Fiction Word Limits

Since I haven't blogged for a while, let me mention something about meeting word limits when submitting fiction. I have discovered that I am not eligible to enter many short story competitions because my short stories lurk in the 8000+ word heights, something I love because there are moments when I just keep writing until the story exhausts itself, but I am never afraid to delete unnecessary details later. I can easily trim a 7000-word story down to 3000 or 4000, and the process usually feels good, but now I am thinking that if one is in the short story market, one should write stories that fit in different length categories.

Keep a folder of stories in different word ranges: 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 4-5000 (the sweetest range), 6000, and so on. When the season for contest entries arrives, you could just go to these different folders to select and spruce up a story for a specific contest. I am assuming that every writer realizes that contests are a great way to stay active in the genre with works in progress or different states of completion.

Comments

Myne said…
Indeed. I write long stories too.
March 18, 2010 at 10:42 PM
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