Semi-Serious Writing Question

[oneirophrenia]

OK. Witness, homeboys and -grrls:

I've been plotting and, to some degree, working on a story called "Love and the Singular Man" for a transhumanist writing contest. It's a fairly basic "mismatched lovers" kind of love story involving a male lead (Cline) who is slowly upgrading himself into a posthuman and his psychologist girlfriend/partner-of-many-years who is rather unnerved by technology in general and absolutely freaked out by the fact that her lover of 22 years is basically evolving beyond her. It's a fairly simple type of narrative, ultimately, and so far I've written up a fairly straightforward chapter or two of it....

But here's the question:

If I keep doing this for the contest, it has to be pretty short. Under 2K or 3K words. But...if I do that, I'm going to have to cut out almost all the characterization, all the neat scenery and depictions of future technology--including the AWESOME FUCKING ROBOT BODY that Cline gets loaded into at one point. It will still work, but...I like these characters. They're nice people. And...what's a love story if you can't, like, get into the characters and their relationship? If I keep going with this contest thing, I think the story's going to be totally neutered.

So, should I keep it short and sweet and simple? Or should I just go balls-to-the-wall lush and detailed? Short and simple tells the tale and gets to the point, but the other option (I think) will just be more interesting. I also think that, if I make it longer, I might just publish it as a serial on oneirophrenia.net or possibly seek serial publication via the WTA or something like that.

Any thoughts?

Comments

[lorddegan.livejournal.com]

My question is, do the people running the contest get publication rights if you win, or do you retain these? If you retain rights to the story, then I would write two versions, a short one for the contest and a full length version. I've often seen that chapters of a book were previously published in slightly different form. The second chapter of "More Than Human" by Theodore Sturgeon had been previously published in a shorter version as a short story. So it has been done.
And if you haven't read "More Than Human", I can enthusiastically recommend it.

Jeff

[theantidj.livejournal.com]

I concur with the above.

Think of it as the (Radio Edit) vs. the (Extended Club Mix)

[beeporama.livejournal.com]

Does all this really cool stuff help the story, or is it just really cool? This might be a blessing in disguise: it forces you to pare the story down to the essentials.

[dj-lollidrop.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a writer, you should write it the way you want it. During the editing/revising process you will inevitably find things that are merely window-dressing and don't add any real value to the story. But if what you have left is still too long for the contest and you are absolutely in love with the story, keep it the way it is and sell it somewhere else. If you aren't already aware of this website, Ralan.com lists the guidelines for pretty much every science fiction magazine out there. Good luck!

Two versions.

[americong2000.livejournal.com]

Why not make one version that is balls-to-the-walls lush, and a retelling that is shorter?