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<blockquote data-quote="two" data-source="post: 1826028" data-attributes="member: 9002">I promised not to write!!!I know I know, I promised not to write any more messages here...nor read here...I was very good for a week or so...Just a short note, supporting takyris' conclusions:&nbsp; from a very informal survey of other writers I know, and from various forums I make a habit of occasionally frequenting, I've been told of over twenty &quot;polished, completely&quot; finished novels that are being submitted to this competition, which is getting to be very well-known indeed.&nbsp; One guy actually has 4 novels that he is sick of peddling to publishers, and is going to submit all of them (so he claims).&nbsp; Yeah, I'm more than a little suspicious about the 4 novels guy too (they could all be uniformly bad, thus that's why they are unpublished) but more novels means more chances, I guess.I don't know a lot of other writers, I am not big in the &quot;writer's group&quot; thing, etc. but even so, people are pulling stuff out of their dusty files and plishing it up -- my gut tells me WOTC is going to be buried.&nbsp; I can't say for certain how many submissions they will get... I really have no idea.&nbsp; 5 thousand?&nbsp; 1 thousand?&nbsp; 500?&nbsp; No clue.&nbsp; I do know that a reasonable percentage of them will be in a high state of polish -- this was something I had stated before, suspecting it would be the case, and lo and behold it seems to be true.&nbsp; Now polish does not equal &quot;good&quot;, granted.&nbsp; You can polish a turd all day and you won't ever end up with more than a brown streak.&nbsp; But, well, whatever.&nbsp; Just more info.&nbsp; Do with it what you will.See also takyris' posts above for more good info.OK now really:&nbsp; bye!PS:&nbsp; Romance novels can be as short as 45K words (Harlequin), &quot;literary novels&quot; can be even shorter (30K) if they are &quot;arty&quot;, but a typical novel now runs 75K to 85K words.&nbsp; Novel size is shrinking; most agents currently ignore novels over 100K unless submitted by a published author with a good track record (or if it's in a genre where huge is normal, which are niche genres to be sure).&nbsp; Fantasy novels can go 70K - 100K or longer.&nbsp; I would definately not go longer than 100K unless you are on one heck of a roll.&nbsp; If you get to 80K or 85K and you are at the end of your story, don't feel the need to pad.&nbsp; If you get to 50K and are done -- well, then pad/expand/etc.Ok now really really really:&nbsp; bye</blockquote>

[QUOTE="two, post: 1826028, member: 9002"] [b]I promised not to write!!![/b] I know I know, I promised not to write any more messages here...nor read here...I was very good for a week or so... Just a short note, supporting takyris' conclusions: from a very informal survey of other writers I know, and from various forums I make a habit of occasionally frequenting, I've been told of over twenty "polished, completely" finished novels that are being submitted to this competition, which is getting to be very well-known indeed. One guy actually has 4 novels that he is sick of peddling to publishers, and is going to submit all of them (so he claims). Yeah, I'm more than a little suspicious about the 4 novels guy too (they could all be uniformly bad, thus that's why they are unpublished) but more novels means more chances, I guess. I don't know a lot of other writers, I am not big in the "writer's group" thing, etc. but even so, people are pulling stuff out of their dusty files and plishing it up -- my gut tells me WOTC is going to be buried. I can't say for certain how many submissions they will get... I really have no idea. 5 thousand? 1 thousand? 500? No clue. I do know that a reasonable percentage of them will be in a high state of polish -- this was something I had stated before, suspecting it would be the case, and lo and behold it seems to be true. Now polish does not equal "good", granted. You can polish a turd all day and you won't ever end up with more than a brown streak. But, well, whatever. Just more info. Do with it what you will. See also takyris' posts above for more good info. OK now really: bye! PS: Romance novels can be as short as 45K words (Harlequin), "literary novels" can be even shorter (30K) if they are "arty", but a typical novel now runs 75K to 85K words. Novel size is shrinking; most agents currently ignore novels over 100K unless submitted by a published author with a good track record (or if it's in a genre where huge is normal, which are niche genres to be sure). Fantasy novels can go 70K - 100K or longer. I would definately not go longer than 100K unless you are on one heck of a roll. If you get to 80K or 85K and you are at the end of your story, don't feel the need to pad. If you get to 50K and are done -- well, then pad/expand/etc. Ok now really really really: bye [/QUOTE]

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