Short Story contest thing

[Ryu]

I'm finishing up a story I may send in.......but it may be a bit over 5000 words. Would say 6000 be too many?
Hopefully the poster from Cyberkwoon can answer...

KC Elbows, what do you think?

Ryu

[KC Elbows]

**** you Ryu!!! You had writer's block yesterday, and now your done!! And with me only 1/3 through?.:D :D

Good job. My main character is, at the moment, in a tough spot, but at least its fun to write him into it. Hopefully I'll be done by the end of the week. I guess I'm a pretty deliberate writer, but its good to know I can do the deadline thing, too. Right now, I'm worried I'll go over 5000, too, but we'll have to see. I'm not sure if I'll be able to shave it down to 5000, or if I'll just go a little over.

[Ryu]

LOL! Sorry, stuff just kind of came to me today...
I've been writing for hours.

Mine is 4709 so far, and it's at the main climax of the story..."last battle" kind of thing... I may go a little over. We'll see.

Ryu

[KC Elbows]

I'm just at the second third of the story. The main character just basically took the plunge from (sort of) bystander to being fully involved in the situation that faces him. Let's hope he survives, or the rest is gonna be mighty hard to read.;)

I'm at 1559 words. I could come out under 5000, but it seems likely that I'm gonna cut it close.

[Ryu]

"bystander to suddenly involved" huh?

:mad: Hey, now you're not trying to get in on MY concept are you??

:) JK, I'm on the last scene. Big Fight is over (had to hurry it up :( )
And I have a few more lines to go.....
5504 right now! :eek:

I can do this! Under 6000 will be easy. (please say that's all right LOL)

Ryu

[Ryu]

Finished. 5826........ The ending may be a little "quick" ......kinda abrupt like Lord of the Rings LOL..

Oh well. I'll go over it a little bit.

Ryu

[KC Elbows]

You da man, Ryu.:D

I actually had to do a little work, so I haven't made any progress in the last hour. My employers just don't seem to have their priorities straight. I try to convince them that it would be good PR to be patrons for a writer, but they just don't listen.

To be honest, my guy is not quite a bystander, and he's not quite innocent, but...

:eek: :D

[Ryu]

This is actually kind of fun. I'm going to start on another one using a character that I have never really written down that much, but who's been in the "concepts" drawer of my brain.... only prob is that he's more of a sci-fi superhero kind of guy and not really a martial artist.
But it has a lot of Japanese overtones in it, so let's see what I can do.

Ryu

[KC Elbows]

Sounds good. I'm planning on going right from this story into another. Keep the momentum going, so to speak. Plus, I'd like to get some short works published so that, when my book is done, I'll have credits in my resume to show for it.

Isn't it maddening to not be able to describe what your writing? It drives me crazy, yet I am soo secret about anything in the works, even my wife has a hard time dragging it out of me.

[rubthebuddha]

and it's pîssing the rest of us off, too.:mad:

[Ryu]

LOL @ rubthebuddha

Yeah I know what you mean. But hey that's the magic of writing, right? Means you got the true blood of a real writer!
A recluse-like hermit that will kill anyone that tries to sneak a peak or comment on a work in progress LOL

Good luck! Hope you get published at Cyberkwoon.

Ryu

[KC Elbows]

Thanks, Ryu, good luck to you, too.

Hang on, I think someones trying to read my work behind my back.

They must die.

[Wu Lung]

Hi guys

This is a funny thread!

OK, the word count we have to stick fairly strictly to. A bit over is ok, but hundreds of words over is not acceptable. One of the hardest things in writing is adhering to word limits. Pray for the day when you're famous and can set your own! Maybe this will help you get there.... ;)

Keep writing!

[KC Elbows]

Its OK. We'll just use a lot of hyphens. Is-that-OK?

See, thirteen words!:D

[Ryu]

Yikes!
Okay well I'll have to cut some stuff.....damm :( Hmm
well the last battle is cut to death anyway...how about some dialogue cuts? Maybe some quicker things happening....
man 800 words is a lot to cut....

Time to edit I guess....I hate that part.

Ryu

[Wu Lung]

Sorry guys, but the rules is the rules! ;)

Take your time. Put the story away for a couple of days, then have another read with "fresh eyes". You'll find it a lot easier to edit that way. Remember, we'll only accept the highest quality fiction, so make sure it's your best work. Often the best stories come from some rather brutal editting! ;)

[Ryu]

Shouldn't be a problem. I'm having fun with it.
I'm 2000 words into my second story....this one really seems to be calling to me right now but is not really a "martial art" genre kind of thing......well the character uses martial arts so I guess that counts.
This one sounds much more interesting, and I think I can do it with a twist in 5000 words. I may go with this one instead...

Ryu

[Xebsball]

You guys count the number of words?

Here we count the lines, so that people get to have the chance of cheating by writting with really big letters.

[KC Elbows]

I agree about brutal editing. Usually when I'm done and read a story a bunch of times, I'll notice the places where it could be better, and there's usually a good number of them.

[Wu Lung]

You should try it with a novel!

With any writing, you have to remove yourself from it for a little while when it's "finished". Put it in a drawer, forget about it for a while, then go through it again. It's amazing the errors and bad writing that you'll find. Then you can polish it up properly!

[Wu Lung]

By the way - this isn't a one-off "contest". We're making the Fiction section a permanent feature and we'll publishing a new story every month. When we have enough, we'll produce a hard copy anthology. So there's no rush, and if you don't get accepted the first time, you can try again and again. We want to become recognised as a premiere site for short fiction in general, not just for MA fiction. The fact that all the fiction we publish will be MA related is secondary to the quality of stuff we want to showcase.

And besides - what better story is there than a story of any given genre with Martial Arts in it too? :)

[KC Elbows]

I'm planning on trying repeatedly, even after I get one published(keeping on the positive here).

Ryu, considering that you've already got two stories going, you should be in good shape. If your second one looks more like what you're gonna use for the first submittal, then you can always find tasteful ways to trim down the first one, and have plenty of time to do it.

I'm just hoping Ralek or JF Springer don't enter. Those two make some mean fiction.;)

[rubthebuddha]

as the journalism degree holder here, kc, i need to make one revision to your last statement:

ralek and jf ARE some mean fiction.

[KC Elbows]

Mistakes like that, and I'll never get published.

Thanks Rub. Your journalism degree paid off.

[rubthebuddha]

:D

will you write a letter to my parents informing them so?

actually, i don't care if it pays off. i work for the same university, and i've more than earned back all the money my family spent here for my brother's and my degrees.

the important thing here? that you and ryu get published. just don't hit ryu in the nose when you're celebrating -- he might fårt.

[Wu Lung]

:confused:

:D