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Old 20-02-10, 19:14   #11
Ward Dragon
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Hmm, that's two people now who seem to want a larger word limit. I'll consider increasing the word limit if absolutely necessary, although other members should not feel pressured to write a longer story if they don't want to
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Old 20-02-10, 19:20   #12
Minty Mouth
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IMO the word limit is too lenient.

A part of the challenge is saying what you want to say in as little space as possible. If you are good at writing, and make sure that every word counts, a story such as this could be completed in 1000 words, easily.

One of the most important rules that I have picked up in my time writing is this:

Remove every extraneous word.
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Old 20-02-10, 19:24   #13
Eddie Haskell
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Minty Mouth View Post
IMO the word limit is too lenient.

A part of the challenge is saying what you want to say in as little space as possible. If you are good at writing, and make sure that every word counts, a story such as this could be completed in 1000 words, easily.

One of the most important rules that I have picked up in my time writing is this:

Remove every extraneous word.
What is this, a HS essay? I don't want my creative processes thwarted by a word limit. But, I guess 5,000 is enough to do something fun.
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Old 20-02-10, 19:26   #14
Minty Mouth
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What is this, a HS essay? I don't want my creative processes thwarted by a word limit. But, I guess 5,000 is enough to do something fun.
In my experience, cut out all those sentences/paragraphs that do not count towards your ultimate goal--to tell a story--and you will create something that you can be much more proud of.
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Old 20-02-10, 19:28   #15
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Originally Posted by Minty Mouth View Post
In my experience, cut out all those sentences/paragraphs that do not count towards your ultimate goal--to tell a story--and you will create something that you can be much more proud of.
If we were writing a biology textbook I'd agree with you.
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Old 20-02-10, 19:29   #16
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If we were writing a biology textbook I'd agree with you.
You tell stories in textbooks?
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Old 20-02-10, 19:56   #17
Rai
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Eddie, it is meant to be fun, but still a fun competition with rules to follow. If you were to enter say, a magazine writing comp (not sure if that is your thing, just humour me), then you'd have to follow the rules if you wanted a chance of winning. Obviously, if Jenni wishes to change the word limit, then that's up to her, it's her round .

No body wants to stifle your creativity, but you like a challenge dontcha? It's part of the fun.

Last edited by Rai; 20-02-10 at 19:58.
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Old 20-02-10, 21:29   #18
lara c. fan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Minty Mouth View Post
IMO the word limit is too lenient.

A part of the challenge is saying what you want to say in as little space as possible. If you are good at writing, and make sure that every word counts, a story such as this could be completed in 1000 words, easily.

One of the most important rules that I have picked up in my time writing is this:

Remove every extraneous word.
What if you're a descriptive guy by nature?
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Old 20-02-10, 21:35   #19
Ward Dragon
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Originally Posted by lara c. fan View Post
What if you're a descriptive guy by nature?
My personal view is to describe things as much as they need to be described for the reader to get a clear mental image. I don't like when there's wayyy too much description because for example if the author spends two pages describing a chair I've probably forgotten what's going on in the plot by the end of it I think not enough description can be annoying too because then I get a vague idea of what's going on, and if the author then mentions something different from what I had originally imagined, that confuses me (for example if the book says a guy only has one hand and I assume he's got his right hand but then at the end it mentions in passing he actually has the left hand, it's like wait, I imagined the wrong thing for the whole book? )

So anyway, as far as the contest goes, I'd say be as descriptive as you think is necessary, but don't intentionally write just to make it longer (unlike NaNoWriMo )
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Old 20-02-10, 21:37   #20
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Instead of a word limit, I'd propose simply warning writers that when it comes to voting, they'll likely be judged by how well they 'hook' the reader rather than on the strength of the story as a whole.
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