The Great Absolute Write Spec Fiction Anthology!

Sage · Sep 3, 2011

I wonder what the average length of the submissions that made it through to the second round is (or will be).

Mine's on the long end and I know the length of another person's that made it through is also fairly long (but shorter than mine). *wonders how much length will weigh in on the final cut when 10-15 flash fiction pieces might be fit into the spot of one long story*

Duncable · Sep 3, 2011

Sage said:
I wonder what the average length of the submissions that made it through to the second round is (or will be).

Mine's on the long end and I know the length of another person's that made it through is also fairly long (but shorter than mine). *wonders how much length will weigh in on the final cut when 10-15 flash fiction pieces might be fit into the spot of one long story*

Mine was short, about 900 words. I figured the fewer words I submitted, the greater chance I'd have getting through.

Kweei · Sep 3, 2011

Sage said:
I wonder what the average length of the submissions that made it through to the second round is (or will be).

Mine's on the long end and I know the length of another person's that made it through is also fairly long (but shorter than mine). *wonders how much length will weigh in on the final cut when 10-15 flash fiction pieces might be fit into the spot of one long story*

That's what I'm wondering, too.

Psychomacologist · Sep 3, 2011

Duncable said:
Best morning ever! I woke up to one of these, too!

Wohoo! congrats!!

I sent mine on the 26th, and it's about 3600 words and got through. So long-ish but not LONG long-ish. If that makes sense...

parumpdragon · Sep 3, 2011

Sage said:
I wonder what the average length of the submissions that made it through to the second round is (or will be).

Mine was 4K, it just was, to bring the mystery into the story. I'm not normally an 'under-10k' writer, so I'm surprised it was that short.

But yeah, I'm pretty sure unless someone subbed something spectacular that the slush readers 'just couldn't put down', then it's going to be the shorter shorts that get it - so that more peeps can get into the book.

*is screwed*

*sigh*

**Of course I only thought of this after I had subbed it

Psychomacologist said:
Wohoo! congrats!!

I sent mine on the 26th, and it's about 3600 words and got through. So long-ish but not LONG long-ish. If that makes sense...

Ooh, congrats!

*There's hope

sheadakota · Sep 3, 2011

Mine was just under 1K but I fear it may not be speculative enough- more horror-ish

parumpdragon · Sep 3, 2011

What is speculative again... like questioning/guessing what lies beneath the surface?

If so I'm fine.

I keep trying to figure that out, but Google was not very helpful

sheadakota · Sep 3, 2011

Yeah- I know- I feel the same way- but the real question how will Mac feel about it- ya know :tongue

parumpdragon · Sep 3, 2011

Aye, yes. Mac is all seeing, knowing, judging - at this point.

I'm begging mercy for slight punctuation and spelling biffs.

FabricatedParadise · Sep 3, 2011

sheadakota said:
Ha I got you beat dragon- I subbed on the first- nothing like waiting till the last second- so I will get my shiny rej--uh email prolly next week-

I subbed on the 2nd. I win!

parumpdragon · Sep 3, 2011

Yeah, you win alright!

FabricatedParadise · Sep 3, 2011

next time we should all do pieces under 1500wds. This way everyone gets in

parumpdragon · Sep 3, 2011

Oh yeah, like I can stop typing quick enough to do that. *snorts*

checks email again

FabricatedParadise · Sep 3, 2011

LOL. Well, my stuff's always been a little on the short side. I think it has something to do with my compulsive editing. That and I had a Creative Writing professor a couple years ago who would literally cross out entire lines of my stories. Apparently I was big on the info dump back then. So, ever since, I've been very careful to not put too much info into my stuff. And now I'm apparently working from the other extreme. I get the occassional "can you explain this?" because I didn't put in enough info.

I have a feeling this is why my submission to mac and the panel was so short.

Al Stevens · Sep 3, 2011

Stevens's 1st law of editing: Any work can be reduced in length by one word.
Stevens's 2nd law of editing: Often you have to apply Stevens's 1st law recursively.

Al Stevens · Sep 3, 2011

parumpdragon said:
What is speculative again... like questioning/guessing what lies beneath the surface?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction

BunnyMaz · Sep 3, 2011

Mine was around 3.5-4k, so us verbose lot will just have to keep our fingers crossed together.

parumpdragon · Sep 3, 2011

Thanks, and I'm still confused... sorry.

So it's SF/F that everyone tries to lump into a category...???

BigWords · Sep 3, 2011

Sage said:
I wonder what the average length of the submissions that made it through to the second round is (or will be).

Mine's on the long end and I know the length of another person's that made it through is also fairly long (but shorter than mine). *wonders how much length will weigh in on the final cut when 10-15 flash fiction pieces might be fit into the spot of one long story*

Mine was kinda long - 5900 words. I'm expecting a rejection any day now.

parumpdragon · Sep 3, 2011

BigWords said:
Mine was kinda long - 5900 words. I'm expecting a rejection any day now.

Bless you're heart. Come on, no R yet - so you can't say that.

Al Stevens · Sep 3, 2011

parumpdragon said:
Thanks, and I'm still confused... sorry.

So it's SF/F that everyone tries to lump into a category...???

Speculative fiction, as I now understand it, includes horror according to the definition. I'm guessing that what the genres have in common is that their stories require major suspension of disbelief because of extreme plot or character elements.

"Psycho," for example, has no SF/F elements, but the notion that a man would kill his mother, use taxidermy to preserve her corpse, then keep her around the house to chat with is physically and scientifically possible but improbable, less than believable, and outside the realm of normal experience. Paranormal in the strictest sense of the word.

maxmordon · Sep 3, 2011

I had a dream where my story was accepted, but it was hard to believe to me. Even in the dream.

parumpdragon · Sep 3, 2011

Oh lordy - I'm sunk.

Al Stevens · Sep 3, 2011

BigWords said:
Mine was kinda long - 5900 words. I'm expecting a rejection any day now.

Are you saying that size matters?

parumpdragon · Sep 3, 2011

Oh gaw, this might just need to derail to the Cabaret.

The Great Absolute Write Spec Fiction Anthology!

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Geekzilla

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Penúltimo

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