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Q&A How to plan a short story for a given word count?

A story is how long it is. The short story is a spare medium to begin with. You can't make a decently written story of X words X-500 words without taking something away from the story itself. I t...

posted 6y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2020-01-03T20:41:57Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35529
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:37:54Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35529
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:37:54Z (over 4 years ago)
A story is how long it is. The short story is a spare medium to begin with. You can't make a decently written story of X words X-500 words without taking something away from the story itself.

I think a perennial short story writer develops a sense of what constitutes a 2500 word story. It is a 2500 word story from the beginning, before word one has been committed to paper/silicone.

If you want to enter a short story contest with a 2500 word limit, write a 2500 word story. If you end up writing a 5000 word story, find a contest that accepts 5000 word stories. If you desperately want to enter the 2500 word story contest, think of a 2500 word story and write it. Don't try to cut a 5000 word story down to 2500. Don't chop the arms of the Venus de Milo or the nose of the Sphinx. It just won't be the same.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-04-25T23:16:34Z (about 6 years ago)
Original score: 2