Submission length

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   I'd like to invite the views of writers and, especially, judges on the lengths of submissions to the various challenges on NYC Midnight. Maybe widen the discussion to writing competitions in general.
Should writers strive to submit as close to the target wordcount as possible? For example, for the Flash Fiction challenge, which is asking for submissions of "no longer than 1000 words," should one try to submit a piece of around 950-1000 words, or would, say, 450 words, or even 200 words, stand a chance if it is punchy and hists the brief? 

I'm sure that people would advise me to enter those pieces into the 500-word fiction or 250-word flash fiction challenges, but should that always be the way?

So, do stories that are MUCH shorter than the challenge target stand any chance at all?

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AndoverDiamond Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List NYC Midnight Groupie Joined: 25 Apr 2023 Location: Andover, UK Status: Offline Points: 165	Post Options Post Reply Quote AndoverDiamond Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Submission length Posted: 11 Jul 2023 at 3:53pm
	I'd like to invite the views of writers and, especially, judges on the lengths of submissions to the various challenges on NYC Midnight. Maybe widen the discussion to writing competitions in general. Should writers strive to submit as close to the target wordcount as possible? For example, for the Flash Fiction challenge, which is asking for submissions of "no longer than 1000 words," should one try to submit a piece of around 950-1000 words, or would, say, 450 words, or even 200 words, stand a chance if it is punchy and hists the brief? I'm sure that people would advise me to enter those pieces into the 500-word fiction or 250-word flash fiction challenges, but should that always be the way? So, do stories that are MUCH shorter than the challenge target stand any chance at all?
	Lance MF2025 Freddy's Lair (RomCom) MF2023 Shopping for Cheese (Horror/Anxiety)