Official Support Thread - 5th Annual 750 Word Project

[Lifestyle66]

I disagree. With such an attitude, there is no point in starting at all. But sometimes I forget that I am in the company of pornographers.

The whole point of the 750-Word challenge is to do your best at creating something with a beginning, middle, and end in ONLY 750-words, since that is the minimum story length allowed here on LitE.

For some of us, it's come up with a scene as the initial idea, flesh it out with a beginning and end to make a complete story, then pare down the words without sacrificing content to get to just 750.

I first started posting to this site two years ago with just that: a story I had written just for myself (1,500 words), which I pared down to submit ("He Missed You - (750-Word Project)"). A year later (last year), I did it again extracting a scene from one of my longer posted stories to wrap into a 750-word vignette ("A Different Proposition - 750 Words").

This year, I have a fresh scene in mind, and it's now a challenge to write it out, then pare it down over the next two weeks. But it's not worth arguing how any one of us gets there, as long as the final product is a complete story.

 

[MrPixel]

The whole point of the 750-Word challenge is to do your best at creating something with a beginning, middle, and end...

I'm trying something new this time, a ho-hum beginning and titillating middle with a setup and sudden scene cut for the reader to fill-in the obvious conclusion of the vignette. Turns my crank every time I re-read it for editing.

 

[Voboy]

I disagree. With such an attitude, there is no point in starting at all. But sometimes I forget that I am in the company of pornographers.

…okay.

Welcome to Lit. I look forward to reading your work, one day.

 

[gordo12]

But sometimes I forget that I am in the company of pornographers.

Not to worry. We're all on a twelve-step program and recovery is imminent!

 

[MelissaBaby]

Gee, funny how Sugar Venom and Tilan just seemed to disappear about the same time...

 

[Duleigh]

I disagree. With such an attitude, there is no point in starting at all. But sometimes I forget that I am in the company of pornographers.

Excuse me, I didn't realize I was dealing with such a short-tempered rookie, excuse me, I retract my statement.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I disagree. With such an attitude, there is no point in starting at all. But sometimes I forget that I am in the company of pornographers.

I'd call this a vignette: A Girl on the Bus. I don't know what you'd call it, but as you can see from the comments, it worked as a short descriptive piece.

That's the point of the 750 Word anthology - it's a writers' challenge.

 

[MelissaBaby]

You guys are still talking to someone who isn't here.

 

[Rustyoznail]

You guys are still talking to someone who isn't here.

Oh, but they'll be back...

 

[gordo12]

Oh, but they'll be back...

Kind of pointless though. He/she has already acknowledged their writing skills (if any) are not up to the challenge.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You guys are still talking to someone who isn't here.

Very possibly. It's like dealing with a schizoid intelligence, sometimes it makes sense, and then you think, maybe not. On face value, if someone else had said this, it might have been a genuine discussion. But I take your point.

 

[Voboy]

I doubt that. His said somewhere that his therapist ordered him to come here twice a day to lough out loud.

What was the last word Kane said? Was it rosebud or was it Tilan?

Neither.

It was "mixlatin."

 

[ElectricBlue]

Neither.

It was "mixlatin."

I loughed at that. More a snigger, really, but I do love it when wit falls flat with poor spelling!

 

[Rob_Royale]

But sometimes I forget that I am in the company of pornographers.

HEY! I resemble that remark!

 

[Rustyoznail]

Well, I've completed mine. A 750 word snippet based on an annoying 1990s British sitcom. I think I'll put it in Humour.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I've ALMOST finished mine. It's a scene based on my wife testing her toys.

Something I noticed using Microsoft Word for the word count: It counts a " ... " speech hesitation indicator as a word!

So, I have one more to remove and I need to add one more word, otherwise, I only have 749 for the story.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Mine is done as well. I think it's damn sexy and I'm really looking forward to submitting it.

 

[KeithD]

To make the effort worthwhile, I'm doing a series of these with a central theme (blizzard) and combining them (as Ogg does with his 50-word vignettes) into one work for one entry in a marketplace anthology. I think it's interesting to see what disparate plotlines can be gotten out of one theme.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Moving along, I can’t seem to make any real progress on my longer tales, so I’m spending my time here, with a second one nailed today. Fun is being had - and (briefly) described.

 

[Duleigh]

Four complete! They don't have anything to do with each other, each is in a different category written in different perspectives.

Saturday Morning
Saturday Afternoon
Saturday Evening
Saturday Night

I think I need to start working on better titles.

 

[ecorche]

I've got a rough draft that's a bit over, but there's plenty of fluff to trim during my edit passes.
Duleigh, did you say we should not submit these until 1 Feb?

 

[Duleigh]

You can submit them before, but Kitty Momma's instructions say

• Submit your story in any story category February 1st-28th.

I'm told it works differently but every non-contest event I've ever posted to worked like this: The stories go up on Lit on February 1 to the 28th then the event page listing all the stories gets published on March 1. It's her site, she can do what she wants, in the past she would hold them until March 1 from what I've been told.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You can submit them before, but Kitty Momma's instructions say

• Submit your story in any story category February 1st-28th.

I'm told it works differently but every non-contest event I've ever posted to worked like this: The stories go up on Lit on February 1 to the 28th then the event page listing all the stories gets published on March 1. It's her site, she can do what she wants, in the past she would hold them until March 1 from what I've been told.

That's my recall of prior anthologies, a release time window followed by the list; whereas with contests, I think all stories go live at the same time, simultaneously with the list - so no-one has an advantage (there being no winner with an anthology).

 

[Lifestyle66]

That's my recall of prior anthologies, a release time window followed by the list; whereas with contests, I think all stories go live at the same time, simultaneously with the list - so no-one has an advantage (there being no winner with an anthology).

The currently running Valentine's Day contest started posting the stories on the first day of the contest window.

I think any time they give a window for submission, all stories are posted as soon as they're reviewed and within that window. Otherwise, there's no need for the window dates, just a "no later than" date.

 

[KeithD]

For the last 750-word exercise, the stories posted on a regular delay basis. I don't see indication it will be any different this time. I'll be submitting them a day apart.