The 2026 [lit] 750 Word Project Support Thread

[texj1965]

I have an extremely short story that was the basis for my 17k word first submission. It morphed into something completely different in the longer version. Making it into a 750 word story should be a snap. The short version has a serious twist.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Just published a second story for the challenge, Why’d It Have to Be Snakes? a short-short story about the exploration of an Alien Planet.

 

[millamomud]

but it's not february yet?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Well, posting it doesn't mean it goes live right now. It's in the queue, which is what I should've said.

but it's not february yet?

 

[THBGato]

Sudden inspiration driving to the airport this morning. I now have mine written.

 

[taytay4eva]

Me, initially: You know, I wasn't going to this this year, but then I remembered that I just wrote out a (vaguely political) retelling of the lindworm prince! Maybe I could puff that out into a 750 word story!

Narrator: The version they wrote was 1130 words long.

Me, now: Ok, so, new plan: expand the story as planned, then ruthlessly cut it down to size.

 

[APilgrimSquare]

I have four good drafts! What I like the most about this challenge is it's a great way to get those little scenes down that have been rattling around my skull, but aren't enough for a long story. Lovely little writing exercise.

 

[Rob_Royale]

 

[taytay4eva]

And that is my retelling of The Lindworm Prince done! Gonna submit it as a fantasy story, since that's what it is. I really do enjoy writing these as little fairy tales! Like, yes, fairy tales are easy to make into short stories, but also, fairy tale! Who doesn't like a Fairy Tale? I made a few modifications to it to make sure that it had better narrative flow, but otherwise I'm pretty pleased with it.

 

[taytay4eva]

You know what, I've got time till this starts, I'm gonna write a SECOND ONE which I've been thinking about for a while: my 'version / update / fixfic' of "Venus and the Cat", an aesop fable that goes like this:

"A cat, having fallen in love with a young man, besought Aphrodite to change her into a girl in the hope of gaining his affections. Aphrodite, taking compassion on her weakness, changed her into a fair damsel and the young man, enamored of her beauty, led her home as his bride.

As they were sitting in their chamber, Aphrodite, wishing to know whether in changing her form she had also changed her nature, set down a mouse before her. The girl, forgetful of her new condition, started from her seat, and pounced upon the mouse as if she would have eaten it on the spot. Whereupon Aphrodite, provoked at her frivolity, straightway turned her into a cat again.

What is bred in the bone will never be out of the flesh."

See, Aesop finished it with "and that's how it goes", whereas I read it and immediately thought "Ok hey quick question what the fuck dude that's fucked you know that right like you know how fucked that is right?" because FIRST OF ALL it is her FIRST DAY as a human and we all got bad habits we need to unlearn and second of all WHAT ABOUT THE DUDE WHO THOUGHT HE HAD A WIFE?!

So you can see how / why I need to write a fixfic for it.

 

[taytay4eva]

Aesop fables are INTERESTING, because they are myths for and about commoners. Like, the EPIC MYTHS are tales of gods and monsters and princes, things that regular people found exciting but not really relateable. Aesop fables, on the other hand, were all about regular folks. Like, yeah, the gods were there and sometimes did things to the protagonists, but only in the same way your company's ceo is involved in your life, with about the same amount of frequency as in the fables (at least, insofar as small to medium size companies are concerned).


One of these day's I'm going to write a collection of updated fables and call it "Asimov's Fables" and it'll be about technology and suchlike stuff.

 

[taytay4eva]

Ok, so I kind of wrote this as a story, but as one where the narrator is DIRECTLY talking to the listener.

+++++

In a land far from you, when your grandparents were still young, there was a man named Aesop, who told stories. These stories were old, from the time animals spoke to humans, and humans to animals, and the gods walked among mortals like a CEO might walk among the cubicles at a mid-size company.

There is a certain story he told, about the goddess Aphrodite, and a cat.

It went this:

A cat, having fallen in love with a young man, besought Aphrodite to change her into a girl in the hope of gaining his affections. Aphrodite, taking compassion on her weakness, changed her into a fair damsel and the young man, enamored of her beauty, led her home as his bride.

As they were sitting in their chamber, Aphrodite, wishing to know whether in changing her form she had also changed her nature, set down a mouse before her. The girl, forgetful of her new condition, started from her seat, and pounced upon the mouse as if she would have eaten it on the spot. Whereupon Aphrodite, provoked at her frivolity, straightway turned her into a cat again.

He then said, as if saying it made it true:

‘What is bred in the bone will never be out of the flesh.’

Aesop had many things to say about society, and sometimes he was correct.

Other times, not so much.

For instance:

A man who’d just met a girl would not seek to marry her right away, no matter the man, no matter the time, no matter the girl, no matter her beauty. He might try to get her into bed, but marry? No. No, he would not do that, not right away.

Other times, Aesop forgot things. For instance, this story is from the time animals spoke to humans, and humans to animals. The cat knew the man. Knew him well enough to want to marry him. That meant that the man must have, therefore, also known the cat. I don’t say this out of a denial that sometimes people watch other people, and construct relationships with them in their mind, because they do.

I say this because I know cats. Cats are standoffish to those they dislike, or fear, or do not know. They are cozy and cuddly around those whom they trust. This cat knew this man. Trusted him, trusted him enough to wish to wed him. That means that the cat was cozy with the man. Further, in this time, in this place, it meant that she could speak with the man as well, so the man knew the cat. Knew her voice, what she dreamed, what she hoped. I doubt he wished to marry the cat, but perhaps he wished that he knew a woman as well as he knew her.

And then, there’s Aphrodite. She transformed the cat into a beautiful woman, but I doubt that she changed her voice. Gods are many things, but hardworking in their whims is not one of them. So the cat was a woman, and she knew the man. He must have heard her voice, knew it, and then saw her as he’d hoped to see a woman. The mind and personality of the cat, in the body of a woman.

This woman, I do believe, he would marry in a heartbeat.

And then Aphrodite tested the cat. I believe this, for testing people is what gods do.

The cat failed the test. I believe that too, for she had only been a woman for a day, while she had been a cat for far longer.

But it ends there? The man doesn’t ask the cat, whom he knows, what happened? The cat doesn’t explain what Aphrodite gave and took away?

I don’t believe that.

I don’t believe that the man wouldn’t have gone to the temple of Aphrodite with the cat.

I don’t believe that the man wouldn’t have asked, pleaded with, begged Aphrodite to restore her.

I don’t believe that Aphrodite would ignore his pleas. I think she would have been surprised that the man still wished to marry the woman who thought like a cat, but I don’t think that she would’ve ignored him.

I believe she would’ve framed this as a test of their love, because the gods test people. And, ‘passing’ this ‘test’, I believe that Aphrodite would retransform the cat into a woman.

Yes, I believe this story has a happy end.

There’s enough cruelty in the world. It doesn’t need more.

+++++

I feel like I could submit it as Scifi / Fantasy or Non-erotic. I'd almost been tempted to just rewrite it and expand it, but I feel like the "hey quick question what the fuck" is an important part of it, since this is a VERY old story I'm retelling. I'd be tempted to put it into "Review and Essays", but it doesn't really feel like it quite fits there.

It is a conundrum.

 

[taytay4eva]

Went ahead and redid, made it more of a "story within a story" deal:

In a land far from you, when your grandparents were still young, I met a rough-tongued storyteller.

Their stories, they would say, were older still, from the time animals could speak to humans, and gods walked among mortals.

Around the fire, there was a certain story he told, about the goddess Aphrodite, and a cat.

It went like this:

A cat, having fallen in love with a young man, besought Aphrodite to change her into a girl in the hope of gaining his affections. Aphrodite, taking compassion on her weakness, changed her into a fair damsel and the young man, enamored of her beauty, led her home as his bride.

As they were sitting in their chamber, Aphrodite, wishing to know whether in changing her form she had also changed her nature, set down a mouse before her. The girl, forgetful of her new condition, started from her seat, and pounced upon the mouse as if she would have eaten it on the spot. Whereupon Aphrodite, provoked at her frivolity, straightway turned her into a cat again.

There, the storyteller said, it ended, the moral being:

‘What is bred in the bone will never be out of the flesh.’

The storyteller would scoff at that. I asked them why they scoffed, and I was told it was one of the stories of Aesop, who had many things to say about society, and was sometimes correct.

Other times, not so much.

For instance, and the storyteller would stir the fire, a man who’d just met a girl would not seek to marry her right away. No matter the man, the time, the girl, or her beauty. He might try to get her into bed after just meeting her, but marry? No, he would not do that.

The storyteller added that Aesop forgot other things. For instance, this story is from the time animals could speak to humans. The cat knew the man well enough to want to marry him. That meant that the man must, therefore, have also known the cat.

I replied that sometimes people watched other people, and constructed relationships with them in their minds.

The storyteller agreed, but then asked me to tell them about cats.

I said that cats are standoffish to those whom they dislike or don’t know, but are cozy with those whom they trust.

The storyteller nodded, and said that Aesop said that the cat knew the man well enough to wish to wed him.

I replied, “Then the cat must’ve been cozy with the man.” My eyes widened, and I added “In this time, in this place, she could speak with the man, so the man knew the cat too.”

The storyteller smiled. “Yes. Knew her voice, her hopes, her dreams.” The storyteller doubted that the man wished to wed the cat, but perhaps he wished to wed a woman like her.

The storyteller went on, and spoke of Aphrodite. She transformed the cat into a beautiful woman, but the storyteller doubted that she changed her voice.

“Gods are many things,” the storyteller said, “but hardworking regarding their whims is not one of them.”

So the cat was a woman, and she knew the man. He must have heard her voice, knew it, and then saw her as he’d hoped to see a woman. This beautiful woman, the storyteller believed, and I with them, he would marry in a heartbeat.

And then Aphrodite tested the cat. The storyteller believed this, because gods test people.

The cat failed the test. The storyteller believed that too, as she’d only been a woman for a day, while she’d been a cat for far longer.

But it ends there? The man didn’t ask the cat, whom he knew, what happened? The cat didn’t explain what Aphrodite gave and took away?

The two didn’t go to the temple of Aphrodite?

They didn’t ask, plead with, and beg Aphrodite to restore the cat’s womanhood?

Aphrodite ignored their pleas?

I said that Aphrodite would’ve been surprised that the man still wished to marry her, and the storyteller agreed, but added that surprising isn’t ignoring.

Perhaps she reframed this as a test of their love, because gods test people. And, upon their ‘passing’ it, Aphrodite retransformed the cat into a woman and wed them so they could be a family, have children.

I agreed, but asked why they cared; not all stories end well.

“There’s enough cruelty in the world,” said the slit-eyed storyteller. “It doesn’t need more.”

They were right.

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

Forgive the repetitive question but ..

Have you already submitted for the project? I wasn’t certain when I should submit to Laurel. My fear is she will be overwhelmed / bombarded right away.

However, one of my 750-Word stories is a set up for my Pink Orchid story.

Thanks for your thoughts

 

[alohadave]

Forgive the repetitive question but ..

Have you already submitted for the project? I wasn’t certain when I should submit to Laurel. My fear is she will be overwhelmed / bombarded right away.

However, one of my 750-Word stories is a set up for my Pink Orchid story.

Thanks for your thoughts

I'm waiting till about 5-6 days before just because I don't want it sitting in my pending queue for a couple weeks.