Noob question

11 Nov 2011

I don't think I've ever been on this forum before. I have some stories here, but most of the time, I play elsewhere.

As a result, I'm pretty ignorant. I've had two stories rejected in recent weeks, both for length. The form pm said I exceeded the site max of 10,000 words per story. I didn't give it that much thought the first time it happened to my Halloween story. After all, the damn thing was 15,000 words.

But now they rejected my holiday story for the same reason -- too long.

I write in OpenOffice.org/Writer. It's pretty much an MS Word clone. Opening files a friend sends to me in Word is instantaneous, and she has no trouble reading my OpenOffice stuff, either.

According to my computer, the story I submitted is 9558 words long.

How the hell does that exceed a 10,000 word limit?

Also, I posted a story here a while ago that is 21,981 words long. How did that slip by? Is this a new rule, or is there a glitch in the way they count words? dontknow

11 Nov 2011

Welcome to the forums.

You have somehow managed to submit the story twice in the same submission, the second version has extra paragraphs to it. I suggest you delete it all and start again.

We only implemented the ruling within the last year or so, if your story was submitted prior to then, a moderator would have spent half an hour or so wading through it in one go probably.

You can use our own word count tool if that helps: http://www.lushstories.com/resources/count-characters.aspx

11 Nov 2011

Thank you. Going to try it now.

11 Nov 2011

Try not to press the CTRL+C twice this time around, your story was 18,000+ words when submitted twice!

11 Nov 2011

Thank you, Nicola.

Odd. I tried your link, and got a different word count than I did in my word processor. Your counter actually shows a LOWER number than mine.

I'm not techno-savvy at all, and I guess it's not a BIG deal, but why would they be different? Occasionally I write something that has a minimun or maximum word restriction, and it would be nice to know what's going on.

11 Nov 2011

Quote by nicola
Try not to press the CTRL+C twice this time around, your story was 18,000+ words when submitted twice!

You mean I did it again? angry9

11 Nov 2011

I'll check for you now. If it's around the 10K word mark, we'll let it pass. It's the epics which suck up the moderator's time.

We do appreciate the effort that goes into them, but most readers do not want to tackle a story of that length, hence the reason we ask for them to be broken up into smaller parts.

Edit: it's just over 9000 words, it's fine as it is.

I don't know about the technical side of those checker programs, but you have an awful lot of spaces in there (consecutive spacebar presses, not carriage returns), they may be treated as words in some (poor) programs.

11 Nov 2011

Thank you for your quick response! Wow, service with a smile!

Odd about the spaces. My "proofreader" (another writer) noted that on another manuscript she helped me with. I couldn't see them on my screen, but she could on hers, with different read/write software. Yet, when I posted it on another site (there are themes/scenes in it that wouldn't fly here), it looked fine. We finally decided that at least some of them occurred where I had deleted and re-written a word or two, something I often do.

You're not talking about the double space-bar at the ends of sentences are you? I'm old-school (well, just plain old!), so that's how I type. We were taught that all sentences required a double space-bar after the punctuation for easier readability. Some web software ignores them, and automatically puts a single space bar after a period, question mark, or exclamation point.

11 Nov 2011

Yes, the double spacebar could throw programs out. A single is the norm. You should never use double, anywhere. They get stripped anyway from most good publishing platforms, so you're wasting your time adding them anyway.

Take a look at DirtyMartini's excellent post on the subject of editing, it might help you realise what the industry expects these days: http://www.lushstories.com/forum/yaf_postst20166_Interesting-document-on-editing-from-DWB-Publishing.aspx

11 Nov 2011

Thanks again. Old habits die hard.

11 Nov 2011

There you go, Nic, given compliments to Dirty Martini will just make him harder to deal with at Rumplations. (sigh)

glasses8

RUMPLATIONS: AwesomeHonky Tonk and Cyber Bar
Home of the Lush "IN" crowd: indecent, intoxicated, and insolvent
a place to gossip, share news, talk sports, pimp a story, piss & moan, or just grab a drink. Check it out.

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwords. -- ROBERT HEINLEIN

11 Nov 2011

I know Rumple, but credit where credit's due!

Here, I'll clear a little of his bar tab to make the pain lessen a little My 2 cents

11 Nov 2011

Is it safe to assume that MY tab is to be paid in cream?

11 Nov 2011

11 Nov 2011

Quote by nicola

Take a look at DirtyMartini's excellent post on the subject of editing, it might help you realise what the industry expects these days: http://www.lushstories.com/forum/yaf_postst20166_Interesting-document-on-editing-from-DWB-Publishing.aspx

Yeah, thanks Nicola...and thanks even more for paying towards my tab at Rump's place...don't know if you saw the contract I posted over in the mod forum on Big Blue, but I did some quick calculations on my slide rule the other day, and I figure the book only has to sell 59.298,361 copies and I'll be able to pay down nearly a quarter of my tab over on Rumplebations...

Yeah, that document makes some good points...and they do insist on space after a period, as Morgan has stated, and a few other things...I thought it was a good checklist for anyone submitting a story here, or anywhere for that matter...

I think some of the things are a bit basic, personally I think if you don't know the difference between "their" and "they're" you probably shouldn't be submitting stuff to traditional print publishers...but, again, just my opinion...I should feel flattered that they actually accepted my story...and btw, they had rejected it Oct. 23, saying she liked the story but was told there was no room in the anthology, and then she sent me a note a couple of days ago saying she needed to speak to me "asap"...so, I sort of snuck in at the last minute on this one...

And looking at the last part of that doc, with the "edits, line edits" and "Errata"...a word I had to look up btw, I can see why writers have a reputation for heavy drinking...no doubt something to do with dealing with editors...

But, the book will be out soon in time for holiday gift giving...just saying... happy8

You know you want it, you know you need it bad...get it now on Amazon.com...
Lush Erotica, an Anthology of Award Winning Sex Stories

11 Nov 2011

The idea of the Dirty Martini unit flush with cash is...(shakes head in wonder as he wanders away down the great info highway)

glasses8

RUMPLATIONS: AwesomeHonky Tonk and Cyber Bar
Home of the Lush "IN" crowd: indecent, intoxicated, and insolvent
a place to gossip, share news, talk sports, pimp a story, piss & moan, or just grab a drink. Check it out.

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwords. -- ROBERT HEINLEIN