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How long does it take you to write and finish/rewrite a short story?

JenJen
edited August 2016 in Writing
I found about about a short story competition recently and I had a brief idea and wrote a rough draft with a lot of holes to fill in. I've finally had a chance to type it up but it needs a lot more work and the competition ends on the 29th of this month, so it needs to be done and submitted online by the end of next week!
I always have trouble rewriting, I have a few stories that are stuck in the rewrite phase and I had to stop as I found this competition. The last time i tried to enter a competition I didn't actually write anything in time, I'm going to try very hard but I'll be surprised it I manage to do it. It takes me a while to get the idea sorted out and then longer again to write and rewrite.
A lot of competitions seem to announce a month before the closing, it's a shame if I don't manage to enter as I think the story really suits the theme. It's not too much about the winning but my need to prove to myself that I can do it as I've only successfully enter two competitions within the last year.
is it just me?

Comments

  • No, it's not just you.
    If I was at the same stage as you with a story that needs to be submitted by the end of next week I know that anything I submitted wouldn't be properly polished.
    On the other hand, if there was no entry fee, I might try it anyway.
    The solution is to try to have a little stock of almost finished tales that just need the necessary tweaking to fit a comp theme. (Easier said than done!)
  • There are lots of competitions that give much more notice than that. (The one I posted on here doesn't close till October!)
    My stories can leap onto the page and require only minor edits (doesn't happen often!!) or can sit in a mire of not-quite-readiness for months (or years) before I get them where I want them - and some never quite make it.
    I tend to write stories as they arise and then find competitions for them rather than the other way round.
  • Short stories take me ages.
    If you get the next issue of Writing Magazine- due out early September- it has the competition special, so lots of competition details going into next year, so plenty of time to get entries done.
  • Thanks. I always forget when the competition special is out. I do plan to write more stories and then find places to send them but then i see a competition and i want to enter. Or a random idea occurs and i need to write that and stories dont get finished. In school thry akways said i had self-discipline either its gone or they were wrong
  • All you can do is your best, Jen. Go at it hammer and tongs till the last possible moment and then, if you're happy with it, submit.
    If not, don't.

    How long does it take me? Sometimes a day, sometimes weeks, and I have some stories that I'm still not happy with years after writing them!
  • Jen, the very fact that you've done anything about this competition at all is a Forward Move. Do what you can with what you have, keep going until you have a beginning, middle and end - and then print it onto hard copy and PUT IT DOWN for a couple of days. Then take it up and read it again. You may be very pleasantly surprised that you can see what needs editing, holes that need closing over. If the closing date is 29th then you can do this. Yes you can!
    And that's a really good idea of Claudia's to have a stock 'in hand' of nearly-there stories. Competitions are a great way of making yourself do the job! You can get the September issue and start planning!
    Good luck!
    I do keep records of how long my short stories take to write in the first draft, but the five or six hours noted don't include all the editing that goes on afterwards! The fastest I ever did was about four hours start to finish written one August Bank holiday - sent off to People's Friend that day (not a bank holiday in Scotland) and they accepted it on the following Thursday and it was published in the Winter Special 2012 as 'Distant Relatives.'
    Great.
    But I have stories in my back-file which have been there since I started in 2000 ... and they're still not finished.
    There's always another competition coming along, so if you don't 'make it' in time for this one, your story can have another bash another time!
    Very Best of luck, Jen - go for it, you can do it!
  • Thanks I always get support of everyone on this forum. I must remember to visit more often as I get busy and forget.
  • Sometimes I think up a story in the morning and it's ready for submission that afternoon. Sometimes I get stuck somewhere and it takes months to finish it. Generally it's somewhere between the two.
  • Once I start, I usually steamroll through without stopping. I might edit over a few days at the end, sleeping on it in between. I print each story out and file it chronologically with a titles sheet with word count at the front of the file. Usually, I write specifically for a competition, but, as we all know, inspiration can strike for no reason at all, and we just write.
  • Sometimes I think up a story in the morning and it's ready for submission that afternoon. Sometimes I get stuck somewhere and it takes months to finish it. Generally it's somewhere between the two.
    And they're always good - I have two of your books on my Kindle app!

  • The last story I completed, I finished on 16/12/2015... I started it on 23/12/2003 (still waiting for them to make procrastination an Olympic sport :-D )
  • Wow, Smaug - is that a record? :)
  • Probably best not to ask about my novel...
  • JenJen
    edited August 2016
    Sometimes I think up a story in the morning and it's ready for submission that afternoon. Sometimes I get stuck somewhere and it takes months to finish it. Generally it's somewhere between the two.
    I'm so envious. My story needs a lot of work :( I have 9 days!
    I don't think I'll make it, I don't want to send it if it's not perfect. Or my version of perfect.
    Maybe it'll have to be sent to a different competition, one without a theme. It'll probably fit the theme of family. The theme is discovery. Never mind, I'll keep working on it and see how it goes.
  • I think you're right not to send it until it's as good as you can make it.
  • I've just had to work today and another extra shift this week so I don't see my finishing it. Gutted as i really wanted to send it but don't want to send rubbish.
  • If one day is equal to one metre of string, then it takes a complete length of string to finish a story.
  • Erewash Writers' Group comps always close near to the end of September each year.

    The current one ends on Thursday 29th September

    http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/2016-open-short-story-competition-with-patsy-collins.html
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