A member of a Facebook writers’ group told the group they had just written a short story. They were concerned because it ran about a thousand words shorter than their usual 5,000 to 10,000 words. They asked the group’s thoughts on adding words to bring the total up to their comfort range.
If you’ve read my blogs, you can probably anticipate my answer. “Tell the story and don’t fret word count. And by tell, I mean show.” Now, there are some flexible rules on word count as to what differentiates flash fiction from a short story from a novella from a novel. There is no rule that says a novelist can’t write short stories and vice versa.
We (those born before 1970) all learned in high school that word count mattered. We weren’t instructed to write an essay. We were told to write a 500-word essay. You can bet we counted every word and cut it off at five hundred. In our minds quantity was more important than quality. Old folks like me are now famous for saying, “You’re not in high school anymore”.
In the writing world quality is more important than quantity. That holds as true for word count, as it does for counting published works. Some of the best books I have ever read were the author’s only published novel. A few of the worst I’ve read were written by prolific authors.
Words that count need not be flowery, fancy, or vocabulary trophies. It was once said that Hemingway never used a word that would send people to the dictionary. I always thought the same of Steinbeck. And they did it with an eight-crayon box.
Complex thoughts can be expressed with simple words, if you make those words count while painting the picture. Sometimes Joe walks, other times he saunters and sometimes he storms. They all get him across the street. However, it’s the trip not the destination that matters most.
The same may be said for characters who speak. Dialog tags express how the speaker feels, his mood, and his relationship with the person to whom he is speaking. Adverbs and exclamation points should be used like salt—sparingly. All caps and sound effects should be used like hemlock.
Writing is a craft. It is also an art. It requires skill and vision, inspiration and imagination to create something as yet unseen.
i love this