12-Word Novel

I was listening to On the Media this morning on NPR when the two hosts sent a shout out to all of us participating in NaNoWriMo. It was pretty exciting to hear, especially since it's taking more and more to motivate as I fall further and further behind. They put out a very interesting challenge to the would-be writers listening: rather than writing a long novel, write a very, very short one--12 words or fewer. I haven't written my 12-worder yet, but I'll post it tomorrow if I come up with something good. In the meantime, here are a couple of my favorite entries so far.


In the army, George discovered he was a coward. He told nobody.
--Leon Freilich

The children wept as mother shuddered. Father was the whiskey man again.
--James Lavin

Sit. This will take a while. You see, your mother is dead.
--Todd V.

Obituary; first five words free? She thought. "Charles dead. Yacht for Sale."
--Angela Stucker