Wednesday, May 13, 2015

counting words is a funny business

So, I had a goal to write something under 300 words and I thought, perhaps it might be better to try writing by hand rather than typing, and see if the different medium will lend itself to a stricter word count.

I scribbled down some narrative, treating myself to the use of a very stylish pen, though with very ordinary paper, and thought, oh, this is way over!

I transcript the jottings into the computer and the word count comes out to be 425.

I can go two ways with this ficlet. It would be better told if I filled in the missing places and sanded the wrong edges. But I could also strip it bare. Take it down to the scaffolding. There would be a stark, strong story in telling it with only the barest of necessities. Both ways would provide a good tale, just in two different ways.

Decisions, decisions....

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