There is a short short story competition I found but I was confused because the maximum word count is 1500 words. I myself dont write short stories and this would be my first attempt at one. I have a good idea for the story but im not sure if I can fit it into 1500 words or not. I hope I can. I am sure they dont get any shorter than this, do they? Anyways my question is are there any tips anyone can give me? Any advice about shorting your words up? Anything will help. Thanks.
Flash fiction is as few as 800 words at some times 500. Short stories go from 1500 all the way to 20,000 Novellas are 21,000 to 50,000 and Novels are 51,000 to 100,000 I think this may be a little off but you should get the gist. I would google short story competitions or go to your local library and check out a copy of the writer's market and short story market if available. There are many contests in those pages and some I have entered as well. Also if you look up some e-magazines there are oppurtunities to get published online for a substantialy reduced rate. Just a little FYI
You can tell a pretty decent story in under 1500 words. The main thing is to stick to the point. Keep the plot relatively simple, because you won't be able to do justice to multiple plot lines and lots of characters. Concise writing is always a skill worth cultivating. Big name writers who get paid by the word (or appear to be!) become very tedious to read!
Flash fiction is 1000 words or less. A lot of magazine and ezines pay for Flash fiction too. Micro fiction is 100 words or less. I have even seen 50 words or less. I haven't tried 50 words or less, but I have written two 100-words-exact stories, and it wasn't as challanging as I thought it would be.
We run short story contests on this site - the word limit for these is 500 - 3000 words. Most entries are between 1000 - 2000. Check this link for the archive so you can get a feel for them: https://www.writingforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=69
When ever I write a short story, it is usually a lot shorter than I wanted it to be. However, I think short sometimes works. When I was younger and we were in little school, we were always told to write a story, and I would always plan mine too long and never get time to finish and it would all just be rembeling and crappy. So I started to write shorter peices, which you really need to do when writing in Exams anyways. My advice to you would be to write a lot about a little. Rather than trying to get it all in and having not much detail or description on anything, but some fantastic description and detail into several main points, and make sure they are fully explained and sound fantastic. Also, if you have a word limit, work out which parts of your story are nessesary, additional information and purely rambeling. The first two can be allowed, as you need them to make an interesting story, but if you have peices planned which do not really add anything to the story, take them out. Also, if, when you have finished writing, you find you have gone over the limit, I would advise not to just go through and delete sentences as you will loose some of the impact which has been created throughout. Instead, read through again, find a paragraph or two which are too long, as in they actually sound like they are going on a bit, and re-write the full paragraph. That way you do not loose inmpact you may have forgotten about by deleting random lines. I hope this helps some Heather
