Do Forwards count in the 750 word minimum?

[AG31]

I have a 593 word story, but with the Forward it counts to 900+. Would it pass the 750 word minimum requirement?

tia
ag

 

[MelissaBaby]

No. Only the story itself counts. Many writers include some sort of forward or at least a notice that their story is for the event.

 

[KeithD]

I have a 593 word story, but with the Forward it counts to 900+. Would it pass the 750 word minimum requirement?

tia
ag

This isn't a 750-words minimum exercise; it's a 750-words EXACTLY exercise. Not counting the standard foreword of it being a 750-word exercise. If you foreword adds content to the story, though, I think it should count toward the 750-word count.

 

[AG31]

This isn't a 750-words minimum exercise; it's a 750-words EXACTLY exercise. Not counting the standard foreword of it being a 750-word exercise. If you foreword adds content to the story, though, I think it should count toward the 750-word count.

I'm not talking about the 750 word challenge. I'm talking about a regular submission having to be at least 750 words long.

 

[mildlyaroused]

I'm not talking about the 750 word challenge. I'm talking about a regular submission having to be at least 750 words long.

Any text you submit counts towards the minimum to publish a story.

You could have a 700 word foreword (and 50 word story) if you wanted.

 

[KeithD]

I'm not talking about the 750 word challenge. I'm talking about a regular submission having to be at least 750 words long.

Umm, OK, gotcha. In that case any and all forewords are included in the qualifying count. Lit. provides a word count on the first page of the story, and I've noticed that all forewords are included in that count.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm not talking about the 750 word challenge. I'm talking about a regular submission having to be at least 750 words long.

The minimum text length is 750 words, so a long forward and short story will be fine, but not, as Melissa says, in the 750 Word Anthologies.

I suspect it's most likely a technical thing related to the story data files. Poetry can be shorter, but I think it has to be forced to fit, somehow, which might explain why poetry often gets handled in batches.

 

[AchtungNight]

I didn't count my foreword when I did my story. If the program does it anyway.... [grumbles] I hope my story can be accepted nonetheless and as far as I'm concerned, I still completed the challenge.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I didn't count my foreword when I did my story. If the program does it anyway.... [grumbles] I hope my story can be accepted nonetheless and as far as I'm concerned, I still completed the challenge.

I think you're misunderstanding.

The story should be exactly 750 words not including the forward. My story had the following forward...

This is my entry in the 2024 750-word story challenge. The story is exactly 750 words starting below.

The word count for the story is 768.

The 750-word challenge chose 750 as the small number of words exactly because the absolute minumum length of a story on Literotrica is 750 words. AG is not asking about the challenge, she's saying can she submit independently a story where the content is under 750 words and the forward brings it across the line to significantly more than 750. My feeling is yes. There's probably an automatic process that flags stories under 750 words and auto-rejects them. In theory, Laurel could reject AG's story for playing fast and lose with the rule, but she'll probably not even notice (she's a busy kitty) and even if she does, and even if she cares about the technicality she may well feel that AG's story has enough literary merit to be published anyway.

I suspect it's most likely a technical thing related to the story data files. Poetry can be shorter, but I think it has to be forced to fit, somehow, which might explain why poetry often gets handled in batches.

I doubt there'd be any technical reason behind it. Others have suggested that the 750-word limit is to discourage short low-effort stories flooding the site and that feels right to me. Site were there's no lower limit often have stories that are very rough. Even with our, obviously delicately crafted and highly intellectual 750-word gems, AH authors always report lower scores on average for them.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I have one story in rhyme, with audio; when I submitted it to Poetry with Audio, Laurel told me to put it in Text with Audio instead as it was over 750 words. So apparently the poetry-vs.-story distinction goes both ways.

 

[AchtungNight]

If I’m misunderstanding, good. Hopefully Laurel will be able to approve my story soon. If anyone is curious between now and then, it’s already on AO3 (same username).