LETS TALK: WORD COUNT

LETS TALK: WORD COUNT

TO BEGIN:

I myself have had problems with word count. Today? I still do. It’s hard for me to not look every 3 seconds at the bottom of my screen where the total word count shows, but i’m trying. I’m getting better at it. But let’s stop talking about me, and continue on. 

WE CAN GO 2 WAYS ABOUT THIS

I can either tell you the market’s answer, OR I can tell you my own personal answer. You can say most writers agree with me actually. 

WHAT DOES THE MARKET/EDITORS/ETC TELL YOU ABOUT WORD COUNT?

Depending on which genre you go into, and what type of work you’re trying to make. According to wiki, these are the categories:

Novel:  40,000+ words

Epics: 100,000-110,000+ words 

Novella 17,500 to 40,000 words

Novelette 7,500 to 17,500 words

Short story under 7,500 words

There is way more, but these are just the ones you see very often. Also, some genres have a certain amount. Fantasy is usually 75k+ (no, it’s not that heavy) while Romance can start from 40k+. You could use these guidelines to help you structure your novel. Unfortunately, most agents/publisher’s stand by this (although it’s changing now since there are ebooks). If you wanted to publish your novel, you can go by these word counts. But there are exceptions. Always. So don’t be down if your story does not fully fit into the word count! There are ways to increase or decrease your novel’s word count, but make sure it’s important. Don’t add fluff when you know very well that nobody will read it. Don’t take out necessary stuff that further develops your plot. 

MY ADVICE?

Word count does not matter. Word count is only a guideline and that’s all it ever is. Not everyone can work within those guidelines, and I surely one. What matters is the quality of your work, NOT the quantity. If quantity was the main focus, then I wouldn’t be reading and writing. Yes, word count has a big impact on a story, but the story itself is what you're trying to show the readers. If your story is good and you believe in it, fuck the word count! When you first decided to write, did you write for the love of it, or are you writing to prove a point? You don’t need to prove that you can write an 80k novel! If you can’t increase your novel, and you want to keep it at 39,000 words, then so be it. If your novel is 131,000 words and you can’t decrease it, so be it. There are so many things to worry about other than the amount of words you put into your novel. 

STILL NEED MORE ADVICE?

There are more videos I looked up online to explain word count. From the publishing POV to my POV. Here you go!

Writing Tips: Word Count

Word Count!

Word Count & Book Length

Word Count? How Long Should My Book Be?

How Long Should My Novel Be?

If you still need help, you can always chat or message me! Or even reply to the thread. Thanks everyone!

On Sep 13, 1944, a princess from India lay dead at Dachau concentration camp. She had been tortured by the Nazis, then shot in the head. Her name was Noor Inayat Khan. The Germans knew her only as Nora Baker, a British spy who had gone into occupied France using the code name Madeline. She carried her transmitter from safe house to safe house with the Gestapo trailing her, providing communications for her Resistance unit.

HOW TO WRITE A STRONG ESSAY

I recently got an ask about how to write an introductory paragraph for an essay so I thought I’d do a post about how to write a good essay.

** Important Points ** For essays in high school, use third person unless the teacher specifically tells you not too. It’s more academic and professional while first person sounds really informal. I’ve heard that in college it’s different but again, it depends on the class. Stay on the safe side and use third person unless otherwise specified. Also, try to be as sophisticated and mature as you can. This makes the essay sound smarter and makes it easier to read.

1) INTRODUCTION

Try to think of an upside down pyramid here. You start off broad and end off tapered to a point (specific). The formula for writing a good intro is this: hook, background info, introduce topic of discussion, and thesis. In the pyramid example, the hook is the broad and the thesis is the narrow. The intro is usually around 8 sentences long.

Hook: Unlike what you’ve probably been told through out high school, the hook is not necessarily a wow statement. It’s typically a broad idea that relates to the topic of discussion. I usually use historical facts or common wisdom and go from there. I then follow it up with a sentence that elaborates on my hook and a sentence that connects my hook with the background info.

Background Info: Here you give the reader some context as to what you will be discussing in your essay. It sets the scene for the topic you’re discussing. Try to be concise.

Introduce the Topic of Discussion: Here you give a brief summary of the points you’re arguing/discussing. It should be one sentence per body paragraph and again, be clear and concise and avoid merely summarizing the plot. This part should cover the gist of your ideas.

Thesis: This should be a longer complex sentence that summarizes your point of view and ideas. This is one of the most important parts of the essay so crafting a good thesis is crucial.

I did a more detailed post about the introduction with an example introduction paragraph HERE.

2) BODY PARAGRAPHS

The meat of your essay. Here is where you state your arguments and defend them with supporting evidence from literature, articles, or even your personal experience. I would generally limit one argument per body paragraph. Which reminds me, most likely you have been taught the canned five paragraph essay. Some people write all their essays in five paragraph format because they thing that is the only way to go. Really, you can do four+ body paragraphs with the common numbers being four and six. It depends on the essay. When writing your body paragraph you need this structure: topic sentence, three points, three examples of supporting evidence, conclusion. Body paragraphs typically fall between 8 -15 sentences.

Topic Sentence: This is similar to a thesis. Here you’re stating the argument that you are proving in a clear and concise sentence.

Three Points: There’s a rule of thumb that you generally want to have three points about each argument and have a piece of supporting evidence for each point. I’m going to start with the three points first. Basically, you want three ideas about your argument that show why it’s valid. For example if you’re trying to argue that cheese is dairy, your three points are it’s made of milk, it’s featured in the dairy section of the grocery store, and the FDA labels it as dairy.

Three Examples of Supporting Evidence: These are usually quotes from other sources or the piece of literature you’re analyzing that support the three points of your argument. To use the really bad cheese example from above, for the milk point you’d use an ingredients label from a package of cheese, for the grocery store point you’d get a sheet with the department labels and the produce in those departments, and for the FDA point you’d find a quote from their website.

Conclusion: This is a sentence or two that wraps up your body paragraph. It should briefly summarize the points you discussed or the topic sentence and help transition into the next paragraph.

2) a. COUNTER ARGUMENT PARAGRAPHS 

This paragraph is NOT necessary for most essays. However, some do require them so it’s important to know how to approach them. Depending on whom you ask, they’ll either tell you that the counter argument paragraph goes in the middle of your body paragraphs, or at the end. Personally I prefer the end but the middle is more correct. Placing it in the middle allows you to end on a strong note but I think it’s a matter of personal preference. The counter argument is used to present an opposing view point and say why it’s wrong. This can strengthen your argument if it’s done properly but ruin it if it’s done wrong so tread carefully. The only thing different from the body paragraph structure is the topic sentence.

Topic Sentence: Here you need a specific template to start the paragraph properly. I usually use: It may be argued that _______________ but there is sufficient evidence to show that _______________. The first blank is filled with the opposing argument and the last blank is your argument. There are different ways to structure this sentence but this is the one I use.

The rest of the paragraph is the same as the body paragraph: you get three points as to why the counter argument is wrong and three points to support it. Then you end with a typical concluding sentence.

3) CONCLUSION

This is where you wrap up your arguments and finish strong. It has three components: a restatement of your thesis, summary of your arguments, and general statement to wrap it up. Think of the right side up pyramid this time. The pointy end is the thesis and the bottom is the general statement that closes your essay. A conclusion is typically 5 sentences long.

Restatement of Thesis: This is pretty self explanatory; you restate the thesis using different language than you used in your intro.

Summary of Arguments: Here you briefly touch upon the arguments you covered in your essay. Again, clear and concise, and whatever you do, DO NOT introduce new information. It can ruin the amazing essay you worked so hard on.

General Statement: A general statement is a broad idea that you use to tie your entire essay together. It’s kind of like the hook but should be more relevant to your essay.

And that is how you write a killer essay. I use this technique whenever I write and it has never failed me. Hopefully if will help you improve your writing! If you have any questions, feel free to hit up my ask box.

{7.2.16} passed by muji and couldn’t resist buying these pens and i’m so glad i did bc they’re amazing!! but seriously we studyblr’s are free advertisements for muji and i think they should pay us…

++ the universe is so nice sometimes, i just quit my part-time job (it’s a very long story) and in the past two days my mom, dad, and grandma have all given me money just for heck’s sake :)

🌿 Chapter 8 🌿