The 2026 [lit] 750 Word Project Support Thread

[EmilyMiller]

I like to think that I am merely following in the footsteps of George Orwell when he brilliantly summed up socialism with the words:



The word equal should never have a comparative modifier. George Orwell uses it to drive home a bitter truth, I on the other hand will use something like that as a punchline because I love wordplay. I have a huge volume of the fun Terry Pratchett had with the English language. I have to avoid using Sir Terry's punes [SIC] or my story ends up on the back of a sea turtle flying through space.

I think maybe politics forum.

But that line is a comment on human greed for power and control. Animal farm is a warning about what happens when a political vision is corrupted to create - or in this case - restore autocracy. It’s important to understand Eric Arthur Blair the man to understand his work.

Try reading The Road to Wigan Pier, for example.

But, as I say, politics forum.

 

[kreemi_pi]

I think maybe politics forum.

But that line is comment on human greed for power and control. Animal farm is a warning about what happens when a political vision is corrupted to create - or in this case - restore autocracy. It’s important to understand Eric Arthur Blair the man to understand his work.

Try reading The Road to Wigan Pier, for example.

But, as I say, politics forum.

I always smile when I see your name and your pretty face pop up.

 

[Duleigh]

I think you misunderstood what @lovecraft68 meant by padding. I believe they were referring to raising your story count while writing as few words as possible. You know, kind of like posting each chapter separately instead of as a complete work.

Oh... that's interesting. Does he think that story count is a contest? Is Story Count Padding against NHL rules? Does the man who dies with the most stories win?

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.

Who cares about story count? Show of hands!

 

[Duleigh]

I always smile when I see your name and your pretty face pop up.

She's awesome. One of the top 750 word participants.

 

[kreemi_pi]

Oh... that's interesting. Does he think that story count is a contest? Is Story Count Padding against NHL rules? Does the man who dies with the most stories win?

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.

Who cares about story count? Show of hands!

Sorry my hands are busy

 

[dream_yahoozie]

750 words. Who doesn't love a quickie?

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Quickie: “This won’t hurt, did it?”

 

[Trionyx]

The word equal should never have a comparative modifier.

Amen to that.

 

[Trionyx]

750 words. Who doesn't love a quickie?

As long as everyone leaves satisfied.

 

[Duleigh]

How much story can you get into 750 words?
Hopefully all of it

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

‘Perfect’ is perfect and there can be no degrees of perfection. If something is ‘perfecter’ or ‘more perfect,’ then the perfect item to which you are comparing clearly wasn’t perfect. I realize your use of this term was in jest, but I had to mention this to keep my father from turning in his grave.

The US constitution uses ‘a more perfect union’ in its preamble to the screams of horror from language purists.

Another term which should not have comparative modifiers is ‘unique.’

OK, I’ll get off my grammar-Nazi soap box now before the rotten tomatoes fly.

I think I might love you just a little for this.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

750 words. Who doesn't love a quickie?

Ironically, I had already been thinking of starting a "quickie" series because I had some ideas that weren't really more than that (inspired by some of the earlier discussions of "strokers" and wanting to really maximize the "stroker" nature). This contest seems like a really fun way to do that.

People padding their story file is unfair to the other folks trying to get actual stories out

I am curious about this one, though. Like, genuinely curious and I want to make sure that's clear. Is there a benefit with regards to readers or what people think of you as a writer if you have more stories rather than fewer? What about if you have more stories but they are poorly rated versus fewer stories but they have better ratings?

My curiosity has to do some with the discussion that was already here and some with my curious self wanting to mess around with various formats (poems, audio, etc) but being afraid that having more things, but not doing some of them well, could be a net negative for me. Is somehow more just better in the Lit world in a way that it isn't in, say, the world of persuasion where having more arguments but some are very weak actually makes you less convincing than if you just stick to 1-2 good arguments.

 

[EmilyMiller]

How much story can you get into 750 words?
Hopefully all of it

You can do an awful lot in 750 words if you have even a modicum of talent.

 

[alohadave]

I am curious about this one, though. Like, genuinely curious and I want to make sure that's clear. Is there a benefit with regards to readers or what people think of you as a writer if you have more stories rather than fewer? What about if you have more stories but they are poorly rated versus fewer stories but they have better ratings?

My curiosity has to do some with the discussion that was already here and some with my curious self wanting to mess around with various formats (poems, audio, etc) but being afraid that having more things, but not doing some of them well, could be a net negative for me. Is somehow more just better in the Lit world in a way that it isn't in, say, the world of persuasion where having more arguments but some are very weak actually makes you less convincing than if you just stick to 1-2 good arguments.

lovecraft likes being the resident curmudgeon. It's his shtick.

No one cares if you have more stories or less. If you write good stories and write in popular categories, you'll get views and votes.

Readers tend to not like 750 stories overall, but it's not like they'll be downvoted into oblivion just because they are short. 750 stories are much tighter and require that you focus only on what directly tells the story. If you can do that, you'll be fine.

And if not, no big deal. They don't take long to write, and you can experiment on something that only takes you an hour or two.

 

[Trionyx]

They don't take long to write, and you can experiment on something that only takes you an hour or two.

An hour or two? Not in my universe. Certainly they may not take as long at a 29k novella, but comparatively speaking, I find they take more time per words than longer stories. Every word, every phrase has to be carefully assessed: is this word vital? Can I use one word here in place of these two? Will the meaning change appreciably?

I’ve seen some excellent works in the 750 challenges with poor scores because many readers want so much more than can be delivered in such a short story.

One of my favorite comments from a reader said they hated the 750 word stories. Uh, then why did you read it?