Short Story Competition?

Hoodwink said:
I write about 500 words an hour when I'm at my fastest.

I'm a two-finger (and occasionally thumbed spacebar) typist, but that's not why I'm slow.
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really??? I write with all my ten fingers and the ocational forehead-to-the-spacebar (also known as *banging your head to the table/keyboard*) and I can barely do 500 words an hour....

If I am really inspired and i have been thinking the story in my mind for some time maybe I can write a little faster, but my speed doesn't relate to my finger typing speed.
 
How in hell do you plan a short story? I barely understand outlining a novel and outlining a short story is like...like...there is nothing like outlining a short story. I get the starting place and begin typos and - I don't wear a watch anymore - sometime later there is a story on the screen. No way I can plan that.
 
Well...according to my instructors (ok, start pecking at me, it's ok, I can take it)...

Any story requires (yes, I wrote 'requires') the following:

Act 1
Hook - stimulus that starts the action, introduces your protag
Backstory - set the stakes
Trigger - a catalyst, an event that throws the protag into a crisis

Act 2
Crisis - emotional moment of despair
Struggle - plot complications, introduce antagonist, protag's struggle
Epiphany - protag's sel revelation, his flaw revealed

Act 3
Plan - the remedy for the protag's crisis
Climax - antagonist loses through their own flaws (with the help of the protag)
Ending/Resolution - tie up loose ends quickly

So...apparently...all good stories following this structure, no matter the length...okay, I have to go now and read.
 
You're not suggesting there are rules to this stuff! Do you realize that could get you excommunicated from the site - well, a really uncomfortable ass-chewing from KatG? Flung Poo will probably support your position but he is known to be somewhat whimsical when it comes to rules: he can take them or leave them.
 
Ug, HE. You are worse than gadflies on a corpse. :rolleyes:

No. Not rules. Guidelines, suggestions. I know I put in the word "requires", but that was just for our class. We had to write to that structure for the class. And, well, that instructor thought ALL successful (whatever that is) stories followed that structure.

Sorry Flung Poo (?), I keep getting off topic... :(
 
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Flies on a corpse, eh. If we can change that to gadflies then I can be in the same disreputable cateogry as Socrates. I can live with that.:cool:
 
Somehow I've given the impression I have a planning process, when what I really have is a "sit around on my arse, drink some wine and watch TV for several days until an idea comes out of nowhere that roughly matches the topic, and then start writing it, if I've had enough wine, and there's nothing on TV" process.

Until I know the topic, I can't get started on this crucial stage of my writing process.
 
LoL :)

And very apt, given my tendency to throw my poo at strangers and masturbate publicly.
 
My preferred method of writing (by far), is my back porch, scotch, a pencil, and a notebook. I realize that it's horribly slow...

Most times, though, I bang out a story on the laptop... or, rather, some horribly mutilated form of the story (I tend to write in 300-500 word scene chunks, then come back and fill in the meat later). But then that pesky internet begins to distract me...

I actually look forward to business trips simply for the plane flight - I write more there in one sitting than I generally do all month.
 
Hereford Eye said:
Flung Poo will probably support your position but he is known to be somewhat whimsical when it comes to rules: he can take them or leave them.
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haha :p

There are no rules -- there are only methodologies.

The trick is to find various methodologies that work for you. ;)
 
tmso: See what I mean? He plays semantics and says use whatever rules suit you. He changed rules to methodologies but it is still fast and loose with both sides of the fence he's sitting on. You gotta admire an adept of such talent!
 
How I write is:

Write a sentence. Follow that with a few hundred words.
Wait, new first sentence. A few hundred words more.
What time is it? Wow. Well, a thousand words. Not so bad. Sleep.
Starting again:
Read. (Can't help myself) edit that first sentence. Edit first paragraph. Why are my fingers cramped? Oh. I've got another thousand words. Go eat.
Delete a bunch of real crap leaving only half of what I had. Add a few hundred words. This sucks.
Tell the wife the story (knowing I'm summarizing badly). Nod when she says it's too complicated and should be way more simple or everyone will get stuck and not read the rest of it.
Read. Edit (grumpily). Add a few words (like four). Sleep.
Next time I'm ready to see the stupid thing: Read. Write a thousand words more on version "G" and grumble "I'm not changing this!" Take a break before posting.
Rewrite. Save as version "H"
Post into the contest. Panic. Edit the onscreen version. Copy the new text and paste it into version "H" but save as version "I" just in case.
Read in the story section. See the obvious typo. Edit on screen. Paste in version "I" and save as same.
Wait. Read other people's stuff. Drink.

Edit
Oh, yeah: when this was flash fiction. Most of the word count was the same, but there was also a whole mirror step of subtracting words each and every dog-gone time!
 
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Tristis said:
Post into the contest. Panic.
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Ha! I don't know how I missed your post Tristis, but that's brilliant. I keep trying to find a systematic way to write a good story. But whatever I try, I end up with the same crap, and feeling exactly that way: panicked. Guess I just have to keep trying. :rolleyes:

So...any word on how this is going to work? Just what is the theme, Fung Koo? I'm trying hard not to work on my novel and writing a new short story would fit in well with my procrastinating tendencies. :D
 
Patience, darlin', patience. There's a new fiesta in the making as we speak. It's out at the moon tower, full kegs, everyone's gonna be there, you oughtta go.

;)
 
Fung Koo said:
Patience, darlin', patience. There's a new fiesta in the making as we speak. It's out at the moon tower, full kegs, everyone's gonna be there, you oughtta go.

;)
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You, sir, are quite confused (and perhaps a little dazed).
 
Fung Koo said:
Patience, darlin', patience. There's a new fiesta in the making as we speak. It's out at the moon tower, full kegs, everyone's gonna be there, you oughtta go.

;)
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Um...am I supposed to get that? If not, that's ok, no need to explain...just was wondering...

Hope I have time to participate in December - looking forward to it. :)
 
Fung Koo said:
Patience, darlin', patience. There's a new fiesta in the making as we speak. It's out at the moon tower, full kegs, everyone's gonna be there, you oughtta go.

;)
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So the first theme is to write in a drug-addled perspective. Rawk :D
 
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