Drabble query

August 14th, 2010 (12:53 pm)

So, started off trying to do another drabble for the Surnames Dawn Never Had series. Failed somewhat, as the version I now have is 300 words long.

Now, I've done actual parts of that series before which have been 200 words long (Dawn Piggy or Dawn Strange for example) before which I've referred to as double drabbles, but at what point do they stop being drabbles and become ficlets? I noticed wicked_awards defines drabbles as 100-600 words for one.

So, it's POLL TIME!!!

Poll #1605629 Drabble poll

Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All. Participants: 18

How long should a drabble be?

View Answers

100 words precisely (Purist)

16(88.9%)

200 words (Realist)

2(11.1%)

500 words (Stretching it)

0(0.0%)

600 words (Pushing it)

0(0.0%)

What's a drabble?

0(0.0%)

PS - given that even my drabbles are over-running, I guess the whole Writer's Block thing may well be in temporary absence. Blame

wildecate's talk.

PPS - Yes, I will post that 300 word Dawn Watson (Sherlock crossover) later, whatever the poll results. I'm just very curious as to whether I should include it in the overall series or not.

Comments

Posted by: Denita (

menomegirl)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 12:03 pm (UTC)

Anything over 100 words is a ficlet. Everything over 1000 words is a fic.

A drabble is damn hard to write, IMO. It's very hard to do when you are so limited on words. I'm not very good at it; when I try, most of the time, I go over the word limit. As a consequence, I have nothing but admiration for those who can drabble and do it well.

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Posted by: Sentimental yet sardonic (

booster17)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 12:11 pm (UTC)

I did actually have the original at precisely 100 words, but I just wasn't happy with the ending. "Watson face-palmed." is not exactly the best last line possible, and it felt somewhst like cheating.

It could have worked, but one thing I've learned over my fic-writing years is that if a story demands more space or the characters take over, let them.

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Posted by: Denita (

menomegirl)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 12:24 pm (UTC)

Oh, I agree with you. Absolutely.

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Posted by: Brendan (

brendanm720)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 02:29 pm (UTC)

A drabble is 100 words.

A double-drabble is 200 words.

All others are ficlets or fics. :-D

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Posted by: ningloreth (

ningloreth)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 02:37 pm (UTC)

whooops! sorry!

Edited at 2010-08-14 02:37 pm (UTC)

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Posted by: ningloreth (

ningloreth)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 02:38 pm (UTC)

The 100 words thing is sort of arbitrary, but it's having an annoying constraint that pushes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to focus on what you want to say and find inventive ways of saying it...

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Posted by: JaneDavitt (

janedavitt)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 02:44 pm (UTC)

100 words, not counting title. That's a drabble. I will not budge on that :-)

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Posted by: darkhavens (

darkhavens)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 02:56 pm (UTC)

I am a purist - a drabble is 100 words. It's an artform. :D

However, because I know it's not always possible to be so... succinct, I allow ficlets of 200, 300, 400 and 500 words exactly in slashthedrabble. Gotta work for that word count. :p

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Posted by: curiouswombat (

curiouswombat)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 07:48 pm (UTC)

Include it in the series and then redefine the series as 'a series of drabbles and fixed length ficlets'...

Edited at 2010-08-14 08:00 pm (UTC)

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Posted by: Bogwitch (

bogwitch)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 09:30 pm (UTC)

100 words. No more. No less.

Drabble writing is an art, an exercise in expressing the story with brevity and clarity. It's meant to be difficult! To call anything else a drabble is imo an insult to everyone who worked hard and sacrificed lines they loved to achieve the exact 100 words. Anything else is cheating.

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