Can You Write A Novelette In A Week?
Pirate Zombie Publishing has announced a challenge. They do so on a regular basis.
We have recently announced the ZOMBIE PIRATE WRITING WEEK. Participants will be asked to complete a novelette on a specific genre and theme over the course of a week (to be announced on the first day.) Submissions will be 12,500–15,000 words long, and completely written between July 13th and July 20th. Selected submissions will be collected in a special anthology, and paid $50USD.
On July 12, they announced the theme of their novelette in a week challenge. Authors have one week to write 12,500–15,000 words of a dystopian novelette. My immediate reaction is that such a task is impossible, but they’ve published seven anthologies already (Full Metal Horror 2, Full Metal Horror, Phuket Tattoo) of authors who’ve done such a thing in the past.
I myself am ten percent into a novelette by word count: 1, 298 words. Other people on Facebook have bragged of being further along in their attempts. My reaction, as I said, is that such a task is impossible, but I shared the beginning scene with my monthly writers group, Fantastical Writers (Mid-South). They recommended I attempt to finish the story, whether or not I manage to do so by deadline, because A, they liked the beginning and B, dystopia is popular enough I might be able to sell it elsewhere, possibly to a higher paying market. Fifty dollars sounds like a lot of money, until you realize it’s for a week’s worth of work, at roughly 0.004 cents per word. However, I am still at the point in my literary career where I write for less than professional rates (six cents a word) in order to network and gain exposure. {Dying from Exposure — Is “Working For Exposure” An Opportunity or Exploitation? The Inquisitr, February 29, 2016}
If I work on my novel, as I theoretically should,I might earn a few hundred dollars from Harlequin in a year or two. Or they may reject it, and I’d earn nothing for months of work. If I work on Zombie Pirate Publishing’s novelette in a week challenge, I might earn $50 in two months or less. The short term benefits were obvious. A bird in the hand versus two in the bush. Of course, any editor rejects more stories than he buys. Nothing is guaranteed.
