This week: Word Count Edited by: Annette  
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“Three carefully stringed words are worth more than a book of gibberish. It's not the word count but the impact of those words that counts.” ~ richelle e. goodrich
“It's not about how many words you write, but how good those words are.” ~ Oliver Markus Malloy, Inside The Mind of an Introvert |
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Word Count
From "Dear Me: Official WDC Contest" 2,000 words or less. A word count must be included in the body of your item (top or bottom, not in the intro/header).
From "HONORING OUR VETERANS " Please post word count for Story and Line count for Poetry.
From "The Midnight Traveler's Contest" Your entry can be up to 5000 words in length
From "WDC L'il Helper Contest" All entries must be essays, articles or bulletins of no more than 1500 words. A word count must be posted either at the beginning or the end of your item.
Why is word count important and why should you care when working on a short story that you plan to submit to a contest?
Simple: Rules for contests are set up to create an even playing field.
Asking contestants to stay within a word count limit gives everyone an easy rule to follow.
A maximum word count challenges writers to say more with fewer words.
A minimum word count demands that writers come up with a story that is long, but holds the reader's attention.
There are also the short stories that demand exactly 40 words, or 100 words. Those are designed to get the writer to really wring the most out of every word while also reaching the needed word count.
Word count limits are also there to make the contest manageable for the judge or judges. Some contests get a lot of entries.
What tools can you use to figure out the word count of your story? Writing.Com has an approximate word count that shows up on the listings that are visible from a search. It is not accurate, so it cannot be used for contests. For example, the Writing.Com approximate counter listed "The Proposition " with ~ 5140 words, but it is 6,193 words long.
The best way to find an accurate word count is to copy the whole text into a LibreOffice, Word, or Google document and use the word count function. There can be minor inconsitencies, depending on the way the tool counts words with dashes. Word count itself could be spelled as two words, as one word wordcount or with a dash word-count. In most cases, this small discrepancy isn't going to be an issue. Be careful with those micro fiction contests that demand an exact 40, 100 or other exact word count. Those hyphens can ruin your chances at winning or even having a qualified entry.
Have you ever been disqualified from a contest because you forgot to add a word count?
Or because you went under or over the limit? |
| | Scapegoat (13+)
A whipping boy's revenge. Co-winner, The Midnight Traveler's Contest, Jan 2024.
#2313000 by Beholden  |
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Replies to my last Short Stories newsletter "Writing.Com Time" that asked Do you know what Writing.Com midnight is in your timezone?
Osirantinous Capricornus  wrote: I'm incredibly lucky to be in New Zealand, one of the first countries to see the new day - so when I'm running late for a contest - like it's already the 31st my time I know I've still got 12-odd hours before it's WDC time. On the downside, of course, when contests start on the first, I have to wait before it's the first WDC time. Right now, WDC time is my 18:00 on the same day. Daylight savings here or in the US can change that to 17:00 and 16:00. One year I happened to be in LA for a conference and I was writing for a contest - and I had to consciously remember that LA is BEHIND WDC time, so that was frazzling!
Living in L.A. time, I like that WdC midnight falls on 21:00 here. It's early enough if I want to have a post fall on (or close to) midnight. At the same time, it's late enough that I have the chance to use most of my waking hours if I want to finish something before the day is over.
dragonwoman  wrote: Thanks for including Getting Terminated in your picks. Always smile when that happens.
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Short Stories: February 07, 2024 Issue [#12391]
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