writing the 10-20k story

veinglory · Oct 28, 2006

I find there is considerable demand with erotic romance publishers for the 'long' short story at about 10-20,000 words. Do many of you write this length?

I think it takes a little while to get used to as it is too long for the single linear short story, but too short for much in the way of sub-plots. So my approach is to have a single story, one or two obstacles or reversals, but crucially, at least 1 or 2 important secondary characters. I think these secondary characters roudn thw story out a little amd make some vestigal subplots that add complexity to the story.

I am curious about how other people approach this length.

Giles English · Oct 28, 2006

I've also been tempted by these...

...but as far as I can see, such publishers are looking for female-oriented erotica.

veinglory · Oct 28, 2006

Most of them are, yes, that is the usual romance customer base. Of course men can write for women if they choose to and some of the more erotic or literary presses /ezineshave a cross-gender audience.

JulesJones · Oct 28, 2006

Who's looking for these, and are they interested in m/m? Because I have one or two sitting in the trunk, too long for the short story markets and not long enough for the novella/novel markets. I know there are publishers looking for that length, but it wasn't clear whether they took m/m, and I've been too buried in RealLife/deadlines to go market trawling for the last few months.

veinglory · Oct 28, 2006

One is Torquere both in stand alone lines (Arcana) and a range of upcoming anthologies. Also in e-POD anthologies such as with Freya's Bower (Dreams and Desires) and Chippewa (Vamprotica). There seems to be a drift to anthologies with fewer, longer stories.

James Buchanan · Oct 29, 2006

Phaze will also take stories of this length for thier Heat Sheet line, and they'll take all sexualities now.

JulesJones · Oct 29, 2006

Ta. I have deadlines to be meeting, but once I've stopped panicking about those I need to start doing something with the novelettes.

veinglory · Oct 29, 2006

I like writing novelettes, it means you can start and finish within a few days.

kristin724 · Oct 29, 2006

My genre material tends to be in this teen novella range. I find it very tough to place them. I'm fairing better with my 50k vampire novellas, and my eortica looks like the first draft is going to end nearer 35k. At one point I didn't think I'd make 30k, and how much of that is mush I'll have to see. Do you guys really write with a target length in mind? I didn't used to, but with this naughty story, I'm checking my word count daily.

veinglory · Oct 30, 2006

I general have a target length within 2-3 k and a market in mind.

JulesJones · Oct 30, 2006

I often have a target length. Hitting it is another matter. IwillIwillIwilll learn to write to a publishable length. And I'll also learn to write short stories that aren't 60,000 words long. There's a reason why I'm mostly published in ebook format, and it's *not* the content. [sigh]

James Buchanan · Oct 30, 2006

Depends. I'll sometimes work toward a specific market. One publisher there Novella line is one of the best sellers. That length tends to be more readable on a computer. So I have projects where I'll try for that. If I'm just writing a short then it's as long as it needs to be... but often I'm writing in response to antho calls or such and those require a certain word count.

my confused 2c

Jongfan · Oct 30, 2006

veinglory said:
I find there is considerable demand with erotic romance publishers for the 'long' short story at about 10-20,000 words. Do many of you write this length?

I think it takes a little while to get used to as it is too long for the single linear short story, but too short for much in the way of sub-plots. So my approach is to have a single story, one or two obstacles or reversals, but crucially, at least 1 or 2 important secondary characters. I think these secondary characters roudn thw story out a little amd make some vestigal subplots that add complexity to the story.

I am curious about how other people approach this length.

Yes, this is actually one of my WIP. I would be interested in more info if you have it. Thanks

writing the 10-20k story

veinglory

volitare nequeo

Giles English

Eroticist for hire

veinglory

volitare nequeo

JulesJones

veinglory

volitare nequeo

James Buchanan

JulesJones

veinglory

volitare nequeo

kristin724

veinglory

volitare nequeo

JulesJones

James Buchanan

Jongfan

Insane, in a good way