Musing on 750 word stories

[ShelbyDawn57]

No it's not laziness. Think of it - an entire story, maybe even the summation of an entire life, in exactly 750 words. That's not lazy, even though you'll be finished a lot quicker than a 7500 word story. It's a lot of work to pick the exact right combination of words to get the idea in your head out and on to the screen within the confines of the game.

It's almost like Haiku (Traditional Japanese haiku consists of three phrases composed of 17 syllables in a 5, 7, 5 pattern), it's so much more disciplined than long form stories and poetry. I find Haiku addictive also.

Lazy? I’ve spent hours editing and some of these to get them just right. Swapping one word for another, looking for that perfect connotation. These can be much more challenging than a long form story.

 

[AchtungNight]

I get that.

I kinda like Haiku

Emily

I do as well, but I’ve never composed one without a guide. I envy poets who can pull it off.

Funny thing- two out of three protagonists in my 750 word story are ethnically Japanese.

 

[Devinter]

And fuck that story was intense .

Emily

Sorry - I should have been clearer with my warning. I apologize.

one or two were inspired by snippets of conversations with other authors

I get inspired by these forums quite frequently, I must say. Both from authors and from threads created. The other day, @FifthEstate made the thread "What would you do if Literotica suddenly went away?" and that got me thinking that it could be interesting to write a story about a forum or maybe an online game getting shut down (preferably not a sex-related one) and then a bunch of friends from there decide to meet in real life for the first time before it's all gone, and two of them that have been casually flirting online fall in love.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

B

Sorry - I should have been clearer with my warning. I apologize.



I get inspired by these forums quite frequently, I must say. Both from authors and from threads created. The other day, @FifthEstate made the thread "What would you do if Literotica suddenly went away?" and that got me thinking that it could be interesting to write a story about a forum or maybe an online game getting shut down (preferably not a sex-related one) and then a bunch of friends from there decide to meet in real life for the first time before it's all gone, and two of them that have been casually flirting online fall in love.

But can you do it in 750 words?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Sorry - I should have been clearer with my warning. I apologize.



I get inspired by these forums quite frequently, I must say. Both from authors and from threads created. The other day, @FifthEstate made the thread "What would you do if Literotica suddenly went away?" and that got me thinking that it could be interesting to write a story about a forum or maybe an online game getting shut down (preferably not a sex-related one) and then a bunch of friends from there decide to meet in real life for the first time before it's all gone, and two of them that have been casually flirting online fall in love.

That’s actually super sweet

 

[Devinter]

B

But can you do it in 750 words?

Haha. No. No, I'd want to take my time with this one. I think a slow and shy build-up would be preferable. Maybe it could work for the Geeky challenge, though. Although I already started on something else for that challenge, but that's another sad story, and I feel like it's long overdue for me to write something happy and cute again.

That’s actually super sweet

I am glad that I have your "sweetness seal of approval", Miss Emily!

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

It's threefold. The challenge / difficulty level of trying to create something of value in so few words. The fact that I can try something brand new and still finish the whole thing in one sitting, usually. And the fact that some ideas simply would be too emotional / sad / troublesome in a lengthier story, at least for me. I couldn't imagine writing Broken for you as a full-length story, for instance. Would have been too devastating.

Damn you for making me want to read that. Still 5* for how well written and impactful it is.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I am glad that I have your "sweetness seal of approval", Miss Emily!

 

[Cagivagurl]

I decided to write one.
Why, because I have often been criticised for being overly wordy. That by the way is fair criticism.
I opted to write one, to see if I could.
I write a lot of poetry, but that is a different format. It isn't story telling, as such.
I'm also a song writer, but again, different format.
Trying to say something with only 750 words.
How could I do it?
It was a test for me as a novice writer. An opportunity to change the way I look at words, how I use words, and how I attempt to tell a story...
It was hard, no question.
Do I think I added to the literary world? Insert maniacal giggle. No...
Did I enjoy it? Not writing it, but afterwards. Yes, there was some satisfaction.

Cagivagurl

 

[AchtungNight]

Sorry - I should have been clearer with my warning. I apologize.



I get inspired by these forums quite frequently, I must say. Both from authors and from threads created. The other day, @FifthEstate made the thread "What would you do if Literotica suddenly went away?" and that got me thinking that it could be interesting to write a story about a forum or maybe an online game getting shut down (preferably not a sex-related one) and then a bunch of friends from there decide to meet in real life for the first time before it's all gone, and two of them that have been casually flirting online fall in love.

I’d be interested in the story you propose too. Please drop me a link should you publish it.

 

[MyBareTorso]

I've written four, and it's been fun. It's always a good feeling to finish a story, so this brings that gratification forward. The 750 Word Project has also given me an "excuse" to write short vignettes that I find amusing, but that I would not normally post. All that said, I've actually been surprised at how *much* I've been able to fit into 750 words, though my stories on the whole are never too complex or detailed anyway.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I've written four, and it's been fun. It's always a good feeling to finish a story, so this brings that gratification forward.

Totally.

The 750 Word Project has also given me an "excuse" to write short vignettes that I find amusing, but that I would not normally post.

Me too.

All that said, I've actually been surprised at how *much* I've been able to fit into 750 words, though my stories on the whole are never too complex or detailed anyway.

Yup - pretty much the same with me.

Emily

 

[Wonderer67]

I like the format. 750 words is nice and compact.

I have serious attention, problems, and writing, and even reading anything longer is a challenge for me.

Once I finish my first draft, getting it to exactly 750 words is the real challenge. As one person stated, swapping words and phrases for others.

I’ve written one story and intend to write a couple more.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I like the format. 750 words is nice and compact.

I agree.

I have serious attention, problems, and writing, and even reading anything longer is a challenge for me.

Sorry to hear. I have the opposite. Head buried in my phone and the world disappears.

Once I finish my first draft, getting it to exactly 750 words is the real challenge. As one person stated, swapping words and phrases for others.

I don’t know why. But I seem to breeze through this. My last was 763 when finished. I went though it once doing a normal edit. But kept 13 words in my mind. Sure enough the word count was 750 post-edit.

I’ve written one story and intend to write a couple more.

Cool

Emily

 

[SimonDoom]

I've published 7 (out of 59 stories total) 750 word stories, and I have 2 pending that will be published in a day or so. I do it because it's a fun, different exercise that forces one to look at the writing process in a somewhat different way. I think it's useful, if a bit artificial. Something I like about it is that I write these stories knowing that they won't receive as good a reception from readers, so there's a liberating aspect to that. I don't care. I just write them for whatever purpose strikes me. I wrote one of my two latest stories as an exercise in second person point of view, present tense, just to do it.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I've published 7 (out of 59 stories total) 750 word stories, and I have 2 pending that will be published in a day or so. I do it because it's a fun, different exercise that forces one to look at the writing process in a somewhat different way. I think it's useful, if a bit artificial. Something I like about it is that I write these stories knowing that they won't receive as good a reception from readers, so there's a liberating aspect to that. I don't care. I just write them for whatever purpose strikes me. I wrote one of my two latest stories as an exercise in second person point of view, present tense, just to do it.

I find myself agreeing with all of that. Especially the liberating bit.

Emily

 

[AchtungNight]

I've published 7 (out of 59 stories total) 750 word stories, and I have 2 pending that will be published in a day or so. I do it because it's a fun, different exercise that forces one to look at the writing process in a somewhat different way. I think it's useful, if a bit artificial. Something I like about it is that I write these stories knowing that they won't receive as good a reception from readers, so there's a liberating aspect to that. I don't care. I just write them for whatever purpose strikes me. I wrote one of my two latest stories as an exercise in second person point of view, present tense, just to do it.

I have shared this attitude. When I first started writing erotica, it was to give shape to my fantasies about certain celebrities. These days, I’m more into original characters, but they’re equally deserving of fantasy. And the haters be darned!

 

[Duleigh]

I have published

I've published 7 (out of 59 stories total) 750 word stories, and I have 2 pending that will be published in a day or so. I do it because it's a fun, different exercise that forces one to look at the writing process in a somewhat different way. I think it's useful, if a bit artificial. Something I like about it is that I write these stories knowing that they won't receive as good a reception from readers, so there's a liberating aspect to that. I don't care. I just write them for whatever purpose strikes me. I wrote one of my two latest stories as an exercise in second person point of view, present tense, just to do it.

I have 9 750 word stories out of 73 stories and two poems published. Last year I tried something interesting, my first 750 was written in first person, my second was written in second person, my third was written in third person. Why? Because I wanted to. No other reason, and no one caught on. I still have plenty of time this year to do the same thing but maybe with the same story, that would be interesting.

 

[AchtungNight]

Writing my 750 in first person helped it stay brief.

 

[SimonDoom]

This is weird. Weird to me. One of the two 750-word stories I wrote was published about 7 hours ago. But the other one, which I submitted three hours BEFORE submitting the other one, is still pending. I assume I'll get notice that it will be published tomorrow, but still, that seems odd. I can't think of anything triggering about it that would hold it up.

As usual, my latest (8th) 750-word story is nowhere close to a red H, and given that it already has 29 votes it's unlikely to get there. That's fine. I don't write these things to boost my average score. It's a challenge to feel like one has written a complete story. I always go over the word limit and then have to find where I'm going to trim the excess.

Thanks to @EmilyMiller for the AI photo mystery girl prompt. It gave me an idea right away, and I stuck with it. Took about 2 hours from conception to submission. It's like the speed chess version of erotic story writing.

 

[EmilyMiller]

This is weird. Weird to me. One of the two 750-word stories I wrote was published about 7 hours ago. But the other one, which I submitted three hours BEFORE submitting the other one, is still pending. I assume I'll get notice that it will be published tomorrow, but still, that seems odd. I can't think of anything triggering about it that would hold it up.

As usual, my latest (8th) 750-word story is nowhere close to a red H, and given that it already has 29 votes it's unlikely to get there. That's fine. I don't write these things to boost my average score. It's a challenge to feel like one has written a complete story. I always go over the word limit and then have to find where I'm going to trim the excess.

Thanks to @EmilyMiller for the AI photo mystery girl prompt. It gave me an idea right away, and I stuck with it. Took about 2 hours from conception to submission. It's like the speed chess version of erotic story writing.

Laurel is staggering 750 word stories over consecutive days. Might be that:

Emily

 

[SimonDoom]

Laurel is staggering 750 word stories over consecutive days. Might be that:

Emily

That makes sense! Interesting, though, that the second one submitted is the first one published.

 

[EmilyMiller]

That makes sense! Interesting, though, that the second one submitted is the first one published.

Sometimes you just have to

 

[MrPixel]

There is musing in one of the perennial complaint threads about overall publishing times being affected by the 750-word submission volume. Is it a real issue, or just a perception from the forum chatter?

 

[Bamagan]

That makes sense! Interesting, though, that the second one submitted is the first one published.

If I had her workload, I'd probably try to begin and end each day with a few of the stories that seem like I'd want to read them for their own sake, as opposed to just out of obligation.