Comments on: Baby Shoes, Who Cares?

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:59:00 +0000

I am a mother who can instantly come up with 2 more. Perhaps the baby was larger than anticipated and the shoes too small, or the shoes were so nice that the mother was “saving” them for an occasion that never arose. Knowing Hemingway’s style a little, I’d say it was written “just to make you ask questions”.

By: Kathleen Ryan

Kathleen Ryan — Sat, 15 May 2010 02:39:15 +0000

This is one of the many intriguing aspects to hint fiction: each reader can infer something totally different.

I think the “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn” is a tremendous six word story, no matter who wrote it. There could be so many reasons “behind” this story, not limited to: a stillborn, an infant’s death, a kidnapping, an adoption that fell through, or, as Robert’s student suggested, the absence of legs.

I disagree with Sam’s comment, “if you bugger up a piece of hint fiction, you’ve spent a few minutes doing so…” I’ve spent hours and days on pieces of hint fiction. Can a piece be written in a few minutes? Absolutely. But it can also take hours or days to get it just right.

Just my two cents!

By: Robert Swartwood

Robert Swartwood — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:18:05 +0000

Jane – The only other tiny story written long ago I know about was Augusto Monterroso’s “El Dinosaurio” which I never really cared for. That’s why I’ve always felt the Hemingway piece was far superior. I was not aware, however, of the Kafka piece. I like it!

By: Jane Hammons

Jane Hammons — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:03:23 +0000

I like to believe Hemingway wrote it and am not very concerned if he didn’t. If he did, I agree with someone above that it isn’t his best writing. But it’s also not a “who cares”? Or everything is a “who cares”? That is the easiest way to dismiss just about anything. But I did get a laugh out of trying to picture Hemingway and one of his many wives on their way to a “Mom to Mom” swap. There was probably no time in Hemingway’s life when any family would have had the glut of baby items that we have now. I’m also not sure it’s true that no one ever wrote a six-word story before Hemingway. Kafka had a an 8-word story: “A cage went in search of a bird.” It came from his journals, so he really is the author. Oh and one last irrelevant comment: The Road is the only book by McCarthy that I have ever been able to finish.

By: Robert Swartwood

Robert Swartwood — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:38:09 +0000

Sophie – Tentacles, huh? That would make for a VERY interesting twist.

Sam – You’re right, of course. I am biased toward hint fiction, because at this point I HAVE to be But reread what I’d originally wrote. I’m not saying the six-word story IS Hemingway’s best work. I’m saying I really believe HE considered it his best work as, at the time, it had never been done before. Of course, I don’t think he could have ever imagined it becoming as popular as it was then, but it’s the same way for many authors: what we consider our best work, our favorite work, is usually not regarded so highly by others … if that makes sense.

Charles – Guess we’ll never know now, will be? And to think, you could have been THIS close to being on Oprah!

Aaron – You’re awesome. I know a handful of colleges are starting to play around with it, just as a few high schools are (a local high school made HF part of the mythology lesson this year, and that’s why a lot of stories submitted to this year’s contest contained mythological gods). But yes, we definitely are hoping schools pick it up.

By: Aaron Polson

Aaron Polson — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:02:28 +0000

Robert, with your background in education I’m sure you’ve already thought of this, but how about marketing the Hint Fiction anthology to schools? I plan on requisitioning a dozen or so for use in creative writing. What’s the rest of the story? (just like your inference activity)

Just sayin’.

While Sam has a point, it’s sort of the same as sitting in Art History class and *headdesk* when western art finally figured out how to do 3-d on a 2-d surface. What seems “duh” now, wasn’t at some point. Yes, you can tell a six word story, but before somebody like Hemmingway did it, was anyone listening? Well, now they are.

By: Charles Gramlich

Charles Gramlich — Thu, 13 May 2010 15:16:36 +0000

Although I liked “The Road” a lot, I can see that it’s brooding depressive nature would have turned many off it if it had been written, say, by me or thee.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 13 May 2010 09:22:13 +0000

i gotta be quick coz i’m at work, but there is no way in heaven, hell or the green and blue bits in between that this six word story is Hemingway’s best work (even hypothetically). Are you kidding? i love hint fiction and other super-short stories (and without meaning to boast, have won a couple of tiny competitions for the form), but c’mon, they aren’t anywhere as hard to construct as a long piece. I mean, with hint fiction especially you have time to write multiple attempts over a short period of time. no, it’s not infinite monkeys and infinite typewriter territory, but if you bugger up a piece of hint fiction, you’ve spent a few minutes doing so. you bugger up a novel or short story and you’ve lost days/weeks/months/years. i’ve written hint fiction, and similar to haiku, you write a handful and one or two work. or you combine two or three good ones to make a really good one.

i love your work Robert, but you’re obviously biased towards hint fiction. not a bad bias, but biased nonetheless. this oft-quoted six word story (Hemingway’s or not) reads like something i or any other writer would jot down in a notebook as the idea for a larger piece. it’s a reminder. it is 1%; the other 99% is not yet written. it’s like looking at a single brick and saying ‘this is as good as a house because i can imagine the house’.

i like to admire hint fiction for what it is; i really like it, but i’d choose a great short story over a thousand great pieces of hint fiction, any day of the week.

By: Sophie Playle

Sophie Playle — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:46:50 +0000

I love the idea that the baby was born without legs – that’s some original thinking! Maybe the baby had tentacles. Could be anything – that’s part of the fun: figuring out the ‘riddle’. I would think, though, that the author (Hemmingway or not) would probably have been suggesting death. Perhaps not through people’s inherent negative nature, but through reasoning. It’s a logical answer. And although the other possible answers outlined in the email are also logical, they are more boring answers, so I think readers would naturally learn towards a more emotion-packed and interesting answer… Because the very nature of a story is to entertain, and through our preconceptions of what a story is and does, we fill in the blanks to adhere to that definition.

Those are my thoughts, anyway.