Huh. Turns out, they weren’t as long as I remembered.You think that’s something? I wrote a couple of books in one of incognito’s tourneys. Otherwise, pretty decent entries, though.
I think my longest entry was "Bakra's Bond," back in 2009. It weighs in at 2,880 words. It had riddles and poems and everything.Huh. Turns out, they weren’t as long as I remembered.
The Fishy God (one of my top 2 entries, in my estimation) clocks in at just over 2400.
Figments of Thought (lost against @Wicht, but still a pretty good entry) is just under 3500.
Spoken like someone who’s never had to sift through a 5000-word wall of text half a dozen times with a fine-toothed come!I abhor the word count restriction. I think it's an unnecessary rule that all but guarantees that submissions will be poorly formatted and incomplete. It's like we've all signed up to paint a portrait with specific colors--and to save time, the judges require all painters to limit the number of brush strokes they use.
Judges can already dock an appropriate number of points from an entry for any criteria they wish, so a hard limit isn't necessary. Just make "word count" one of the things the entries will be judged on, and carry on. An entry that uses 2000 words to say something interesting should obviously win against an entry that uses only 750 words to say nothing at all.
But I've never been a judge, so grain of salt and all that.![]()
Yeah, I get that. And it's totally fair.Spoken like someone who’s never had to sift through a 5000-word wall of text half a dozen times with a fine-toothed come!
It’s not arbitrary though. It’s designed to test discipline. And creativity. But discipline first. That’s why the second and third rounds open the word-limits up.Yeah, I get that. And it's totally fair.
Still, there's a bit of creative pride at stake on the authors' end, too. It really stinks to spend hours writing something that you are very proud of, but then have to butcher it for such an arbitrary reason.
"Your painting is fantastic! Unfortunately it won't fit in this tiny frame. Hand me the scissors."
I waffle. Sometimes I tend to think that the word count should probably be reversed, with the later rounds making the word count less, rather than more, but I get the reason for doing it the other way and reverse myself. Either way, when judges confer on rules prior to the contest, I am always going to be in favor of keeping it, regardless of the exact form it takes.Yeah, I get that. And it's totally fair.
Still, there's a bit of creative pride at stake on the authors' end, too. It really stinks to spend hours writing something that you are very proud of, but then have to butcher it for such an arbitrary reason.
"Your painting is fantastic! Unfortunately it won't fit in this tiny frame. Hand me the scissors."
Yeah. At first I absolutely hated the word count. I eventually came to appreciate it as a contestant. It really forces you to narrow your focus on the core of the adventure and the way the ingredients play into it. My first ever entry (and only entry I've written without a word cap) clocked in at 4,350. It's real easy to work in six ingredients over the course of an adventure with that kind of real estate to work with.It’s not arbitrary though. It’s designed to test discipline. And creativity. But discipline first. That’s why the second and third rounds open the word-limits up.
I will say that the 750 word count might be a tad low for round 1, but I go back and forth on that. It really hammers home that what we're looking for is a synopsis more than anything. Don't drown us in details or backstory; just give us the outline.