The 2026 [lit] 750 Word Project Support Thread

[AlinaX]

I wrote another one yesterday afternoon, but it turned out sour and mean so I hate it now. I don't even want to open the file to try to fix it.

I’ve written and half-written a number of stories over the years that I gave up on in disgust and deleted. There’s one or two I’ve published that I feel quite uncomfortable about.

 

[BryanRichardson]

Does he even know about the (long gone) Survivor Series? That was a contest here at Lit where prizes were awarded for the most stories posted in a specific period. Writers like Goldeniangle or SaraJaneParker had over a thousand of (awful) stories.

It’s not long gone, it is ongoing now!

And last year, too.

True, there aren’t many “competitors”, but it is still ongoing.

 

[Rambling_Chantrix]

The first of my two 750 worders is out: Lofi Pomodoro for Needy Ghosts

"RC, that sounds like word salad. What the fuck is your story about?"

Exactly what it says on the tin!

Chillhop, body doubling, and disembodied onanism.

"That's just more word salad!"

You're not wrong. Initial response seems to be "you're weird." Which, you know, true and fair

The one thing I'll say for my entry is I'm pretty sure no one has ever written anything remotely like this. (Please prove me wrong; I'd love to find the freak who thought of a similar setup.)

 

[Inkent]

After weeks of illness hindering my imagination, nice to get back into the saddle with five 750 word stories knocked out this week while commuting on the train, even loosely interlocking three together too! Two left to publish, although not sure about the suitability f one of them. Will get a few friends to give me the low down first.

Nought to Sexty
I Can't Leave Him
She Needs a Life, Not an Anchor
NATO Fights Back!
Punished By Living in Fear

 

[LightningSeed]

My third of the challenge is out this morning:

House Game

 

[BryanRichardson]

I am surprised at the score that Hall Pass is getting in Loving Wives.

3.9 in that category is like gold.

That seems awfully good for just a couple of hours of writing.

 

[Trionyx]

I’ve been mulling over why these stories average lower scores and I believe one reason is the limited stroker value. From a technical standpoint, most of the ones I have read are better than the average scores of all the others. Unfortunate that the good writing is not as appreciated as with most stories.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Scores for 750s are hit-or-miss. Above 4.0 is rarified air, and a precious few get red Hs, most do not.

 

[BryanRichardson]

Made worse by Loving Wives averaging lower scores anyway.

 

[MillieDynamite]

True.

Made worse by Loving Wives averaging lower scores anyway.

 

[SmilingLez]

Scores for 750s are hit-or-miss. Above 4.0 is rarified air, and a precious few get red Hs, most do not.

Agree that most 750 Word stories do not get the little red hot tag. However, those that do, were written specifically for that audience, and were centered around only one category specific "event".

 

[IWroteThis]

Agree that most 750 Word stories do not get the little red hot tag. However, those that do, were written specifically for that audience, and were centered around only one category specific "event".

I hope I just misinterpreted your tone, because that sounded a lot like you were saying it's a bad thing when a writer writes what the readers want to read…

 

[SmilingLez]

I hope I just misinterpreted your tone, because that sounded a lot like you were saying it's a bad thing when a writer writes what the readers want to read…

I am saying that sometimes a good writer writes for a specific audience and sometimes a good writer writes the story because they feel it in their soul.

 

[BryanRichardson]

Agree that most 750 Word stories do not get the little red hot tag. However, those that do, were written specifically for that audience, and were centered around only one category specific "event".

I hope I just misinterpreted your tone, because that sounded a lot like you were saying it's a bad thing when a writer writes what the readers want to read…

I interpreted this to mean that most people don’t like 750 so they don’t score well. The only way to get over that is to write very targeted stories.

But targeted stories are the whole point of 750 so high scores are a matter of making them extra pointed.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Don't know about that...I haven't written any that weren't for the event. Actually, that's not true. I have several that I have written, but I think they wouldn't fly here given the guidelines. Bad Night being one, as it's the internal conflict of a girl while she's being raped. A short work I rewrote for the contest, originally written for therapy.

Agree that most 750 Word stories do not get the little red hot tag. However, those that do, were written specifically for that audience, and were centered around only one category specific "event".

 

[Quimpossibility]

Hey, can i get some advice: my 750 word story submission was rejected for being too short. But it's exactly 750 words. I also added 750 WORD PROJECT to the tags and as a note to the admin (as required), and included the link text at the top of the story explaining this was for this project. I've double checked the word count (I use google docs) and it's exactly 750 words. What should I do? Thanks

 

[AlinaX]

In Lit’s submission form, copy-paste in your text then press the arrows to expand the text box. It will give you an official count.

 

[Quimpossibility]

That's weird there's a discrepancy of a couple of words.

Well I made a couple of chanmges and Lit's telling me it's 750 words so we should be good.

Thanks.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

I’m also suddenly having stories rejected for being too short. Two went through just fine last week, but now another two keep getting kicked back. Both are 768 in Word. (Exactly 750 for the story + my standard short preface.)

Particularly weird is that both sent-back stories actually show they’re longer than 750 in the Lit editor. 763 & 764 for the returned versions.

I’ll try making the preface even longer so there’s more padding.

 

[Quimpossibility]

Do the stories have to be exactly 750 words?

That was my assumption, and what I went for. The discrepancy must just be down to some weird colloquial factor in the spellchecker systems.

Or something

 

[BryanRichardson]

Do the stories have to be exactly 750 words?

That was my assumption, and what I went for. The discrepancy must just be down to some weird colloquial factor in the spellchecker systems.

Or something

No, they don’t have to be exactly 750.

Often people check on the edit page:

In Lit’s submission form, copy-paste in your text then press the arrows to expand the text box. It will give you an official count.

And then add in a line at the top like:

This story was written for the <a href="https://www.literotica.com/s/the-750-word-project-2026-coming-soon" target="_blank">750 Word Project 2026</a>, below this line are exactly 750 words:

If the edit page says 750, this extra phrase “should” pad it enough.

 

[Quimpossibility]

No, they don’t have to be exactly 750.

Often people check on the edit page:


And then add in a line at the top like:



If the edit page says 750, this extra phrase “should” pad it enough.

Lit's word count didn't include that in the count. I checked. I am at 750 words without it.

 

[IWroteThis]

Do the stories have to be exactly 750 words?

That was my assumption, and what I went for. The discrepancy must just be down to some weird colloquial factor in the spellchecker systems.

Or something

The story itself, yes. However, you are allowed to add author's notes to the top and/or bottom that increases the overall word count beyond 750.

Word usually agrees with Literotica (in my experience), but other tools often do things like count each of the words in a hyphenated word rather than just the hyphenated word. I use yWriter, which doesn't count hyphenated words correctly, so I have to increase a counter each time I use one.

I also have to increment it when I do things like add an HR for a scene break. So, a couple of my stories this year show a 752 word count from those breaks.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

I’m also suddenly having stories rejected for being too short. Two went through just fine last week, but now another two keep getting kicked back. Both are 768 in Word. (Exactly 750 for the story + my standard short preface.)

Particularly weird is that both sent-back stories actually show they’re longer than 750 in the Lit editor. 763 & 764 for the returned versions.

I’ll try making the preface even longer so there’s more padding.

I just resubmitted both stories with longer prefaces. The Lit editor shows them over 780 now. (The stories themselves are still exactly 750.) Fingers crossed!

 

[SmilingLez]

That's weird there's a discrepancy of a couple of words.

Well I made a couple of chanmges and Lit's telling me it's 750 words so we should be good.

Thanks.

I tested different online word counters just for shits and giggles and found that they varied from 1 to 5 words with some word counters counting ... as a word. I also take a screenshot showing the 750 word count in literotica's editor in case my vignette get rejected for being too short or too long.