Could you help a new gal??

[sr71plt]

Well, wait, I'm agreeing with you. With stories of that length, I'm obviously not writing short stories, and that's fine. The stories are as long as they are, and when I edit, I'm deleting more than I'm adding. I haven't sent any of my stuff to mainstream pubs, e or otherwise, and if I did, I'd adhere to whatever rules there were.

Yes, I know. I was keying on Carlus's silly presumptive statement.

 

[sr71plt]

Since we're in an electronic publishing mode here, the wordages EPIC (Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition) uses might be of interest:

A short story is anything less than 10,000 words

A novella is 10,000-30,000 words

A novel is over 30,000 words

In the electronic world (the print industry would consider anything between 20,000 and 50,000 words to be a novella).

http://www.epicorg.com

 

[PennLady]

Since we're in an electronic publishing mode here, the wordages EPIC (Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition) uses might be of interest:

A short story is anything less than 10,000 words

A novella is 10,000-30,000 words

A novel is over 30,000 words

In the electronic world (the print industry would consider anything between 20,000 and 50,000 words to be a novella).

http://www.epicorg.com

Well that definitely puts me in novella and novel territory for 99.9% of my stuff.

 

[BONNIEBREA]

I think believeil's posting is quite excellent for a first stab at writing, and I hope she'll continue to write and improve.

In terms of the nature of the story I tend to look at it more as a 'vignette.'

We have a nicely written narration and dialogue concerning one sexual encounter between a man and a woman. We know almost nothing about them. We know she does some sort of work she travels for sometimes. We know he works in an office. We know they live some great distance from each other. We know they get together occasionally to have sex. But that's it. (Given what we know about their relationship - I think the author described them as 'former lovers' - it would be hard to call them 'lovers' since there is no relationship we know of other than the sex they have. It's almost like the story about the couple that meets on the same day each year to have sex in an anonymous hotel room, and that's the extent of their 'relationship.')

Questions of word count aside, I think to really be a short story the author has to tells us more about these characters and the nature of their realtionship. The story and characters really need more substance for this to really be a story.

And, again, I'm not being critical or saying what the author has written is wrong - it's just not really a short story, although what it is is entirely fine and nicely written.

I just looked up 'vignette' on one of the dictionary sites. The definition that came up in relation to writing is 'a small, graceful literary sketch', and that seems to fit this writing very well.

 

[bbx1960]

Pls don't use 3rd person

make up names if you like but don't use he/she/they-the story looses its' sexiness.
Thanks

 

[sr71plt]

make up names if you like but don't use he/she/they-the story looses its' sexiness.
Thanks

Unless it's all masturbation, you have to use he/she/they some in first person too, don't you? Or else it gets awfully strangled and quirky enough to also lose its sexiness.

 

[Lynn_MXX]

http://www.literotica.com/s/opportunity-for-pleasure
& When it comes to dialoge??? I'm terrible at it, and prefer my characters to shut up and just have sex I guess.

I didn't read your story as I was put off by the above statement, I prefer stories with a bit of dialogue to them, and not to get straight down and "just have sex". There has to be some sort of build up.

I was also put off by your spelling mistakes (do you really write business letters?), which makes any writer look a bit amateurish.

Non-the-less, I hope that you keep on writing. Practice makes perfect.

 

[believeil]

A "full-length" short story currently is considered to be 3,000 to 5,000 words. All of these long, rambling--often self-indulgent--stories at Lit. are novellas or novels by industry standards. Let's not be changing the definition of a short story--it's a story that can be read at one setting. In today's world, what folks will read in one setting is getting shorter, not longer.

A story that takes just one or two Lit. pages is well within the "short story" zone.

Going to have to agree here- "it's a story that can be read at one setting." And that doesn't mean stopping, ordering a pizza, and taking scotch & pee breaks."
I can read a 600 page paper back novel in "one setting" if we are taking scotch & pee breaks".

IMO- I think "one setting" is 5 minutes to about an 1/2 hour +/- tops.

 

[Mated]

I'm still very new to writing on here so I supose i can't provide the ammount of feedback other may be able to. I have to say though, I liked your story very much. The detail you put into it was great, I'm still trying to learn to put that kind of detail in my own stories.

 

[believeil]

Lynn MXX- You didn't read my story, but you want to criticize it??
and you are put off by my spelling mistakes?? But you didn't even read it?? & you don't know a damn thing about my career...

Shove it where the sun don't shine... I am looking for helpful constructive criticism. Your input is not helpful.

 

[believeil]

I'm still very new to writing on here so I supose i can't provide the ammount of feedback other may be able to. I have to say though, I liked your story very much. The detail you put into it was great, I'm still trying to learn to put that kind of detail in my own stories.

Thank you for your encouragement.

 

[JellyTug]

Good content! But I think you should keep the readers guessing as to what she is doing sexually wise.. have her accidentally bump into him on the street.. have a few drinks together.. maybe go see a movie and she performs oral in the back, then they take it to the hotel.
I wouldn't start out by saying she wants to see her 'old lover'. It sounds a little cliche.
But it looks like you have a talent.. just sharpen it a bit and remember to read your story. If you get bored or skip ahead.. so will your readers.
Happy Writing!! =)