User blog comment:CrashingCymbal/Halloween Writing Competition 2013/@comment-14341590-20131021135023/@comment-5946174-20131021135151

We were actually considering 750, which means it cannot under any circumstances exceed 1,000 words. If we make an exception for you, everyone will want an exception, which won't end well. Besides, I've written excellent stories with a 400-word limit; you can easily make do with 1,000.