Monday, December 12, 2005

One-sentence stories

Can you write a story in one sentence?

The Times Literary Supplement recently ran a piece about one-sentence stories, quoting Augusto Monterroso's "The Dinosaur". The TLS says: "The story is legendary in Latin America, and Italo Calvino regarded it as a model of pregnant brevity. Here's a tenatative translation:
'"When s/he awoke, the dinosaur was still there."'

So how about writing a one-sentence Regency story?

Here's mine:

She wondered how she had ended up in the rake's carriage.

5 comments:

Stephen said...

Here's mine:

"Yes, I will marry you Hector, of course I will, as long as you give me your word that you will never, ever, breathe a word of what has happened, not even the bit about the squirrels and the snuffbox."

Now I just need a synopsis for it.

Anonymous said...

A synopsis? Hm. How about: "Hector, never breathe the snuff?"

Kate Allan said...

Here you go:

"When a young lady marries a man twice her age, in the spring of 1809 specifically Lord Vernley’s marriage to Miss Windrush, Society assumes there is a compelling reason - but Society was wrong."

(gosh if only I could write novels this quickly!)

Stephen said...

I'll try again...

She gazed, for the very last time, on the reticule that held all her dreams.

Gabriele Campbell said...

"Lord Roslyn knew he had made a mistake when he beheld Fanny Asthon in a pink wedding gown that clashed with her red hair."