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Urgent - Is this a story within a story?

Printed From: NYC Midnight : Creative Writing & Screenwriting
Category: GENERAL DISCUSSION
Forum Name: Questions & Answers
Forum Description: Ask any questions you have regarding NYC Midnight competitions here. We will answer as quickly as possible.
URL: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=65421
Printed Date: 27 Mar 2026 at 12:32am
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Topic: Urgent - Is this a story within a story?
Posted By: beemorrow
Subject: Urgent - Is this a story within a story?
Date Posted: 17 Aug 2025 at 7:19pm
Help!

Currently, my object (pasta) doesn't physically appear in my 500-word story ... but does this qualify as a story within a story? Two women are being interviewed by a third. One woman briefly describes a moment to the interviewer, in which the other woman physically interacted with pasta.

“What’s Anna’s favorite food?”

“Stir-fry. It’s all she eats.”

“At least I cook! The one time she tried, Temi managed to burn pasta.”


The rules say you can't simply mention the object, but an exception would be a story within a story, e.g. "if a grandfather is telling their grandchild a story and they mention the assigned object through dialogue, it should be fine as long as the object is described as something that can be physically touched."

Thoughts?!


Replies:
Posted By: rpet0011
Date Posted: 17 Aug 2025 at 7:37pm
I'm not an expert by any means (this is only my 2nd 500-word!) but from my understanding, "something that can be physically touched" is more along the lines of Grandfather is telling Grandchild ex. a story about Grandma's favorite sweater and has the sweater on him. I feel like your example falls more in-line with pasta simply being mentioned rather than physically touched, unfortunately.

Posted By: beemorrow
Date Posted: 17 Aug 2025 at 7:47pm
That's what I was worried about ... but better to notice now than 5 hours from now! Thank you!


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