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Regarding the various story lengths (other ficlet, short story,
medium, novel): is there some place where the respective word counts
are listed? I have searched in various FAQs but in vain.

IIRC

other ficlet < 1000
short story < 10,000
medium length < 40,000
novel > 40,000

Is that correct?

(and I'd like to suggest this be added somewhere in the rules and/or
the FAQs)

Imhiriel

Hi Imhiriel

The story lengths are listed in the Voting FAQ "How do I find a story to
vote for?" (scroll down to item 5 in this FAQ):
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2008/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_15

The lengths are:
# Other Fixed-Length Ficlet: A Fixed-Length Ficlet that isn't a true
drabble. (Usually, these have exactly 200, 300, 400, or 500 words.)
# Fixed-Length Ficlet series: A series where every part is either a true
drabble or an other fixed-length ficlet.
# Other Ficlet: Pieces not a fixed-length ficlet, but still one thousand
words or less.
# Short Story: A story 1,001 to 10,000 words
# Medium Length: A story 10,001 to 40,000 words
# Novel: A story 40,001 words or longer.
# N/A: This length is usually used for poetry, non-fiction, or other
forms that don't fit the above lengths.

As you obviously had trouble finding this - it is a bit buried! - where
in the FAQs would expect to find the information? We can maybe look at
putting it there as well (or instead) to make it easier to find.

HTH

Tanaqui
MEFA Tech Support

Imhiriel wrote:

> Regarding the various story lengths (other ficlet, short story,
> medium, novel): is there some place where the respective word counts
> are listed? I have searched in various FAQs but in vain.
>
> IIRC
>
> other ficlet < 1000
> short story < 10,000
> medium length < 40,000
> novel > 40,000
>
> Is that correct?
>
> (and I'd like to suggest this be added somewhere in the rules and/or
> the FAQs)
>
> Imhiriel

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, Tanaqui <tanaqui@...> wrote:

> The story lengths are listed in the Voting FAQ "How do I find a story to
> vote for?" (scroll down to item 5 in this FAQ):
> http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2008/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_15

Argh, missed this one. I can only comfort myself with the fact that at
least I did have the word counts right <g>. Thanks, Tanaqui, for the
pointer!

> As you obviously had trouble finding this - it is a bit buried! - where
> in the FAQs would expect to find the information? We can maybe look at
> putting it there as well (or instead) to make it easier to find.

Hm. I would suggest making a question that especially addresses length
(not have be one item among several under the non-specific question
"How do I find a story to vote for?), and perhaps include it in the
first page of FAQs instead of having it be an "under-page" (for lack
of a better term). Perhaps include it under the header of the
questions regarding "Other Helpful Information"?

I don't know how the page about the rules was compiled, and if story
length is something that should be addressed there in addition, as well.

Imhiriel