them and recreate a scene in their head, then half the work is already done. People call each other because text won’t cut it and seeing each other is (sometimes) not an option. So, when someone calls you, there is an issue at hand to be resolved. The breath-catching part creates a bit of suspense, and I think that the “she” waiting and then “his breath” catching makes a good foundation for conflict. Readers wonder, what was said during the call.
Technique #2: Vignettes
I tried to go more visceral in my second attempt. Again, the doorbell sets up a familiar scenario, but what is “sweet intent”? And “lies in waiting” . . . what sort of meaning of ‘lies’ is implied? So, ambiguity and mystery helped me here as well to create suspense and curiosity in the reader. Hysteria is an emotion, a very powerful one, that I think baffles many people. The final sentence, while a bit dramatic, captures that unanswered question of “what happens next?
I decided to have another go.
Attempt #3:
Grocery store. Mass chaos. Baby food aisle. Matriarchs duel: life.
Technique #3:
This one packs in a lot of drama. First off, the grocery store establishes the setting, and chaos shows the mood. We are taken to the baby food aisle, where mothers are fighting. What kind of life are they fighting for? Food is life, or rather, sustenance, but babies also represent life, as in the continuation of a species.
My intent with this last ten-word story was to show place/setting, mood, conflict, and then an overarching theme. I’m unsure if conclusion is possible in this ten-word limit, but I could be wrong! I think a ten-word story might end with the reader going back and searching for more clues as to what happened. Whether they find answers or not depends on your word choice and intent.
Conclusion
I haven’t added in my submission here, but I do think it would be interesting to hear what your techniques are for challenges with very short word lengths, and how, if at all, you see such a focus on word choice affecting your lengthier works. Do you pick and choose words for a longer piece like you might for this competition?
Rebecca Henderson holds a Master’s in German and a Bachelor’s in Creative Writing. She is a freelance editor, proofreader, and beta reader for hire; to find more information, go to www.thekreativspace.wordpress.com. Best expressing herself through the written word, she enjoys the smell of burning rubber and can recite the ABC’s of the automotive world upon command. Rebecca hopes to shift your world perspective through her words, because looking out the same window every day hardly makes for an interesting life.
Between 5-paragraph essays, speeches, and Scull essays, Fay’s Upper School students have regular opportunities to write at length, but ultra-short writing presents a different kind of creative challenge.
One of the famous urban legends of the literary world involves a wager that Ernest Hemingway made at a roundtable luncheon at The Algonquin. The story goes that a companion bet him $10 that he couldn’t write a novel in 6 words. He wrote, “For sale, Baby shoes, Never worn.” on a napkin, passed it around the table, and collected his winnings.
Between 5-paragraph essays, speeches, and Scull essays, Fay’s Upper School students have regular opportunities to write at length, but ultra-short writing presents a different kind of creative challenge. In the vein of Hemingway’s wager, Upper School English teacher Rich Roberts recently challenged all the students in his Upper School classes to write a story in just ten words. To add to the creative challenge, each class was given just ten minutes to complete the assignment. As an option, students were allowed to add a title to contextualize the story if they wished to. Some students created multiple stories within the allotted time and others used titles to great effect.
The key to creating a great ten-word story is, “to use your ten words to infer the larger story behind them,” says Rich. Whether their stories were insightful, comic, or tragic, the exercise and its results illustrated the power that each individual word can have to convey meaning. Upper School English faculty will be evaluating the ten-word story submissions and will vote for the winner of the challenge. Here are some examples of the students’ work:
They Didn’t See the Bus
Young in-love, with the ring,
They crossed the street.
Dad likes eating hot dogs.
I can’t find my dachshund.
He finally scored,
but he kicked it in his goal.
Dear Cupid,
Next time, can you please hit both? Thanks.
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