NOTE: CAN YOU HELP ME AND GIVE ADVICE ON HOW TO NOT FIXATE ON WORD COUNTS? THAT IS THE OVERALL POINT OF THE THREAD! IF NOT, SORRY FOR WASTING YOUR TIME!!!
Personally, when it comes to me only, word counts matter a great deal to me.
I never liked uneven chapters in regards to word count lengths. Like If one chapter is over 1K but the next chapter is over 2k while the other is over 3k, maybe over 100 words, that drives me crazy deep down. I greatly dislike leaving it at that amount. The word counts have to be around the same number, no highs or lows. If it is all over 2k then I feel at ease.
I can care less what draft stage I am working on in Project Succession.
I believe I need some order in my chaos which means that is it. Yet it’s annoying because parts of the chapters are sometimes just random nonsense which meant the chapter could’ve been shorter, though that means more chapters to finish and a much longer story than planned.
When it comes to writing, I suppose that I need some structure and order, which is sorta bogging me down a smidgen.
Maybe I am overthinking things, still I can’t stop fixating on word counts which many, many writers say don’t matter, it does so much to me.
Word count used to matter to me back when my chapters were too short. I felt unsure where I should do breaks, my writing was just naturally more condensed, and I got the plots across rather quickly because I was very show not tell. I got away from this as my writing progressed though I will admit sometimes I’ll have a short one and have that back of my head ugh is it enough feeling. But generally, I just go by feeling. I keep it pretty intuitive.
What kind of structure and order do you mean? As long as the story reads well and makes sense does it really matter how you get there?
I think a lot of the reason I’ve had so much trouble ever sticking with something is because i get discouraged that it takes me so long to get through the chaos phase. As much as I may plan events, the way I write is by feeling and its often a hot mess lol. When I write a review for work or even like a simple critique for someone it’s total chaos. It’s messy bullet points. Which then turn into messy awkward sentences. Which then is completely rewritten once I have it in front of me into some detailed thing. And then that gets revises. Just because that’s how my head works. I’ve tried just going in through in one pass, but it fails because i get to stuck up on details. I think there’s nothing wrong with letting go and having your stuff lack structure at first. And if you feel the need to control word count until you feel your story has been developed to that phase it feels controlled that’s alright too. You can always down and upsize for the sake of the story after the fact.
That isn’t the issue of it making sense, but rather I harp on the word counts and lack of things not sticking to a certain structure.
I am looking at it as, my drafts are chaotic and I need order within that chaos. Things need to be perfect, not the story itself, but the word counts and the formatting.
Ah, gotcha. I used to worry about that a bit when i was posting weekly to wattpad just because it made sense for me worrying about getting reads and being consistent there. Took a while to get out of that.
Writing until it feels right just feels good to me. Though, if a certain word count is what you think is best for you that’s fine too. Ultimately, I stand by the importance that when you create you should be doing it for you. You write the book you want to read, the way that you want to write it. It doesn’t matter if its different than how other people do it. If you don’t think it feels good, make baby steps to change it.
The funny thing is I am not posting this story anywhere. I am the only one seeing this and will be the only one reading it over. Will I post it online for others to see? I don’t know what the future holds, just focusing on the now or at least trying to.
Can’t really relate…my chapters are all over the place! The first chapter of one of my books was less than 150 words, and I’ve had chapters over 3000. Usually they stay under a thousand, but not always. When they don’t, it doesn’t bother me at all. However long it takes to say something, that’s how long it takes.
Likewise I rarely bother looking at the word count unless I’m doing NaNo, and that’s just to fill out the update box on the site. Or sometimes when I’m close to finishing a book and I’m just curious. My current wip is something over 50k, but I can’t remember exactly.
Is there a way for you to turn off the word counter in Word?
I like to pay attention to my word count every time I finish a writing session so that I can go, “I wrote x amount today.”
I also like to look at the document and be like, “Wow! That’s at x amount of words. I can’t believe I’ve hit that!”
I find them to be great markers of progress and motivators. Despite that, I know I’ll have to cut a lot out in future drafts and the number will eventually be lower. I find them great for inspiring me to continue writing, but I don’t find them important beyond that. Whatever I write will be whatever size it has to be.
In my previous novel projects I tried to limit the chapters’ length to 3,000 - 3,500 words. This was because most of the university assignments my first novel originated from had a word limit of 2,500. So I tried to stay within visual range of that limit (same postcode).
A major problem I have with my current work is that 3,500 words might not be enough for most chapters (well, those I’ve drafted so far). The first two chapters are around the 3,000 mark, but the later chapter drafts are crawling close to 5,000 words. I predict a lot of scene and information rearranging will soon be needed. Hopefully I can stay around 4,000 words for the published (Wattpad) chapter drafts, with a thousand word margin either way.
With all of that said, some books I’ve enjoyed had quite different chapter lengths. Maybe some story events, story flow / suspense, or related information can take priority over adherence to word counts.
I’m not sure what it is you’re asking for help on, even after reading the post. I assume its on not focussing so much on word count, but because that’s not something I have the same problem with, I don’t know how to help. I could tell you to just focus on the story instead since that’s more important, but without any methods to help you accomplish that, it’s pretty empty advice. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.
Some people focus on word counts, some people don’t, some people do sometimes. It’s not really something you can just stop or start doing once you’re in the habit of doing it. If you want your word counts to be even, then make them even. If you want them to be odd, make them odd. If you need to take stuff out later, take stuff out later. There is no right way to do this. There is no right way to look at word counts. There is no right way to find structure and order. You do it in the way that works for you.
Also, for the record, I did read the post. That’s why I said what I did. Wordcounts are not something I care about but they can make me feel good. This is the case for some and not for others. Sometimes, the opposite is the case.
I apologise for not wording myself better. I apologise if this is not helpful.
Each chapter is often a mini story with a beginning, middle, and end. However, I have heard of one sentence chapters…but that’s beside the point. I tend to keep my chapters between 1800 to 3500 words. It can also be shorter than 1800 words or longer than 3500 words.
I do cut 4000 word chapters into two chapters after I write them.
If something is 800 words or shorter, I read it and make sure if I have said everything I need to say in here, or could it be that I could add something more? If not, I leave it as is.
If you need structure and order, maybe do think of each chapter as a mini story with a beginning, middle, and end? When I write chapters with this in mind, they tend to be around 2200 to 3000 words. I also like sticking to these numbers as much as possible because I do post on Wattpad and anything longer than 3000 can make readers feel like it’s too much.
