Why are there so many posts in the review room "Short story" forum that are simply excerpts from a longer story [read: Novel]? It seems to me that they would be better served in the novel section, as the readers there are more focused on developing that style of writing. I have pondered this and decided that it must be people thinking that the novel section is for finished novels and not portions of novels? If that is the case I wonder if there is not some way which we could help people find a better fit for their stories.
Perhaps, but it really isn't that important. If it's not a complete story, people who review it will make the adjustment, or at least point out that it is incomplete. The bigger problem is members who feel that because they post in Novel, it's ok to just flood the thread with installment after installment. They nod to the reviewers of earlier installments, but then never revisit those installments to experiment with the suggestions.
when i posted the innocents race, chapter 1 i posted it under short story as thats what it is, it is about 8000 words (according to wikipedia thats the limit) just because they dont post the hole story dosnt mean its a novel
But if you are developing a novel you are developing your story slower and with different mechanics than you would were it to be a short story. I don't mind them being there, but I thought that is what the novel section was for: Novels.
maybe we don't know what it will be (i.e. a novel or something else), so the whole general fiction area of short stories catches our attention and we toss it in there?
Kyle, You're absolutely right about the distinction and about the intended purpose of the categories. But reviewrs can usually tell by looking at the piece that it's a novel they are looking at (no one posts an obvious short stroy in Novel), and can adjust thier critique accordingly. It is not out of line to point out that the development is better suited to a novel than to a short story, or that short stories don't generally have chapters. If they want the thread moved, the mods can do that in moments. We aren't at all overwhelmed by the number of move requests, typically less than one per day. But the choice of where best to post their writing can be thought of as either how well they have identified their genre to simply how well they have explored the site. It's a factor, but not a showstopper.
it doesn't bother me. a story is a story, an exerpt is still a story in itself. I read Rei's piece titled 'A Different Kind of Goblin' to me it was a story within her novel, it was enjoyable to read and i learnt some things from it as well as other's i have read in there. So if they posted it in short stories, and as long as they participated in that section as a member. I have no problems with it. I think it should have in its title that it is a piece of a larger story, but from what i've seen, they do that.
