[CONTEST OVER] JNC Original Light Novel Contest
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I am right now stuck at writing the synopsis.
Since I found nothing specified about it I assume that it should be a complete summary of the whole main story.
Is it bad if it is longer than those 500 words like most pages recommend for it?And how much will grammatical errors count for novels?
English is not my native language, so submitting something here is making me really nervous.And the last question:
The writing program I use automatically creates a title page and a index with the chapters. I am quite dependent on the integrated word counter and I am barely scratching by with 99.992 words right now.
If another counter wouldshow more words since it counts something my program did not, would I get disqualified or will you take another look if the counter is correct?
(Yes, I will test it with other counters before submitting, I just want to be on the safe side) -
@Ade said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
I am right now stuck at writing the synopsis.
Since I found nothing specified about it I assume that it should be a complete summary of the whole main story.
Is it bad if it is longer than those 500 words like most pages recommend for it?I don't think they've mentioned any strict requirements about the synopsis, I'm still not even quite sure if they're looking for more of a "blurb of the book like you'd find on the series' page" style synopsis or more of an official "we're a publisher and you need to tell us exactly what happens point by point" style synopsis, I'm not even sure if they can really clarify which they're looking for at this point in the competition without influencing the result :P
Clearly they want you to give an idea of what's in your submission so they can get the gist without having to read the entire darn thing, so I'd say just accomplish that however you feel is best. If they wanted something more directed then that, they should have really said as much.
And how much will grammatical errors count for novels?
English is not my native language, so submitting something here is making me really nervous.I'd assume they're not instantly damning, but you should probably try to do a final sweep to make sure everything is okay or find yourself a proofreader who can help find what you might have overlooked.
And the last question:
The writing program I use automatically creates a title page and a index with the chapters. I am quite dependent on the integrated word counter and I am barely scratching by with 99.992 words right now.
If another counter wouldshow more words since it counts something my program did not, would I get disqualified or will you take another look if the counter is correct?
(Yes, I will test it with other counters before submitting, I just want to be on the safe side)I asked about word counts back in October and this was their response
@Hylebos no there isn't [an official, industry accepted definition for word count] without requiring people use a particular software, etc.
It's not a super strict limit... If by some reasonable word count system it's less than 100K then you should be fine.Hope that helps.
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@Hylebos
Yes it does.
I already did many proofreads myself and two other people also were able to read it. But since I do not have that many people that have enough time to read, I fear that I might have overlooked some things or maybe formulated them in a strange way, making them sound weird to a native speaker -
@Ade As long as your meaning is clear, it doesn't matter if there are errors or awkward phrasing. It was said earlier that virtually all winning works are expected to undergo significant editing and reworking before publication.
@admin said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
@Alfaerin any winners will almost certainly undergo a significant amount of editing and reworking before publication.
It would be a case by case basis but if the author wants to flesh things out or add new material, etc, that's all up for discussion with us before publication. -
Hi, I had a quick question about the submission form. What do we put in the "Submissions, awards, and publications" box?
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@AuthorMN Any things you've submitted this story or other writings of yours to (like other competitions), any awards you might have won, and any other books you've had published or self-published you think would be useful information for us.
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@admin
So if the entry has also been published as a webnovel, this is where we would put that information? -
@AuthorMN That would be a good place, sure.
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Sorry if this has already been asked, I've been scrolling through the thread but I'm still not 100% sure. With the word limit, how should I consider things like -- say -- stuttering in dialogue (eg. l-like so) which artificially inflates the word count displayed in a word processor? Also, with 'whatever wordcount system is reasonable' does that mean I can ignore titles/subtitles when calculating? I know it's not going to be policed strictly, but I just want to check to be safe when calculating. @admin
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@Zepfur My own word processor doesn't count hyphens as blank spaces for the purpose of counting words, and neither does google docs, so both "L-Like so" and "blue-eyed prince" are counted as two words.
After my earlier question in October I ended up writing my own word counting script (based off the regex Parity found with some modifications so that emdashes are not treated the same as hyphens) so I could have control over what does and what doesn't get counted as words (it's really nice to be able to ignore bulleted lines so I can just drop notes wherever I want without worrying about cross-contamination).
I do count chapter titles as part of that word count, including the "chapter" and its number as separate words, but I feel as though if the chapter titles are enough to put you over 100k then you're probably cutting it too close as it is.
Think of the spirit of what the word count is supposed to do. It's a forcing function to make authors think about how long their submission is before they submit so they don't accidentally disqualify themselves, and it's something the contest judges can use to evenly distribute work and estimate how much they have left to process. My own manuscript is 88,048 words long at the moment, 142 words of that come from chapter titles, and I have 324 hyphens in my manuscript, so that's not even enough to have a major impact on how the judges would handle my work. As long as you aren't-doing-something-super-obscene-with-the-hyphens-that-will-probably-cause-the-judges-to-frown then I think you're just fine as long as it's mostly accurate to the thousands column.
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I am finally there. Well, almost finally. I got my last lot of feedback from my two readers a few days back and have been making some changes based on those, so with that and a few more changes I needed in order to avoid a small retcon now I've planned the second volume a bit more, about 1,500 words got revised or rewritten. I won't hear what my readers think of my changes until Monday morning, but unless I get some very negative comments, I'm not planning on making more big changes. I can always revert to the previous version if they really, really don't like the revisions.
@Hylebos seeing I have my own custom ePub reformatter, I put my word counting in there because then I get separate totals for front/body/back matter and footnotes/endnotes. But really, if anyone is that worried about going over some arbitrary word count limit, the paranoid in me would advise them to cut a hundred words or so just in case. I'm only at around 70k anyway so I don't have to worry about it.
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@Hylebos Thanks! That's a relief to hear! Though I should mention I don't have chapter titles, ftr, just numbers, I was more referring to the title (and potentially subtitle) of the book itself when I said I haven't been counting titles. Sorry, I should have been clearer.
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@hirei is there any contest like this in the future? I'm late. 😅
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Right, so the synopsis - I'm really glad I was able to start it today and not tomorrow!
I understand all the Freytag’s Pyramid stuff so I can easily write a 500 word synopsis, but important parts of it just wouldn't make any sense as the synopsis reader would lack the necessary background information. I can include that, of course, but it pushes the word count way beyond what it should be for a synopsis. On the other hand, I can't keep on saying "because reasons" all over the place, so any suggestions?
After reading something captivating, book lovers simply need to talk about it with someone.
—Tearmoon Empire -
@Angelus I cut a ton of context out of my synopsis, I figure they'll gain it back as soon as I read they read the prologue but I had to boil the setting down to its essentials to get it to flow, too hard to carry it otherwise.
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@Angelus a synopsis is like an elevator pitch; if you only have a minute or two to describe your story to someone, what would you say to them
They don’t need all the context, just the bare bones will do, maybe with a little flourish that clues them into the tone of the story
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@Angelus It was mentioned earlier in the topic that we can write the synopsis in whatever way we think will appeal to the judges most. I didn't want to put major spoilers in mine and ruin the story, so I wrote it more like an Amazon blurb instead of a true synopsis.
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@Hylebos, I simply deleted the things that didn't seem to make sense! OK, some significant points have gone now, but at least what's left introduces the overarching plot and the main characters and it reads well. It's still at 850 words, but I'm confident I can get it down to around 600 words tomorrow.
@Lily-Garden, @Alfaerin, a blurb is a blurb, a pitch is a pitch and a synopsis is a synopsis, they are all very different things which is why they have different names :) I've found it frustrating right from the start how vague the competition rules are, and this is no exception.
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@Angelus said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
@Lily-Garden, @Alfaerin, a blurb is a blurb, a pitch is a pitch and a synopsis is a synopsis, they are all very different things which is why they have different names :) I've found it frustrating right from the start how vague the competition rules are, and this is no exception.
They may differ in length, style, and purpose, but all three words involve condensing a written work down to its key points. You may find the amount of flexibility frustrating, but it's in J-Novel's best interests to give writers as much creative freedom as they reasonably can.
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@Angelus I know what you mean. I cut my detailed synopsis back for both books back to around the 500-600 word mark.
They wound up being a hybrid of blurb, pitch and detailed synopsis. Effectively setting up the premise, introducing the characters and giving a overview of the plot (there’s a mystery, someone is kidnapped, our heroes have a kind of school reunion and it all culminates in them being locked in a room with a bomb).
It was more thematic than linear but important thing (in my mind anyway) was to show I had a defined ending. Our heroes survive (spoiler) and the villains are caught and brought to justice. Well, except one who escapes because, well, potential sequel.
Fingers crossed this is what they wanted. I almost went with a blurb style but that would have left too much unanswered about whether there was a completed plot or not.
