What's in a Name
27 May 2023 10:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeI nominally completed my "What's in a Name" challenge story last night, but the Nizhny-Novgorod section (intended to be the actual story of 'how Erik got the name Erik') came out about as long as the entire rest of the story put together, which means that after I thought I was on track to squeeze in well below the word limit I have probably now gone over. The current page count on the manuscript is 43 pages at about 200 words each, and I *think* the terms of the challenge stipulate 8000 words or less (yet again I'm currently locked out of the site, even the normally-accessible forums and author pages, by Cloudflare, and can't check right now).
Edit: finally able to get in again. Relevant text:
To be frank eight thousand words in itself is a pretty generous limit; going over four thousand can be hard work on the reader, especially if the prose is turgid, and I think the shorter length requirement makes in principle for a better competition entry. However, what I've ended up with is in effect a two- or arguably three-chapter story (plus the backstory of how Erik got to Nizhny-Novgorod via Bohemia and Vietnam, but that can't easily be split out from the final chapter) being run as a one-shot, and arguably it might be better simply to upload the first scene as the actual challenge entry, since that also meets the 'about a character's name' requirement as a standalone narrative.
Although I expect the entire story would benefit from a bit of trimming, and it would probably be possible to get it down under eight thousand for submission -- apart from the fact that the challenge entries have to be uploaded by May 31st! I don't actually think the later section is as strong as the first, not least because I had Erik randomly murder someone in order to simplify my plot, then had to justify why he wasn't solving every other problem by murdering people who might pose a threat the moment he set eyes on them :-( Basically the story has come out as an extended exercise in writing in the third without naming one's protagonist and without making that fact (I hope) too obvious; the problem is that Erik simply doesn't think of *himself* by any of the names he goes under in the course of events...
Edit: finally able to get in again. Relevant text:
- The story may be any rating or fandom you choose; with a minimum length of 1,000 words and maximum length of 8,000 words. The story may have a multi-chaptered sequel, but the first chapter must fulfill all the challenge requirements and be able to stand alone as a complete story (meaning you don't need to read chapters 2 onwards). Or, if included as a chapter in a collection of one-shots, indicate which chapter your entry is.
- The story must be uploaded to the site by the end of May 31st, 2023, as registered by the site (Pacific Time/UTC-08:00). Note that it's expected that your story is something you've written specifically for the challenge, not an older story that happens to fit the requirements that you've co-opted for the sake of entering.
- The words "Writers Anonymous What's in a Name Challenge" or, in short, "WA What's in a Name Challenge" must be in either the summary or an author's note.
To be frank eight thousand words in itself is a pretty generous limit; going over four thousand can be hard work on the reader, especially if the prose is turgid, and I think the shorter length requirement makes in principle for a better competition entry. However, what I've ended up with is in effect a two- or arguably three-chapter story (plus the backstory of how Erik got to Nizhny-Novgorod via Bohemia and Vietnam, but that can't easily be split out from the final chapter) being run as a one-shot, and arguably it might be better simply to upload the first scene as the actual challenge entry, since that also meets the 'about a character's name' requirement as a standalone narrative.
Although I expect the entire story would benefit from a bit of trimming, and it would probably be possible to get it down under eight thousand for submission -- apart from the fact that the challenge entries have to be uploaded by May 31st! I don't actually think the later section is as strong as the first, not least because I had Erik randomly murder someone in order to simplify my plot, then had to justify why he wasn't solving every other problem by murdering people who might pose a threat the moment he set eyes on them :-( Basically the story has come out as an extended exercise in writing in the third without naming one's protagonist and without making that fact (I hope) too obvious; the problem is that Erik simply doesn't think of *himself* by any of the names he goes under in the course of events...