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I am about to send my Custer story in to a fellowship competition. The competition has a word limit, so, when posting my word limit on my piece, should I state the EXACT word count? Or the approximate?
The approximate would be 5000 (which is also the competition's limit--which I have not exceeded) and I'm afraid if I put 5000 they might think I've gone over. I don't want to disqualify myself. In competitions are they likely to be so picky? I know editors aren't (to a limit). Should I put something smart alecky like: "Close to, but not exceeding, 5000 words."?
Cross your fingers for me. If I win I can afford to apply for Boot Camp!
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Dang! Editing left me at 5004 words. I had to go for the 'approx. 5000'. Hope those four little words don't screw it for me.
Posts: 1672 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Do you have any ellipses? Each dot gets counted as a word. If you use the ellipsis character (something I would never ordinarily suggest) you could cut some words out. (Hats off to EricJamesStone for this maneuver).
Posts: 932 | Registered: Jul 2001
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GAH! Franc li, do you KNOW how many times I've been over this thing cutting wherever I could?
It went. I opted to let them count pages and figure whether I was legal. No word count--the rules did not say it HAD to be on the document. They also had a 20 page limit, which was stupid because 5000 words of Courier 12 pt. won't FIT on 20 pages (it takes 23), so I had to use Times New to make it a slim 17. A hell. I hope it doesn't matter. I hope they're not as picky as my paranoid mind is imagining they will be.
Thanks everyone, but the point is moot. It's in the mail.