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Author
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Comment
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Leah
Unregistered User
(9/4/02 2:28:49 pm)
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Short storie length
I am writting a short storie fairy tale retelling on Word, and was wondering at size 12 font times newroman, how many pages would be considered an average short storie.
Mine are around five pages long. Is that to short?
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Richard
Parks
Registered User
(9/4/02 7:40:53 pm)
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Story Length
Single or double spaced?
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Terri
Registered User
(9/5/02 1:51:27 am)
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Re: Story Length
Leah,
I hope this doesn't sound rude, as this message is kindly meant -- but I strongly suggest that you use the spell-check function on your computer and keep a dictionary at your side. Your spelling is a bit...eccentric. If you're going to write for other people to read, you'll need to work on this. Story, for instance, is not storie.
I don't know your age or educational background, or whether English is your first language, so there may be reasons why spelling is a difficulty for you. Nonetheless, spelling, grammar, and punctuation are tools you need when you become a writer, just as an art student needs to learn how to handle various paints and brushes in order to become a painter. (As an editor, I don't even finish reading stories submitted to me that are badly spelled or ungrammatical.) It just takes some focus and practice to improve, however.
(I'm not a particularly good speller myself, when I'm not careful, so I sympathize with how difficult it can be.)
Good luck!
-- Terri
Edited by: Terri at: 9/5/02 2:07:26 am
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msisolak
Unregistered User
(9/5/02 7:14:44 am)
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Re: Story Length
Leah,
I wouldn't worry about length too much. A story takes as long as it needs to be told. Flash fiction is 500 words or less -- about the equivalent of two double-spaced typed pages. Good short stories, say 5000 words or less, can be more difficult to find, based on the fact that many markets have a surfeit of novella-length stories.
Bottom line? If your story's good, no one's going to be looking that closely at the length. But it's got to be {i]good.{/i}
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leah
Unregistered User
(9/5/02 11:34:05 am)
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spelling
I know i have awfull spelling, despite how much i read. I was in a hurry yesterday so was more sloppy than usual.
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swanchick
Registered User
(9/5/02 3:46:05 pm)
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spelling...probably thoroughly off topic at this point
LOL...
My fiance' reads as much as I do, and he still can't spell worth a darn. He is currently going back to college, and he always wants me to proofread his papers--he never believes the spell check when it corrects him. He has to hear it from me. Last time I had to check one of his papers, I told him he spelled like an Elizabethan--spelling every word the way he felt like spelling it at the moment. Weird thing is, he usually makes words *more* complicated than they actually are.
swanchick
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Terri
Registered User
(9/5/02 11:42:12 pm)
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Re: spelling...probably thoroughly off topic at this point
It's most definitely a case of the pot calling the kettle black for me to comment on anyone else's spelling. Between all the typos I make with my rapid-but-two-fingered typing style, living in two different countries where many things are spelled differently, and a bad eye for proof-reading, I'm lucky if there's not a howler or two in anything I write...which is an embarrassing admission for an editor. (Two "r"s and two "s"s in embarrassing? Hmm, yes.)
Leah, if you log in to this board, you'll then have an "edit" button on all your posts and you'll be able to correct errors. It's a useful option to have for those of us who are often in a rush, type quickly, and thus make mistakes. (Believe me, I know; I have to use it often. Including on this post, which contained two typos!) There's also a spell check key.
Edited by: Terri at: 9/5/02 11:55:37 pm
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Terri
Registered User
(9/8/02 12:41:18 am)
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Re: spelling...probably thoroughly off topic at this point
Leah, I see by one of Heidi's posts that you're in the 8th grade. I thought you were older, since you have read so much! My apologies for jumping all over your spelling -- I would have been less critical if I'd realized you are still so young. I hope I haven't discouraged you from posting your comments on the board. It's a delight to have you with us.
-- Terri
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Leah
Unregistered User
(9/8/02 6:50:03 am)
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no offense taken
Terri, I just wanted to say thanks for writing an apology, even though it wasn't needed, and I will make sure to keep writing.
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