The 68 word story

Tags: Original Writing
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Read Discussion
Reply to All

The history of the 68 word story: For the last week Mo has been obsessed with staying home. To pass the time we started digging in the flower beds and then we dug a border to plant some bulbs and still he wanted to dig. Our neighbor had a friend who had just clear cut some land and delivered to our neighbor some beautiful tree sections. Neighbor said we could have some tree so we are building a sort of raised garden bed thingy out of them.

I thought I would use my wood burning tool to carve a story into the tree sections - one word per section - 68 sections - 68 words. I wanted it to be a circular story without a real beginning or end since the bed thingy is built in a circle.

Here is the story I came up with:

once upon a time there was a boy who loved to dig and while he dug he talked of dinosaurs and China and chocolate cake and digging and many other things he loved and when he finished digging he chose some special toys: a llama and a cowboy and a car and he patted the earth down over them because he knew that someday there would be another

I realize the end doesn't lead cleanly to the beginning again but its the best I've been able to come up with.

I would love some suggestions though, of a better way to write a circle story, as I'm not completely satisfied with this one.

I appreciate any advice you can give me.

Thanks!

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link/Embed

Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 348 • Replies: 13

Re: The 68 word story
Great idea boomerang!

Best thing I can't think of to make it circular right now is to change this:

boomerang wrote:

he knew that someday there would be another

into this:

he knew that someday a man would say

0 Replies

Ohhh nice, JoeFX - thank you that does work much better!

0 Replies

no problem... I really liked the idea of the whole circular story

and on a personal preference I'd change

Quote:

once upon a time there was a boy

to

"I remember vividly that there was a boy"

or something of that vein as to remove the obvious start of 'once upon a time'.

0 Replies

I confess to having a soft spot for "once upon a time" but you've given me something to think about - it is a bit cliche.

I was first just going to burn decorative patterns into the section parts when the story idea came to me (via my chatterbox digging partner). Then I thought it would be cool if the story didn't have a beginning or end so I took out all of the punctuation and tried to make it into a circle. But I knew it needed improvement before I commited it to wood.

Keep suggesting! I really do apprceciate it.

I'll keep revising - I have a bit more anchoring and constructing to do so the story is still a bit down the line.

0 Replies

It's not the cliche part I'm against. It's the fact that it kinda breaks the circularity of the story.

It'd be ultra cool if one could start reading from any word and still make sense... but I don't know how to accomplish that. Something to think about.

Good luck with the project.

0 Replies

Oh now I see where you're coming from!

Maybe I could start it with "once there was a boy who loved to dig..."

And end it with something like "....so everyone would wonder if it was true that (once there was a boy who loved to dig).

Your idea of a completely circular story is very cool but I know it is way beyond my ability. If its something you figure out how to do I would love to see the results.

0 Replies

Maybe this:

once upon a time there was a boy who loved to dig and when he dug he talked of dinosaurs and chocolate cake and volcanoes and other things he loved and when he finished digging he planted a llama and a cowboy and a car to see if they would grow and then he wrote down the story so that everyone would wonder if it was true that

I changed "China" which we have talked about to volcanoes, which we have also talked about, since Mt. Saint Helen's is so very close and it is so active this week while we're working and we talk a lot about it too.

0 Replies

Indeed, it DOES have 68 words!

0 Replies

yes.. I like the second effort better...

and yes.. the circular idea is quite a challange

0 Replies

Ummm..... gee..... thanks, kellyvinal.

Thanks again, JoeFX, it is a challenge, but its something fun to think about while digging and hammering and strapping.

0 Replies

How is the project doing?
Is it finished?

0 Replies

Hi JoeFX.

I have the garden bed built and filled and ready to etch and plant. The rains hit just as we were finishing up so I'm thinking that I will have to wait until spring to actually get the story down.

I did buy a very cool woodburning tool. It has several different points so you can do all kinds of lettering. I've been having fun experimenting with it on these rainy days. By spring I might be pretty good!

0 Replies

Sounds like it's on track... good luck!

0 Replies

Read Discussion
Reply to All

The 68 word story

Related Topics