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How long does it take you to write and finish/rewrite a short story?
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
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!)
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
The current one ends on Thursday 29th September
http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/2016-open-short-story-competition-with-patsy-collins.html