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One thousand words???

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Zblugg View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Zblugg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jul 2017 at 2:00pm
Originally posted by sparklehannah sparklehannah wrote:

Originally posted by BenFJackson BenFJackson wrote:

I love it. For the first draft, I tend to write until I'm done.

Then I cut. A LOT. Then I rewrite and cut A LOT more. Then I pray to the wordcount gods.


Same. I ended up writing 2753 and initially I was intending to write something longer. I was down to an hour and half to cut so I was definitely praying to those wordcount gods.

I hope you kept that longer version somewhere. You never know...

And so many good words died, it'd be a shame to just forget about them.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Vernacula Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jul 2017 at 3:42pm
Originally posted by Zblugg Zblugg wrote:

Originally posted by sparklehannah sparklehannah wrote:

Originally posted by BenFJackson BenFJackson wrote:

I love it. For the first draft, I tend to write until I'm done.

Then I cut. A LOT. Then I rewrite and cut A LOT more. Then I pray to the wordcount gods.


Same. I ended up writing 2753 and initially I was intending to write something longer. I was down to an hour and half to cut so I was definitely praying to those wordcount gods.

I hope you kept that longer version somewhere. You never know...

And so many good words died, it'd be a shame to just forget about them.


Let's all take a moment of silence for the words we have loved and lost. Dead
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote plkphoto Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jul 2017 at 7:23pm
Originally posted by sparklehannah sparklehannah wrote:

Originally posted by BenFJackson BenFJackson wrote:

I love it. For the first draft, I tend to write until I'm done.

Then I cut. A LOT. Then I rewrite and cut A LOT more. Then I pray to the wordcount gods.


Same. I ended up writing 2753 and initially I was intending to write something longer. I was down to an hour and half to cut so I was definitely praying to those wordcount gods.

I like to use a beta-reader word-eating locust swarm to help me cut the right words. I'm generally too close to the story at that point, and others can better tell what's not needed. Praying to the word count gods definitely helps as well! This time around, I only had 370 extra words (at 2 hours before the deadline)... and a group of betas helped me find the right ones to cut. (Thank you awesome betas! You know who you are!)

And as someone else mentioned above -- save those first drafts! One of the great things about this contest is getting a new, complete story written. You can then go revise it with all the comments you get in the forums (and from the judges), expand it back out if you need to, then submit that story to other places that don't have crazy word count limits... And if they pay enough, you can easily make back your entry fee. Smile

SIDE NOTE: If you want to publish your story later, be careful about how you share it on the forums. Many journals consider anything posted on a blog or other open-to-the-public site to be "previously published" and they either don't accept them, or they pay less. For details on how to protect your story, you can go check out Nixie's "This is for all you new people" thread.

FFC 2018

Ch1 Gr62 -- The Other Side of the Coin (Thriller)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sparklehannah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Jul 2017 at 2:22am
Definitely. It pains my heart to cut away good words. I don't even edit on my original drafts. Typically I copy and paste it into a new document before even touching it. I've experienced too many scenarios of words going MIA and me grasping at the seams trying to piece them back together.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote patsy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Jul 2017 at 10:16am
I love to do NaNo where you just free write and cram every word you can in to make a daily word count of 1667 for 30 days, so it's a definite mental switch to get a complete story in 1000 words.  But it keeps me on my toes Tongue 

Plus that word limit is a wonderful teaching tool for editing your own work into crisp clean wonderfulness Wink


Edited by patsy - 19 Jul 2017 at 10:17am
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