Question: POPUP thingamybob

[mickleinapickle]

I think I'm in the right place place to ask a silly question.

I'm getting close to submitting an entry to the POPUP thingamybob. I'm struggling to fit my 700-word first chapter into exactly 700 words for submission. Is 700 words a maximum or is there a plus or minus tolerance attached to it? For instance, +/- 10%.... ...or 700 words plus or minus 10%... or even 5%?

Any info/advice would be appreciated. Please understand that I'm renowned for asking silly questions... but I do mean well.

 

[MattScho]

Count it as a max. You can submit 300 words if you want. But if the choice is between 710 words of 660, go with the lower one, as the reader may well stop at 700.

 

[Hannah F]

Submissions to competitions tend to be brutally strict about word limit but us narrators are a tinsy bit more lenient. Only a tinsy bit though. 710 words would be OK, 660 is fine, but don't stop mid-sentence as a last week's sub did and don't treat 700 as a vague guide because we will stop around the 700 word mark, and if the bit you really wanted read comes after that, tough.

 

[CageSage]

And - if I recall correctly - the 700 words isn't a word count as done by Word (5 char = 1 word), it's a count of how many actual words (a space between characters) which is often considerably less than the Word wordcount.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

As @Hannah F says, we readers prefer it if it’s as close to 700 as possible (I once managed 699 for mine, and was chuffed to hell and back).

If your piece runs over by a lot (say, 750) and there’s no decent place to cut it after the 700 word mark, we will look at cutting before 700 words (at the end of a good sentence, that doesn’t leave too much hanging).
Which may not be what you want. So, it makes sense to use your own judgement, as author, rather than leave it to us.

And maybe look on it as a prose-tightening exercise? Are there any extraneous words that can be cut, sentences that can be re-jigged to be more concise? The goal is to get us hooked in those first 700 words, as this mirrors the amount of time a prospective agent or publisher might allow before deciding if they want to read on.
We’ve seen plenty of submissions that do leave us wanting more - I’m sure, with tweaking, you can make us feel the same about yours. Xx

 

[Emily]

Yes, we need to stick as close to the word count as possible... This is so that it's fair for everyone, that everyone gets the same chance (and everything @Vagabond Heart said too )

 

[mickleinapickle]

Thanks for all your comments. I appreciate the advice. I'll regard 700 words as the maximum. I've been using the opportunity to do a bit of prose-tightening as suggested and I definitely won't end mid-sentence. I'm almost there... just a final little tickle. Onwords and upwords!