That was the struggle I had with Big Bang this year! "Tribulation" was my first attempt and I got 14,000 words into it before I realized that I didn't really need the angsty middle scene. The story I finally wrote would probably be just as good, if not better, as a 5,000 word one-shot, but I'd gotten to the point where I would rather finish a mediocre story than fail the challenge :)

I love reading long stories - I also love reading plot-driven stories, but I don't think that necessarily equates to quality. I freely admit that I couldn't put Angels and Demons down (even as I howled in outrage at parts of it), but in terms of good writing, I'll take an Alice Munro short story over Dan Brown any day!