Musing on 750 word stories

[HordHolm]

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?

In general extra volume probably slows things down (perhaps, this is the consensus, but we've not had confirmation that I remember). And given that there seems to be a lot of 750 word content this year, allied to the Valentine's Day contest...

 

[EmilyMiller]

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?

I would imagine the time it takes Laurel to review a 750 word story is an order of magnitude less than a regular one. People just like to grumble.

Emily

 

[Bamagan]

In general extra volume probably slows things down (perhaps, this is the consensus, but we've not had confirmation that I remember). And given that there seems to be a lot of 750 word content this year, allied to the Valentine's Day contest...

I would expect that there's a minimum amount of time it takes for her to handle the technical aspects of queueing up a submission to post, that is probably independent of the length of said stories. It's probably at least partly automated, so it may only take her a minute or two after she's decided whether or not it goes up at all. Still, given the number of stories that post each week, if she's putting in roughly forty hours of her time, she doesn't have that many minutes to spend on any single story. I doubt the volume of the little 750s is making a huge difference, but it probably does make some waves. I'd hazard a guess that having to double and triple check while sniffing for AI is the real marlin.

 

[alohadave]

It's like the speed chess version of erotic story writing.

That's a great way of putting it. I have 5 total, and one to two hours is how long each of mine took all told.

 

[EmilyMiller]

That's a great way of putting it. I have 5 total, and one to two hours is how long each of mine took all told.

It’s nice to have a long, lazy fuck. But quickies are also fun

Emily

 

[dmallord]

I have published

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.

So, are you going to write a 750-word one in fourth person this time?

 

[Bamagan]

So, are you going to write a 750-word one in fourth person this time?

I'm imagining something that seems like 1st person but arguing with an omniscient narrator that keeps trying to use flashbacks or other temporal framing devices and making the attempted narrator dizzy and angry.

 

[Rob_Royale]

As I mentioned in the current 750-word thread, it's an opportunity to give voice to those tiny little ideas. Those snippets of creativity, that aren't much more than a scene. In 750 words they become the star of the show.

 

[EmilyMiller]

As I mentioned in the current 750-word thread, it's an opportunity to give voice to those tiny little ideas. Those snippets of creativity, that aren't much more than a scene. In 750 words they become the star of the show.

I identify with this as well.

Emily

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I identify with this as well.

Emily

"...tiny...', '...snippet of creativity...' Hmmm...

 

[alohadave]

Insanity.

You need to stop doing this.

 

[MrPixel]

I don't have any motivation... [much snippage]

Like Dave said, cut it out. Those unbroken word soup blocks of text are unreadable, and the forum is not the place to publish whole stories anyway, even "short" 750 ones. If you have something to share, do a minimal amount of paragraph structure and use the usual publication channels to let us enjoy what you have to say.

Do not be surprised if your "story" is deleted by a moderator, just like it was in the other thread.

 

[Duleigh]

I don't have any motivation because I don't ever write anything or do anything

As my mom would say, and this is the best advice you can give anyone - go outside and play.

 

[JamiePlynth]

I hate to own up to it, but I’ve written 20… with rough ideas/jots for a bunch more. I need to stop.

But it’s funny/sad because I stopped writing late last year because it didn’t seem like folks were liking the stuff I was doing. So for me the challenge and ability to try out and finish things has been great- but clearly I shouldn’t be doing 750 words if I’m going to be sensitive about numbers.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I hate to own up to it, but I’ve written 20… with rough ideas/jots for a bunch more. I need to stop.

But it’s funny/sad because I stopped writing late last year because it didn’t seem like folks were liking the stuff I was doing. So for me the challenge and ability to try out and finish things has been great- but clearly I shouldn’t be doing 750 words if I’m going to be sensitive about numbers.

20 this year? I’m not worthy!

Emily

 

[Duleigh]

I hate to own up to it, but I’ve written 20…

 

[EmilyMiller]

I’m like not a freak

 

[Duleigh]

I’m like not a freak

I limit myself to five because when i get into the zone I can't stop

 

[Rob_Royale]

I’m like not a freak

No. You are. Jamie's just a bigger freak than you.

 

[EmilyMiller]

No. You are. Jamie's just a bigger freak than you.

Well that’s something, right?

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I limit myself to five because when i get into the zone I can't stop

I'm surprised I wrote four, and thinking about a follow up to one or two of them.

 

[JamiePlynth]

20 this year? I’m not worthy!

Emily

Um… 20 in the last week I should stop, right? Switch back to long form? I initially wanted to try to write one for each category, but I’ll see a picture online or person on the street and get an idea.

I feel like if I didn’t have the word limit, I’d probably never start these ideas because I know I would linger and never finish (tons if those in a folder over the years).

And hey, quality over quality right?! I’m still trying to feel comfortable in the rhythm that some folks have.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Um… 20 in the last week I should stop, right? Switch back to long form? I initially wanted to try to write one for each category, but I’ll see a picture online or person on the street and get an idea.

I feel like if I didn’t have the word limit, I’d probably never start these ideas because I know I would linger and never finish (tons if those in a folder over the years).

And hey, quality over quality right?! I’m still trying to feel comfortable in the rhythm that some folks have.

20 is a lot.

I had to stop myself at 14.

Emily

 

[jhealy55]

I think I'm stopping at the 5th, which is slated to go up tomorrow.

Considering that its five more than I intended and all were written in the last ten days or so, I think that's plenty.

Truth is I was stuck. I had been for a long while, but I'm not stuck any longer. The first was an exercise in sketching dorsal fins that would give people the sense that they could see whole pods of dolphins, even mermaids, if they read between the lines.

It set off a crazy daisy chain of one story leading to the next. Jokes about the experience and the process, the reactions and the hazards of mixing craft with sex, love with judgment and humor with rejection.

Not the kind of rejection that artists feel, but the kind of rejection that makes people see beautiful, intricate things and feel so cut off from them that they are filled with a desire to blot them out. Called to discourage others from peering into the smudged glass, for a peek at something timeless, and frustratingly invisible, to those who lack the empathy, or imagination, to see it for themselves.

I think I'm on to new stories after this. Longer ones that are now changed by the habit of living off the land each day. Bringing home bits of shell and feathers, fragments of overheard conversations and glimpses of everyday loveliness that had been there all along.

Because the halls and engines of imagination turned out to be less dusty and frozen up than I thought they were, even just a few weeks ago. I remembered what it was to let my mind run off to faraway places and how quickly we could get swept away, once we let the magic back in, even for just a moment.

So my last story, Lost Girl, should pop up sometime in the wee hours and the circle will be complete for me, at least for this time around. Its about people speaking in gibberish and the rest of us trying to make sense of it all. Places and names from a different map than the one that we're standing in, but that make perfect sense, if you make allowance for the possibility of magic. If you're willing to go back over it slowly, connect the dots and step through, to the stories we once knew by heart, even when we were very little.

So thank you fellow writers. For the encouragement, the inspiration, but mostly for all the reminder that anything is possible if you trust and believe in something, just long enough to fall in love with it. How it makes you want to run off and tell others all about it, and hope they fall in love with it too.

That was all it was ever about the whole time.

Cheers!

 

[ElectricBlue]

So thank you fellow writers. For the encouragement, the inspiration, but mostly for all the reminder that anything is possible if you trust and believe in something, just long enough to fall in love with it. How it makes you want to run off and tell others all about it, and hope they fall in love with it too.

That was all it was ever about the whole time.

Exactly! Once you get off your arse, anything is possible .