HELP NEEDED - omg

[Maureen K Clifford]

I NEED TO KNOW what the general opinion is re this. The Bronze Swagman suggests???? a word count of around 700 and the piece I want to put in has 994 and try as I may I really can't reduce it without loosing the story line and the whole concept or bypassing a huge hunk of history from one of our famous men ...would this be considered totally unacceptable?????????????? Would I just be wasting my time sending it in as it is????

Cheers

Maureen

[Leonie]

I've been asking similar questions over at BushVerse. I have the opposite problem to you, the couple I am thinking of putting in fall way short of the mark and I don't think chucking a few extra stanzas in just to make up the numbers will improve them any. I left the whole attempt a bit late and I'm not all that happy with my efforts to be honest.

I have no idea Maureen but my feeling is that being a little over the 700 might be better than being way under it because the winners from the last couple of years have been pretty long and I have heard some judges comment that the occasional poem is a bit short to really tell the story (or something along those lines). Mind you 300 odd over might be stretching it. Not much help am I, sorry.

I'd still put it in if I was you, even if you can't take a stanza or two out. They might chuck it out or they might not, but one thing is for sure if you don't send it in, it won't have a chance.

[Zondrae]

G'day Maureen,

Nice to see some sensable conversation first thing in the morning.

Re: BS poem length. Last year when they first suggested 700 words, it created some panic and they issued an explaination, It went along the lines of ' this is a suggestion only'. It went on to say that it was to encourage the full exploration of the topic.

Maureen, have you looked at the opening of the poem.? Could it possible start at a later point in the story? I have been trying to polish up one of mine and I think I have started too early in the life of the characters in the story. I have been able to drop about five stanzas and rewrite that bit in one stanza and still not lose the main elements of the story of that particular poem. If I wish, I can now use the lost bits to write another poem, which is really a different story.

Another thing you may look at is, have you gone into too much detail describing the scene, that is the surrounding country or other background. Ask yourself "if I left this out, would my reader still get the main story?" Do your readers really need to know if there are clouds in the sky or books on the shelf?

Sometimes I look at my scribbling and find I have become confused. Or as I often say.... there is another poem that has 'elbowed' it's way into the middle. Good luck with it. I am on my third version of mine. And if the worst comes to the worst.. send it in. You never know how the judge/s will see your poem. They have a way of surprising us all, just ask Glenny. She says she was gob-smacked when she won with that particular poem. Every entrant of the BS this year will recieve a copy of the anthology, so you can't lose.

[keats]

As I have always been told and have always passed on, be savage on yourself with your editing. Simple as that. No god sitting back saying, but I like that line, That bit is too good to cut out. Every poem can be edited down, it is just our stubbornness that won't allow us to do it. 700 words is a fair call I reckon. Once you let a poem get to 900, then why not go an even thousand, plus 10% GST? And remember a judge has to read all of these as well. Savage editing can be a very rewarding thing and shows you where you are wasting words. It can tidy and condense that overlong poem into a classic. Have a crack. By the way, I never throw out the bits I cut out. I often find a place for a really good edited line in a future poem.

Cheers and good luck

[Neville Briggs]

Excellent reply Neil.

[Zondrae]

Maureen,

I just looked again at the entry form for BS and I read it to mean 'limit of 700' words. That is 'no more than' not 'at least'. So Leonie you'll be right but Maureen I suggest you crop or send something else. With regard to my earlier post. I found I had used a whole stanza to tell one thing that really should only take one line.

Well I have lots to do before we go away, and I haven't finished fiddling with my poem for BS yet either. There will not be time for polishing when I get home. So it's stop packing etc and back to the poem.

[Leonie]

I just popped in to say pretty much the same thing Zondrae said. I have just picked up on the word 'limited' too.

Rule No. 3
Poem to be limited to approximately 700 words.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Limited and approximately seem to be diametrically opposed in my head, and my dictionary

Limited - subject to limits or not unlimited = 700 is the limit

approximately - imprecise but fairly close to correct = but as long as you are fairly close that is OK

so by definition could it mean - a definite maybe????

Any other thoughts or definite knowledge out there as I really cant shorten this without loosing the story line or not that I can see anyhow. Maybe I could contact the organizer and ask that might be a thought..will have to see if there is a contact for them.

Not disregarding the help you nice folk are offering but just trying to find a way around it if at all possible.

[manfredvijars]

Essays at Uni specify a word length. The allowance is 10% either way - but not guaranteed.

[Zondrae]

Yes, Manfred I agree,

I'm sure they would not chop you out for a few (less than 20) words over the limit. But 300 is a bit much!