The 2024 750 Word Story Challenge Support Thread

[ElectricBlue]

@ShelbyDawn57 and @Devinter

So the Lit textbox counter is the sole arbiter?

Em

Obviously, yes, because it's the Lit centre of truth.

But I don't think anyone has ever knocked back a story on a word count technicality, I've never seen it happen despite all the hand-wringing that goes on. It's a writing exercise, not a math's paper.

Keep to the spirit of the thing and focus on the words, not the count.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I know you asked the wonderful Duleigh the question, but I can tell you that it would be fine to do so. The official announcement says:

• Write a story that is EXACTLY 750 words by Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Literotica Control Panel Editor count - no more, no less. Story must be 750 words EXCLUDING title, intro text, description, tags, etc. Word count includes story text only.

So you can include warnings, some really quick and basic character introductions, and so on. (As in, "This is a stand-alone story but it includes characters from [Insert Story/Series name here]".) No need to worry about disqualification for doing any of that.

No, the story has to be 750. The title and others don't count towards the word count.

 

[Devinter]

No, the story has to be 750. The title and others don't count towards the word count.

Perhaps I didn't articulate myself clearly but that is exactly what I tried to say.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Perhaps I didn't articulate myself clearly but that is exactly what I tried to say.

Or I might have just missed it.

 

[Duleigh]

Hey,

Who’s a good doggy? Does he want his tummy-wummy scratched? Yes he does. Yes he does.

Sorry - don’t know what happened there.

Right, a question for you. How does a height, e.g, 5’7” get treated from a word count POV?

Or should I spell it out as five foot seven inches?

Em

The way you have it here is 1 word but normally there's a space between 5' and 7"
most word counters will see it as 1 word without the space

 

[ThanksForAllTheFish]

My 750 word stories also score well below average too, but I've got two ready to go this year and I'll probably do a third. I love being able to do a whole story in an hour, and it's a great way of using up ideas I love but which I know I'll never get round to turning into full length submissions.

 

[Duleigh]

Obviously, yes, because it's the Lit centre of truth.

But I don't think anyone has ever knocked back a story on a word count technicality, I've never seen it happen despite all the hand-wringing that goes on. It's a writing exercise, not a math's paper.

Keep to the spirit of the thing and focus on the words, not the count.

it's generally known that Word, GoogleDocs, and Lit count words slightly differently, especially hyphenated words. I do know several readers who do not understand the phrase "This is not a contest" and will be contacting my saying "Author XYZ went 752 with her story, are you going to throw her out?"

Hell, if it's a good story I may use some of it in my... of course not! This is a pure writers exercise, it's meant to have fun, sharpen your skills and give you headaches. I remember one fellow quitting Literotica because he couldn't write a story longer than 650 words. I can't get an introduction done in 1,500 words.

 

[Duleigh]

My 750 word stories also score well below average too, but I've got two ready to go this year and I'll probably do a third. I love being able to do a whole story in an hour, and it's a great way of using up ideas I love but which I know I'll never get round to turning into full length submissions.

I title all my stories like this: 750-3 Saturday Evening
That puts them at the top of my CSV so when I download it, I only average the scores below them

750-6 Year of the Dragon is finished!

 

[ThanksForAllTheFish]

I title all my stories like this: 750-3 Saturday Evening
That puts them at the top of my CSV so when I download it, I only average the scores below them

You download it to average scores?

 

[Voboy]

The way you have it here is 1 word but normally there's a space between 5' and 7"
most word counters will see it as 1 word without the space

I'd just use the word "short."

In a world where every word counts, I'm not wasting space on precision about height. But that's just me.

 

[Duleigh]

You download it to average scores?

Every night. Then I have a data base of all my work. I can see when my "fan club" is most active and report malicious voting.
Also, I'm an Excel nut (I used to teach it) and I make charts showing my views and votes.

 

[Duleigh]

The official word went up!
https://literotica.com/s/the-750-word-project-2024-coming-soon

 

[TheRedChamber]

The thing I like about these is that I don't got one, then I got one then it's done.

Three hours from conception to sending out to my beta reader and a good portion of that was the school run.

 

[MyBareTorso]

Try another
Last year I got so hooked I wrote 5 of them and used 2 of them as outlines for a bigger story

Done! Just finished another 750 word banger... enjoyed writing it just as much as the first!

 

[samhasstories]

Got one ready. A night of insomnia put to good use.

This is an excellent challenge. Had a lot of fun with it, might end up with a couple.

 

[EmilyMiller]

The 6th Annual 750 Word Story Challenge Support Thread

Submitted mine. Assume it will get queued for publication in Feb.

Thanks to @StillStunned @Djmac1031 @Victoria14xs and @ShelbyDawn57 for their help.

Em

 

[jsmiam]

Here’s a question I don’t recall noticing if anyone has asked before:

My 750 word candidate could be viewed as empowered and pink orchificated. Most challenges don’t have intersecting dates, but hypothetically, this story could be in both.

I know I’m lit official contests that wouldn’t fly, but I don’t recall noticing a guideline forbidding this for challenges. Thoughts?

 

[Djmac1031]

I've written three of these things so far. Fun little challenge. I'll see if I can come up with something this time.

 

[samhasstories]

Submitted mine. Assume it will get queued for publication in Feb.

Is that how it works? I figured I had to wait until Feb or close to it to submit.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Is that how it works? I figured I had to wait until Feb or close to it to submit.

It’s how it often works, but Lit is full of surprises.

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

I've written three of these things so far. Fun little challenge. I'll see if I can come up with something this time.

Maybe something to do with used panties?

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

Here’s a question I don’t recall noticing if anyone has asked before:

My 750 word candidate could be viewed as empowered and pink orchificated. Most challenges don’t have intersecting dates, but hypothetically, this story could be in both.

I know I’m lit official contests that wouldn’t fly, but I don’t recall noticing a guideline forbidding this for challenges. Thoughts?

I’ll let @Duleigh provide the official answer, but I think you can submit the same story to two events (not comps) if their posting periods overlap.

Em

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Here’s a question I don’t recall noticing if anyone has asked before:

My 750 word candidate could be viewed as empowered and pink orchificated. Most challenges don’t have intersecting dates, but hypothetically, this story could be in both.

I know I’m lit official contests that wouldn’t fly, but I don’t recall noticing a guideline forbidding this for challenges. Thoughts?

My story last year was included in both the 750 challenge and Pink Orchid. If memory serves, it was necessary to mention both events in the Notes to Admin.

 

[alohadave]

Here’s a question I don’t recall noticing if anyone has asked before:

My 750 word candidate could be viewed as empowered and pink orchificated. Most challenges don’t have intersecting dates, but hypothetically, this story could be in both.

I know I’m lit official contests that wouldn’t fly, but I don’t recall noticing a guideline forbidding this for challenges. Thoughts?

I wonder if you could submit for Valentines, 750, and Pink Orchid since they all overlap. Valentine is the only actual competition so it shouldn't be a problem making it for all three.

 

[Duleigh]

Here’s a question I don’t recall noticing if anyone has asked before:

My 750 word candidate could be viewed as empowered and pink orchificated. Most challenges don’t have intersecting dates, but hypothetically, this story could be in both.

I know I’m lit official contests that wouldn’t fly, but I don’t recall noticing a guideline forbidding this for challenges. Thoughts?

It is possible to put a story in two events, I've done it with Saturday Evening, it was in Summer Fun and Crime and punishment. However it won't be posted until the second event goes live. If the two events don't overlap your story won't appear in the first event.

It's probably best to post the 750 in the 750 event, then work on it and build it up for Pink Orchid which is what I did with 750-3 Saturday Evening, it was a 750 word story that I beefed up into a 43k word work