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One thousand words???

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Forum Name: Creative Writing Corner
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Topic: One thousand words???
Posted By: angelagilbert
Subject: One thousand words???
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 12:56pm
My first time in the flash fiction, and I'm feeling the pressure of that painfully tiny word limit!!!!  Commiserate with me, fellow writers!!!!!  

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Replies:
Posted By: Hershey
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 12:57pm
Ha! Yeah, not new to flash fiction by any means but typed a whopping 500+ words this morning and was only JUST finished introducing the MC and setting up the important relationships. So...yeah...back to the drawing board. LOL


Posted By: inoreen
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 1:33pm
i had the exact same problem with my challenge 2 story last year--my genre was fantasy and i did WAY too much world-building that ultimately had to be scrapped. it helps me a lot to think of flash fiction pieces less as "stories" and more as "snapshots." otherwise i get a little carried away and butcher the word count limit

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100-Word MFC 2020
R1.G69 | In Progress


Posted By: Trond24
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 2:41pm
>>1000 words

200 words in - this is easy

550 words in - I know just what I am gonna do here

850 words in - OK, gotta actually introduce the crisis at some point

1150 words in - sh*t


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"Every time I think I've seen it all, a person comes along and objects to the mistreatment of rubber chickens."


Posted By: LyndaD
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 4:42pm
Originally posted by inoreen inoreen wrote:

i had the exact same problem with my challenge 2 story last year--my genre was fantasy and i did WAY too much world-building that ultimately had to be scrapped. it helps me a lot to think of flash fiction pieces less as "stories" and more as "snapshots." otherwise i get a little carried away and butcher the word count limit

I look at them this way as well.  I also try to limit myself to one or two characters and embed details that will suggest setting and physical descriptions to the reader. 


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Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 5:08pm
Granted, I rarely write short stories and mostly write novels, but here are my tips:

1. Don't worry about the word count first draft, just try and keep it to less than 1500 words. Concentrate on the story.

2. Don't waste time introducing characters, writing back story, or useless exposition. Tell the story with images and action.

3. OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS. I made this caps so it stands out. Chances are, your story is at least 10% needless words. You can eliminate 10-15% of your word count by omitting needless words. Often, a simple restructuring of a sentence, or finding one word to take the place of two or three, will parse your story down to a more manageable level without sacrificing any actual content.

We often write very backwards because we're writing the sentence is it occurs to us, which is not the most efficient way for it to be read. For example. Look for redundant qualifiers like 'more' and 'very' which convey little or non-specific information to the adjective and pick a better adjective, so instead of 'very loud' say 'deafening'.

4 - Determine what is necessary and what is unnecessary. Pick your spots for in-depth description, long strings of dialogue, and exposition. If it doesn't convey meaning necessary to character, setting, or story, scrap it. In a novel, nice little bits are essentially, but in a contest such as this, flourishes are a detriment if it adds nothing to the story. Essentially, unless your characters description actually matters enough to tell me their eye colour, hair colour, what they're wearing, how tall they are, leave it out. Absolute bare essentials.

5 - Lastly, keep your story idea small. You're not telling some grandiose story here with a fascinating world and history; you're providing a sliver. Pick a moment, or a short series of moments, and focus on that. Don't be afraid to be abstract, leave the story open to interpretation. You can save many words alluding to things rather than explaining them outright, through images, actions, or dialogue.

6 - Rewrite. Don't just edit, rewrite the whole thing from scratch, sentence by sentence. Read each sentence and then rewrite to maximize efficiency. Also while re-writing, reorganise information throughout the whole story as this too can eliminate redundancies and correct plot holes and incongruities. Editing alone usually lends to people only fixing mistakes, rather than correct deeper-seeded problems like pacing, order of information, and inconsistencies. Sometimes moving something from the end of the story to the middle (or wherever) means you can eliminate this entire 23 word sentence from another part of the story because it's now redundant.




Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 5:12pm
Also, when rewriting, read a sentence, ask yourself if it is essentially to the story; if not, scrap it. Often times you will find a sentence with a kernel of necessity in there, which can easily be amalgamated with another sentence, and you shed yourself of X number of needless words. 


Posted By: Fancynancy
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 6:58pm
Make every word count - towards character, scene, emotion, action. Don't waste a moment!


Posted By: Paul.Ford
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 7:15pm
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:



3. OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS. I made this caps so it stands out. Chances are, your story is at least 10% needless words. You can eliminate 10-15% of your word count by omitting needless words. Often, a simple restructuring of a sentence, or finding one word to take the place of two or three, will parse your story down to a more manageable level without sacrificing any actual content.

We often write very backwards because we're writing the sentence is it occurs to us, which is not the most efficient way for it to be read. For example. Look for redundant qualifiers like 'more' and 'very' which convey little or non-specific information to the adjective and pick a better adjective, so instead of 'very loud' say 'deafening'.



This is my favorite thing to do on a 2nd or 3rd revision. It's like a puzzleto solve! Love it!

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Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 7:21pm
Originally posted by Paul.Ford Paul.Ford wrote:



This is my favorite thing to do on a 2nd or 3rd revision. It's like a puzzleto solve! Love it!


To me, rewriting is where all the fun is! So few people these days (from my own probing) actually truly rewrite anymore...more revisions/editing than anything else. You have the whole picture, and now you have to make it work. It's fun moving chapters around, moving this backstory from spot C to spot G, finetuning how you give the reader information to maximise it's impact...it's quite thrilling. I find first drafts to be less fun because you're really only looking forward.

I just recently sent a novel off to my editor, but I wanted to do my own edit on it first. Just by omitting needless words and a few omissions, I shrunk a 127,000 word novel down to about 124,000, and this was after shrinking it from 134,000, and there's more story in the 124,000 draft than the 134,000 word draft.


Posted By: Fancynancy
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 8:13pm
Currently 145 words to cull. Coffee break. Must unclench teeth.


Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 8:22pm
I've culled mine from just under 1500 down to 1172, and I'm only about 3/5's the way through the story.


Posted By: BenFJackson
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 8:30pm
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.

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Posted By: Fancynancy
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 8:52pm
This. Hehe. I can see what I need to cut, he's a character with no purpose but I love him and don't want to drop him! Noooo!


Posted By: tcFlash
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 9:12pm
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

Granted, I rarely write short stories and mostly write novels, but here are my tips:

1. Don't worry about the word count first draft, just try and keep it to less than 1500 words. Concentrate on the story.

2. Don't waste time introducing characters, writing back story, or useless exposition. Tell the story with images and action.

3. OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS. I made this caps so it stands out. Chances are, your story is at least 10% needless words. You can eliminate 10-15% of your word count by omitting needless words. Often, a simple restructuring of a sentence, or finding one word to take the place of two or three, will parse your story down to a more manageable level without sacrificing any actual content.

We often write very backwards because we're writing the sentence is it occurs to us, which is not the most efficient way for it to be read. For example. Look for redundant qualifiers like 'more' and 'very' which convey little or non-specific information to the adjective and pick a better adjective, so instead of 'very loud' say 'deafening'.

4 - Determine what is necessary and what is unnecessary. Pick your spots for in-depth description, long strings of dialogue, and exposition. If it doesn't convey meaning necessary to character, setting, or story, scrap it. In a novel, nice little bits are essentially, but in a contest such as this, flourishes are a detriment if it adds nothing to the story. Essentially, unless your characters description actually matters enough to tell me their eye colour, hair colour, what they're wearing, how tall they are, leave it out. Absolute bare essentials.

5 - Lastly, keep your story idea small. You're not telling some grandiose story here with a fascinating world and history; you're providing a sliver. Pick a moment, or a short series of moments, and focus on that. Don't be afraid to be abstract, leave the story open to interpretation. You can save many words alluding to things rather than explaining them outright, through images, actions, or dialogue.

6 - Rewrite. Don't just edit, rewrite the whole thing from scratch, sentence by sentence. Read each sentence and then rewrite to maximize efficiency. Also while re-writing, reorganise information throughout the whole story as this too can eliminate redundancies and correct plot holes and incongruities. Editing alone usually lends to people only fixing mistakes, rather than correct deeper-seeded problems like pacing, order of information, and inconsistencies. Sometimes moving something from the end of the story to the middle (or wherever) means you can eliminate this entire 23 word sentence from another part of the story because it's now redundant.



Number five got me a couple of years ago. Granted, it was in the SSC, not FF, but it still applies. My prompt character was a foreign exchange student. Genre was comedy. I wrote my story about the entire summer he was in the US. I tried to make everything funny. Needless to say.....so I won't say it. Very true. Keep the story focused and small. 


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Posted By: tcFlash
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 9:15pm
I ended my first draft under 1200. Now it's at 978. That's the best I've done in a long time. I've cut from 2200 before. Misery for me and death to the story.

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Posted By: tcFlash
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 9:17pm
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.

I'm a word count god atheist. He never answered my prayers. 


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Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 9:20pm
I'm the only god in my writing. I am a vengeful God. Ask all the poor people I've destroyed. Oh wait, YOU CAN'T.


Posted By: tcFlash
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 9:25pm
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

I'm the only god in my writing. I am a vengeful God. Ask all the poor people I've destroyed. Oh wait, YOU CAN'T.

You will not be writing my biography.Dead


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Posted By: nixie
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 9:56pm
Originally posted by Trond24 Trond24 wrote:

>>1000 words

200 words in - this is easy

550 words in - I know just what I am gonna do here

850 words in - OK, gotta actually introduce the crisis at some point

1150 words in - sh*t

lolyep


Posted By: LyndaD
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 10:06pm
Originally posted by Fancynancy Fancynancy wrote:

This. Hehe. I can see what I need to cut, he's a character with no purpose but I love him and don't want to drop him! Noooo!

Save him for your rewrite after the contest.  I always save a first, unedited, unrevised, uncut, draft to refer to later when I want to polish the story without the constraints of the prompt. Some stuff goes back in, some stuff doesn't.


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Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 10:16pm
Do people normally re-work the story after the contest? I'm leaving them as is.


Posted By: LyndaD
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 11:05pm
If they're thinking about submitting it for publication or in another contest (that isn't prompt-based).  Some do it just for fun.

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Posted By: Cowyoga
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 11:59pm
Things I tell myself: you have been brief once or twice in your life. You can do it again.

Things I do: spend 942 words creating the backstory for an effing creek.

Tell my children I died doing what I love.

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FFC Ch2 Gr63 https://tinyurl.com/ydf2zys2" rel="nofollow - Not in My Back Yard (15 pts)


Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 12:02am
Why would a creek ever need a backstory? It's a creek.


Posted By: Cowyoga
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 12:07am
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

Why would a creek ever need a backstory? It's a creek.


Well sure, now it is because I've had to cut its entire backstory.

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Posted By: Zblugg
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 12:14am
When cutting, I feel like it's just fricking painful to look at your brainthing, you wordbaby, and honestly identify useless parts. Honesty towards yourself is hard above all.

Self-delusion is such ancomfy couch to lie on...

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Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 12:16am
Yeah, but why would a creek need a backstory, ever? It's a creek. Seem like unnecessary exposition to me no matter the project. Just wondering what the thought process is behind such a choice.  Do you read a lot of Tolkien who would ramble about a hill for six pages?


Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 12:17am
Originally posted by Zblugg Zblugg wrote:

When cutting, I feel like it's just fricking painful to look at your brainthing, you wordbaby, and honestly identify useless parts. Honesty towards yourself is hard above all.

Self-delusion is such ancomfy couch to lie on...


That's why you must be heartless and unfeeling. Sentimentality and pride are the downfall of writers.


Posted By: LyndaD
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 12:20am
And if that's what you like (to read or write), what's wrong with it?  It is what it is.  Maybe it's a sentient creek. Maybe it's the personification of the son of a river god.  Maybe it's just a really cool creek.
While I agree that flash fiction is not the place for extensive back stories, I don't understand the questioning of a place having a backstory.


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Posted By: Cowyoga
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 12:25am
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

Yeah, but why would a creek need a backstory, ever? It's a creek. Seem like unnecessary exposition to me no matter the project. Just wondering what the thought process is behind such a choice.  Do you read a lot of Tolkien who would ramble about a hill for six pages?


Here lies a question that will remain unanswered, another casualty of word count.

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Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 12:25am
Originally posted by LyndaD LyndaD wrote:

And if that's what you like (to read or write), what's wrong with it?  It is what it is.  Maybe it's a sentient creek. Maybe it's the personification of the son of a river god.  Maybe it's just a really cool creek.
While I agree that flash fiction is not the place for extensive back stories, I don't understand the questioning of a place having a backstory.


There has to be a reason for the backstory. You don't just arbitrarily give back stories for every location in every story. If it doesn't directly affect a character or that back story isn't essential to understanding the story, then it's superfluous. If I was reading a story and they talked about a creek for 3 pages, I'd stop reading, and I don't think I'm alone on this. She even said she realised she had to make it just a creek, I just want to understand the motivation to say 'I'm starting a story, let's write a back story on a creek to start us off'. It just seems...misguided.

I'm not making fun, I'm just fascinated by artist motivations and inspirations.


Posted By: Cowyoga
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 12:37am
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

Originally posted by LyndaD LyndaD wrote:

And if that's what you like (to read or write), what's wrong with it?  It is what it is.  Maybe it's a sentient creek. Maybe it's the personification of the son of a river god.  Maybe it's just a really cool creek.
While I agree that flash fiction is not the place for extensive back stories, I don't understand the questioning of a place having a backstory.



There has to be a reason for the backstory. You don't just arbitrarily give back stories for every location in every story. If it doesn't directly affect a character or that back story isn't essential to understanding the story, then it's superfluous. If I was reading a story and they talked about a creek for 3 pages, I'd stop reading, and I don't think I'm alone on this. She even said she realised she had to make it just a creek, I just want to understand the motivation to say 'I'm starting a story, let's write a back story on a creek to start us off'. It just seems...misguided.

I'm not making fun, I'm just fascinated by artist motivations and inspirations.


My guy. I just read your post about how you neither seek nor provide feedback due to how unnecessary you find it. I am, similarly, not seeing the necessity of explaining the motivation behind a decision I've made in a first draft. Let us consider that neither of us is likely to find ourselves in the other's readership and call it a day here. I, for one, have to get back to writing the exquisite details of a stately old oak tree that personifies (somewhat inexplicably, but I'll make it work) the indignity of the standard gynecological exam.

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FFC Ch2 Gr63 https://tinyurl.com/ydf2zys2" rel="nofollow - Not in My Back Yard (15 pts)


Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 1:02am
No need to be testy, I'm always curious about the methods of other writers, that's all. I like to talk about the process with writers, not the work. I'm sure you'd find aspects of my approach equally puzzling.


Posted By: AllisonM
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 1:58am
First draft ended at a decent 1024 words. Now I'm at 984 and feeling okay. My beta readers, however, are asking for backstory, more story, and wanting to know what happens next. Whomp whomp. :(


Posted By: Cowyoga
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 2:43am
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

No need to be testy, I'm always curious about the methods of other writers, that's all. I like to talk about the process with writers, not the work. I'm sure you'd find aspects of my approach equally puzzling.


To be clear, I'm not testy or bothered by you even remotely. I'm used to you because you exist everywhere.

Since my process is both misguided and fascinating, I'll lay it out:

I start off by writing the story exactly as it comes to me. If writing a lengthy history of a creek that flows behind my protagonist's house is where it goes, I let it. When I sit down to write each day, I sometimes start with no idea at all. I start writing anyway and somewhere along the way, maybe in a detailed description of the slug damage on my hostas, I find the story. With a themed contest, I've done a bit more planning, but only a bit. I've spent part of a day thinking about the assignment and ruling out the obvious plots and cliches. I know who what where and when. When I start writing, I learn more. Maybe I learn in 942 words that the creek behind my protagonist's house was the same creek her father played in when he was a child. Maybe I learn that my protagonist lives in the kind of small town that still refers to a home as the old Mason place long after the last Mason has passed and the Meyers' have moved in. Maybe I learn that my protagonist walks to school along the creek instead of along the sidewalk because she thinks her dad is just swell and wants to be just like him. In my second draft, third draft, fourteenth draft, final draft? Yea most of that won't make it in. I'll cut that which needs cutting and put it in my graveyard. I won't feel bad for killing it, since nothing stays dead there for long (not unlike the cemetary that sits on the western bank of that creek, I might add.) Eventually, I'll pluck a cut scene or sentence about this now notorious creek and revive it somewhere new, somewhere that it has room to breathe and grow and then I'll give it entire chapters. I'll name the damn thing Sally's Creek and figure out who Sally is later.

Now, let's look at context. I'm not going to die editing this story (unless I'm so confused by revision and my own process, which surely no one would imply, that I don't even notice when that creek floods again and sweeps me away, extraneous details and all.) So with that knowledge, we can surmise that I was in no true peril when I shared that I'd written a 942 word backstory of the creek and would die in service of revising it. We can likely conclude, then, that it was a passing observation of my progress, shared in both jest and solidarity, on a post specifically about the challenges of the word count.

Any other questions will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm tired and now I have to figure out who this Sally is. Just let me know when you decide if you've made a powerful enemy or a hilarious new best friend.

Wanna know the real bitch of all this? My setting is a horse stable. You don't even want to know how many words that thing started off with. Whoo boy.

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Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 3:44am
That's definitely an interesting approach though to me it seems inefficient, or backwards, compared to my processing. I generally take a concept I wish to explore, a theme or an emotion or a circumstance, and I build around that. I have no idea what my world is, who populates it, or what is going to happen. It's kind of like digging up a fossil and not knowing what it's going to be in the end. It seems that you write in search of a concept whereas I pick the concept and then I write  until something human comes out of it. It's amazing how vastly different two people can approach the same craft. Thanks for sharing.


Posted By: cbb
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 4:04am
My wordcount is going to be around a brisk 800! Does this seem insanely low? 


Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 4:07am
There is no such thing as too low, only too much. Though if you're low, make sure it isn't low because it's lacking something you just don't know it's lacking, and it's low because that's all you need. I don't see how being shorter would be a detriment...quality not quantity.


Posted By: vanwijk88
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 8:16am
This is my first time doing any kind of writing competition and I really felt that word limit. Even whilst making a conscious effort to keep it short whilst writing, I ended up at 1300 words for first draft. Managed to get it down to 998 without cutting anything too core, but I do miss some of the detail :P 

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"I intend to live forever or die trying."


Posted By: nixie
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 9:13pm
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

Yeah, but why would a creek need a backstory, ever? It's a creek. Seem like unnecessary exposition to me no matter the project. Just wondering what the thought process is behind such a choice.  Do you read a lot of Tolkien who would ramble about a hill for six pages?

Tolkien sells. Just sayin'...


Posted By: Kiki Duclos
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 9:46pm
For me and this challenge -- 1000 was perfect.  I worked all day Saturday and today until 4 so ...

I sat down at my computer at 5 pm, pretended I was telling my favorite 7-year-old (now my favorite 13-year-old) a bedtime story and finished in 4 hours with 926 words.  If it had to do more it would have never gotten done!


Posted By: Shadies01
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 10:01pm
I hit 1000 exactly, without even trying. I have no idea how I managed that. :)  (this by no means implies that they were good 1000 words!)


Posted By: ajbosworth
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 11:08pm
Indeed!
I tend to be an over-writer so 1000 words feels "naked" in terms of description.  This is part of why I signed up for this challenge.  My first draft was somewhere around 1350!?! I felt like I cut out half of what I originally had down Confused


Posted By: ASharedNarrative
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 11:19pm
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

Why would a creek ever need a backstory? It's a creek.


You need to read more French lit.

Hugo alone will bury you in geography and architecture that have backstories long enough to be their own novels.

And you will either find it very rich and rewarding, like one of those sundaes that are made from six kinds of chocolate that you can only take a few bites at a time from, because of its richness...

...or you're absolutely going to hate it.


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2018 SSC
R1 G62 (Spy) - http://bit.ly/2EKzhl0" rel="nofollow - Ex Parte


Posted By: ASharedNarrative
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 11:21pm
Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

I, for one, have to get back to writing the exquisite details of a stately old oak tree that personifies (somewhat inexplicably, but I'll make it work) the indignity of the standard gynecological exam.


I must read this. Even if you cut it.

Save it and share it.

I must know.


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2018 SSC
R1 G62 (Spy) - http://bit.ly/2EKzhl0" rel="nofollow - Ex Parte


Posted By: stephenmatlock
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2017 at 11:28pm
Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

Things I tell myself: you have been brief once or twice in your life. You can do it again.

Things I do: spend 942 words creating the backstory for an effing creek.

Tell my children I died doing what I love.


That's the beauty of writing. Your mind tells you the story, and you go with it. You can get the word count if you write long enough. But what is the story? That's always the thing for me.

Sometimes the first few writing passes for me just lay out the world, but I look to see what happens to the people in that world. What is actually going on? Where is the conflict? Drama? Tension? To me, that is the story.

I love reading Tolkien because he is soothing and grand. I also like Hemmingway because he is arrow-quick to the point. But I like them both because they use their tools and style to build that story, to explore the people. If it takes 10,000 words or 50 words, I'm interested in the story.


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Posted By: Alexis_H
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 8:53am
Originally posted by Fancynancy Fancynancy wrote:

This. Hehe. I can see what I need to cut, he's a character with no purpose but I love him and don't want to drop him! Noooo!

This is my thing. I make a secondary character who I love more than my main but who only works in a secondary nature. My husband questioned my third character this round. I argued the case for keeping her and he simply rolled his eyes. In fairness I feel my point was valid...maybe... LOL


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Posted By: Alexis_H
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 8:59am
Originally posted by cbb cbb wrote:

My wordcount is going to be around a brisk 800! Does this seem insanely low? 

As long as it tells the story, it matters not. Smile


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Posted By: Alexis_H
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 9:04am
I hit 2087 in the first draft to get the feel of my story. Rewrote to focus and cut out the unnecessary (including merging 2 characters into 1) to get down to 1300 (ish) and then started doing the sentence rewording to omit the additional words and make sure that the story felt as "immediate" as I could. Finally coming in at a lovely 998.

I'm in big trouble next round, I'm travelling when the prompts come out and will have about 5 hours to write before submission. I pray to the fiction gods for good prompts! If they give me satire I'm packing up and going home in a flouncy huff!


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Posted By: annelindleyk
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 9:24am
This is my second year in the contest. The first time, my problem was that I got an idea for a story without knowing how much story would fit in 1000 words. Last year, my first draft was closer to 3000 words. I was able to cut the story to 1000 but it sounded like a longer story that had been butchered (which it was).

This year I tried something new. I pictured my story idea in five sections. (Intro, problems one, two, and three, outro). Then I worked on each section, mindful of a word count as I went along. Each section needed to be about 200 words.

For the final draft, I tinkered with the arc of the story, adjusting the rhythms and pacing to tell the story effectively. Some sections ended up above 200 and some sections were below 200, depending on what I needed to do to keep the story moving.

I found this a much more sane way to proceed. I had a decent 1200 word story by midday Sunday. I cut the excess by Omitting Needless Words and saying things once instead of twice.


Posted By: Alexis_H
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 9:30am
Originally posted by annelindleyk annelindleyk wrote:

saying things once instead of twice.

Husband did point out that my character had discovered she was naked and then I highlighted it again 2 lines down. I told him "it seemed quite important to her plight and therefore worth repeating".

He rolls his eyes a lot. LOL


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Posted By: Hershey
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 9:32am
Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

Yeah, but why would a creek need a backstory, ever? It's a creek. Seem like unnecessary exposition to me no matter the project. Just wondering what the thought process is behind such a choice.  Do you read a lot of Tolkien who would ramble about a hill for six pages?


Here lies a question that will remain unanswered, another casualty of word count.

LOL

Your responses are making this back and forth delightful to read. 


Posted By: Vernacula
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 9:35am
Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:


I, for one, have to get back to writing the exquisite details of a stately old oak tree that personifies (somewhat inexplicably, but I'll make it work) the indignity of the standard gynecological exam.


LOL


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Posted By: Vernacula
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 9:42am
Originally posted by Hershey Hershey wrote:

Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:



Here lies a question that will remain unanswered, another casualty of word count.

LOL

Your responses are making this back and forth delightful to read. 


Cowyoga is my new spirit animal. I've already written 5,000 words about how this thread makes me feel.


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Posted By: AnastasiaW
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 10:00am
I think I solved the flash fiction word count conundrum this time (although I wouldn't recommend my method). I was driving from Sydney to Melbourne. Two straight days driving.
When I got the prompt I thought about context and setting for a few hours and then picked some suitable characters (no more than two) and a loose theme. With this I wrote a sharp few opening paragraphs 150 words that night.
I then drove for a day thought. Got exhausted. Forgot I was doing the competition. Arrived home, got drunk, remembered, panicked. I thought up my major plot points before bed.
Next morning wrote the story in two hours. Only 30 words over. Edited it in two. Submitted.
So planning and thinking and sleeping - short writing time - few extra words. Ta da!

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Posted By: Cowyoga
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 11:13am
Originally posted by Vernacula Vernacula wrote:

Originally posted by Hershey Hershey wrote:

Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:



Here lies a question that will remain unanswered, another casualty of word count.

LOL

Your responses are making this back and forth delightful to read. 


Cowyoga is my new spirit animal. I've already written 5,000 words about how this thread makes me feel.

If half of them aren't about a sentient creek you're doing it wrong. 


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Posted By: Joni
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 11:46am
Newbie to flash fiction here too. After editing and rewriting and thinking the story was as short as it could possibly be, it had 1600 words. I cut it down and got it under the word count, but I have no idea if it even makes sense anymore. I felt like everything I cut out was necessary to the story, so it was definitely a challenge. I got it done and turned in though, which is a better result than I expected when I saw the assignment lol. 


Posted By: Schrifty
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 11:49am
Originally posted by annelindleyk annelindleyk wrote:



This year I tried something new. I pictured my story idea in five sections. (Intro, problems one, two, and three, outro). Then I worked on each section, mindful of a word count as I went along. Each section needed to be about 200 words.

 


That's very close to my method.  I love hearing about how everyone does it but I find that I have a much more relaxing weekend if I watch my word count like a hawk and revise before I get too far off the plot rails.

I allow myself 300 words each for opening scene, middle, and ending, knowing that I'm going to need to adjust as I go.  But I know that if I let my characters talk for awhile and their scene starts getting close to 300 it's time to cut tangents and force them to get back on topic. 

If I had more than 48 hours I might let my mind wander (and I totally want to try Cowyoga's strategy for some of my longer projects) but keeping a tight hold on it this time around saved my sanity in a big way.


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Posted By: nod1v1ng
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 11:58am
Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

Originally posted by Vernacula Vernacula wrote:

Originally posted by Hershey Hershey wrote:

Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:



Here lies a question that will remain unanswered, another casualty of word count.

LOL

Your responses are making this back and forth delightful to read. 


Cowyoga is my new spirit animal. I've already written 5,000 words about how this thread makes me feel.

If half of them aren't about a sentient creek you're doing it wrong. 

Someday the Flash Fiction Gods will saddle me with a comedy... and I shall remember this lovely repartee. LOL


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Posted By: mhelgens
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 1:33pm
I wrote a 2400 word first draft and spent the next 8 hours cutting it to 998. 😝 Very painful to kill your darlings, but I think the story is still there.... Which makes me wonder what the hell I was talking about for the other 1400 words.... ? 😂

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Posted By: Archon1995
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 1:55pm
I stayed up for the prompts and had my story idea before I hit the sack. After a day and a half I couldn't in good conscience pare it down to the 1k limit. Too much setting info that had to be there or the reader would be lost.

So I wrote a completely new one starting 4:30pm Sunday. Geh.


Posted By: HeatherHaze
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 3:45pm
Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

No need to be testy, I'm always curious about the methods of other writers, that's all. I like to talk about the process with writers, not the work. I'm sure you'd find aspects of my approach equally puzzling.


To be clear, I'm not testy or bothered by you even remotely. I'm used to you because you exist everywhere.

Since my process is both misguided and fascinating, I'll lay it out:

I start off by writing the story exactly as it comes to me. If writing a lengthy history of a creek that flows behind my protagonist's house is where it goes, I let it. When I sit down to write each day, I sometimes start with no idea at all. I start writing anyway and somewhere along the way, maybe in a detailed description of the slug damage on my hostas, I find the story. With a themed contest, I've done a bit more planning, but only a bit. I've spent part of a day thinking about the assignment and ruling out the obvious plots and cliches. I know who what where and when. When I start writing, I learn more. Maybe I learn in 942 words that the creek behind my protagonist's house was the same creek her father played in when he was a child. Maybe I learn that my protagonist lives in the kind of small town that still refers to a home as the old Mason place long after the last Mason has passed and the Meyers' have moved in. Maybe I learn that my protagonist walks to school along the creek instead of along the sidewalk because she thinks her dad is just swell and wants to be just like him. In my second draft, third draft, fourteenth draft, final draft? Yea most of that won't make it in. I'll cut that which needs cutting and put it in my graveyard. I won't feel bad for killing it, since nothing stays dead there for long (not unlike the cemetary that sits on the western bank of that creek, I might add.) Eventually, I'll pluck a cut scene or sentence about this now notorious creek and revive it somewhere new, somewhere that it has room to breathe and grow and then I'll give it entire chapters. I'll name the damn thing Sally's Creek and figure out who Sally is later.

Now, let's look at context. I'm not going to die editing this story (unless I'm so confused by revision and my own process, which surely no one would imply, that I don't even notice when that creek floods again and sweeps me away, extraneous details and all.) So with that knowledge, we can surmise that I was in no true peril when I shared that I'd written a 942 word backstory of the creek and would die in service of revising it. We can likely conclude, then, that it was a passing observation of my progress, shared in both jest and solidarity, on a post specifically about the challenges of the word count.

Any other questions will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm tired and now I have to figure out who this Sally is. Just let me know when you decide if you've made a powerful enemy or a hilarious new best friend.

Wanna know the real bitch of all this? My setting is a horse stable. You don't even want to know how many words that thing started off with. Whoo boy.

That was epic.  Please shut off the Internet.  It doesn't get better than that.  


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Posted By: tcFlash
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 4:00pm
Originally posted by Archon1995 Archon1995 wrote:

I stayed up for the prompts and had my story idea before I hit the sack. After a day and a half I couldn't in good conscience pare it down to the 1k limit. Too much setting info that had to be there or the reader would be lost.

So I wrote a completely new one starting 4:30pm Sunday. Geh.

I should have done that a couple of years ago with a story I hacked down from 2200 to 1000. At the end it sort of looked like me in a pair of pants that are way too tight. You know, all the tight stretch lines? Not pretty. I should try to come up with a better comparison. For now, that ugly mental image will have to work. 


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Posted By: patsy
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 4:19pm
Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

  I, for one, have to get back to writing the exquisite details of a stately old oak tree that personifies (somewhat inexplicably, but I'll make it work) the indignity of the standard gynecological exam.

I just came from there. I'm not sure that indignity can be described - at least not to a male. 
ROTFL! LOL  


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Posted By: Cowyoga
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 5:15pm
Originally posted by ASharedNarrative ASharedNarrative wrote:

Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

I, for one, have to get back to writing the exquisite details of a stately old oak tree that personifies (somewhat inexplicably, but I'll make it work) the indignity of the standard gynecological exam.


I must read this. Even if you cut it.

Save it and share it.

I must know.

I did something for you. And I did it in second person future tense and gave everything two descriptions because I really wanted to be as pretentious and unnecessary as possible: 

Others will find comfort in the old oak tree that sits in the otherwise empty field on the northern shore of Sally’s Creek, but you will find it unsettling. Where they will see a certain stately beauty and comforting familiarity that harks back to the tire swings and tree houses of their youth, you will see some initially vague discomfort. It won’t be until later, when the cloth of night has fallen and gifted you with the solitude and silence you’d yearned for all day, that you will fit the pieces together: the deep cuts in the bark, how raw and precise they were, like wounds that refused to heal in a million separate displays of defiance; the way the branches struck out, all akimbo and unnatural angles; the way the others grabbed for any hold that might help them seize access to heights to which they would always feel entitled; the liberties they took with the hollows in the trunk as though the tree herself were not a living thing, as though the tree were not home and hearth to so many living things. You will sit there under the vast web of stars that, much like you, will be at their most vibrant without the light of the city to dull them while the picture unfolds before you. In the moment that you finally see it clearly, after each piece has slid into place and the greater whole is revealed, you will swear that you hear the tree gasp right along with you. Out there, to the air and to the sky and to the creek and to the stars and to the tree herself, you will look up and you will breathe out and you will say, “Women’s healthcare is f**ked in this country,” and the earth herself will agree.

<fin> 



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Posted By: ASharedNarrative
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 5:22pm
Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

Originally posted by ASharedNarrative ASharedNarrative wrote:

Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

I, for one, have to get back to writing the exquisite details of a stately old oak tree that personifies (somewhat inexplicably, but I'll make it work) the indignity of the standard gynecological exam.


I must read this. Even if you cut it.

Save it and share it.

I must know.

I did something for you. And I did it in second person future tense and gave everything two descriptions because I really wanted to be as pretentious and unnecessary as possible: 

Others will find comfort in the old oak tree that sits in the otherwise empty field on the northern shore of Sally’s Creek, but you will find it unsettling. Where they will see a certain stately beauty and comforting familiarity that harks back to the tire swings and tree houses of their youth, you will see some initially vague discomfort. It won’t be until later, when the cloth of night has fallen and gifted you with the solitude and silence you’d yearned for all day, that you will fit the pieces together: the deep cuts in the bark, how raw and precise they were, like wounds that refused to heal in a million separate displays of defiance; the way the branches struck out, all akimbo and unnatural angles; the way the others grabbed for any hold that might help them seize access to heights to which they would always feel entitled; the liberties they took with the hollows in the trunk as though the tree herself were not a living thing, as though the tree were not home and hearth to so many living things. You will sit there under the vast web of stars that, much like you, will be at their most vibrant without the light of the city to dull them while the picture unfolds before you. In the moment that you finally see it clearly, after each piece has slid into place and the greater whole is revealed, you will swear that you hear the tree gasp right along with you. Out there, to the air and to the sky and to the creek and to the stars and to the tree herself, you will look up and you will breathe out and you will say, “Women’s healthcare is f**ked in this country,” and the earth herself will agree.

<fin> 


Big damn hero?

Ain't you just.


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Posted By: Hrafnkel
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 5:39pm
Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

Originally posted by ASharedNarrative ASharedNarrative wrote:

Originally posted by Cowyoga Cowyoga wrote:

I, for one, have to get back to writing the exquisite details of a stately old oak tree that personifies (somewhat inexplicably, but I'll make it work) the indignity of the standard gynecological exam.


I must read this. Even if you cut it.

Save it and share it.

I must know.

I did something for you. And I did it in second person future tense and gave everything two descriptions because I really wanted to be as pretentious and unnecessary as possible: 

Others will find comfort in the old oak tree that sits in the otherwise empty field on the northern shore of Sally’s Creek, but you will find it unsettling. Where they will see a certain stately beauty and comforting familiarity that harks back to the tire swings and tree houses of their youth, you will see some initially vague discomfort. It won’t be until later, when the cloth of night has fallen and gifted you with the solitude and silence you’d yearned for all day, that you will fit the pieces together: the deep cuts in the bark, how raw and precise they were, like wounds that refused to heal in a million separate displays of defiance; the way the branches struck out, all akimbo and unnatural angles; the way the others grabbed for any hold that might help them seize access to heights to which they would always feel entitled; the liberties they took with the hollows in the trunk as though the tree herself were not a living thing, as though the tree were not home and hearth to so many living things. You will sit there under the vast web of stars that, much like you, will be at their most vibrant without the light of the city to dull them while the picture unfolds before you. In the moment that you finally see it clearly, after each piece has slid into place and the greater whole is revealed, you will swear that you hear the tree gasp right along with you. Out there, to the air and to the sky and to the creek and to the stars and to the tree herself, you will look up and you will breathe out and you will say, “Women’s healthcare is f**ked in this country,” and the earth herself will agree.

<fin> 



Congratulations on having written your first Terrence Malick film, in miniature, with a punchline.

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Posted By: roccapia
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 5:44pm
cbb, you sound like me. While most others have a problem culling down their word count, I have a problem making the word count. I got up to 986 on this round and never busted 1000. I'm a novelist mostly, and don't write short stories much, but I entered the short story competition and had the same issue, trying to make my stories long enough. I got up to Round 3 in that competition, so was proud of what I did, and I'm enjoying this competition because the word count is even shorter. Of course, my novels are usually pretty short too.

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Posted By: MattrickBT
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 6:01pm
Originally posted by ASharedNarrative ASharedNarrative wrote:

Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

Why would a creek ever need a backstory? It's a creek.


You need to read more French lit.

Hugo alone will bury you in geography and architecture that have backstories long enough to be their own novels.

And you will either find it very rich and rewarding, like one of those sundaes that are made from six kinds of chocolate that you can only take a few bites at a time from, because of its richness...

...or you're absolutely going to hate it.


Different times, different styles. I am sure a lot of that was fairly historically accurate as well. To me there is a difference between exploring actual history and locations, and creating arbitrary history.


Posted By: Findy
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 6:49pm
It's my first time writing for this competition.
I' ve recently done a creative writing course which encouraged us to write flash fiction every week - and that was 500 words.  Compared to that, 1000 seems like a luxury.
A single snapshot of an event can be a whole story, if you are a person who likes writing lots of description.  If you are someone who likes to tell a more complex story, then you can do it in just the most simple of terms.  By clever use of nouns and verbs you can almost manage without adjectives and adverbs, but the few that slip through the net will be all the more powerful for being there.  It's often easier to edit out a whole paragraph than a few words, and it can make the story much faster paced.  It's about how you engage the reader - even 500 words can be boring if they are badly chosen.
My children's English teacher used to challenge them to write a whole story in 50 words...it's amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it.



Posted By: LyndaD
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 8:36pm
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

Originally posted by ASharedNarrative ASharedNarrative wrote:

Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:

Why would a creek ever need a backstory? It's a creek.


You need to read more French lit.

Hugo alone will bury you in geography and architecture that have backstories long enough to be their own novels.

And you will either find it very rich and rewarding, like one of those sundaes that are made from six kinds of chocolate that you can only take a few bites at a time from, because of its richness...

...or you're absolutely going to hate it.


Different times, different styles. I am sure a lot of that was fairly historically accurate as well. To me there is a difference between exploring actual history and locations, and creating arbitrary history.

History is arbitrary. It is our frame of reference for the present, and changes to suit the needs of the current present...much like our fiction.



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Posted By: stephenmatlock
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2017 at 10:50pm
My first FF entry (way back in 2012) was 4000 words because I misread the instructions. I thought it was at least 1000 words.

Cutting that was hard! But I got something like 13 points, to get to the next round.

So for me the 1000 word limit is an awful straightjacket.



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Posted By: Katwriter
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2017 at 12:32am
Originally posted by Zblugg Zblugg wrote:



Self-delusion is such ancomfy couch to lie on...


That is a story prompt right there! Love it!


Posted By: eswan27
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2017 at 12:37am
I love the boundaries imposed by the word limit. I tend to have the oposite problem of only really wanting to say what's essential. Being introduced to the flash fiction genre was incredibly freeing from a sense of obligation to "filler." I'm really looking forward to reading some submissions and seeing how everyone achieves their stories.

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Posted By: Katwriter
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2017 at 12:56am
I hated my prompt. I think that helped keep my story on track. I wanted to get it over with. I wrote 300ish words. Saw where I was in the story. Took a nap. Thought about another story I wanted to write. Came back at 9:30pm on Sunday night and wrote the rest of it. At 11:40pm I reviewed the 983 word story and fixed grammar and added a couple of explanation details and landed on exactly 1000 words. Quickly came up with a title and synopsis and saved the document. Submitted it with 2 minutes to spare. Not proud of the story, but I got it done. Not sure it will be easy to keep to the word count in the next prompt if it is something I actually like. Good luck everyone!


Posted By: Shuddy
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2017 at 5:03am
Second and third revisions? Adding details? What kind of magic wonderland is this? I started writing two hours before deadline, scanned for spelling and grammar, and hit submit at 11:59.


Posted By: Tonatale
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2017 at 8:43am
Originally posted by MattrickBT MattrickBT wrote:


Different times, different styles. I am sure a lot of that was fairly historically accurate as well. To me there is a difference between exploring actual history and locations, and creating arbitrary history.

Yes, the former is called nonfiction. The latter is called fiction.


Posted By: Zblugg
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2017 at 12:19pm
Originally posted by Shuddy Shuddy wrote:

Second and third revisions? Adding details? What kind of magic wonderland is this? I started writing two hours before deadline, scanned for spelling and grammar, and hit submit at 11:59.

Cue Aerosmith's "Livin' on the Edge"!


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Posted By: sparklehannah
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2017 at 1:51pm
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.


Posted By: Zblugg
Date 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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Posted By: Vernacula
Date 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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Posted By: plkphoto
Date 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 " http://forums.nycmidnight.com/this-is-for-all-you-new-people_topic12975.html" rel="nofollow - This is for all you new people " thread.



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Posted By: sparklehannah
Date 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.


Posted By: patsy
Date 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


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