Word Counts—Good or Bad?
As a writer, word counts have always been on my radar. Word count is more than just the amount of words in a book or in a story. Word counts are included in genre requirements and guidelines. The difference between a novel and a novella usually lies in the word count too. The difference between a romance novel and a fantasy novel also lies in the word count. Yes, the story elements will be different too but you go into a fantasy novel expecting a much longer book than when you pick up a rom-com book. Word counts are also the difference between flash fiction, short stories, and essays. Word counts matter. Over the years, I have learned that word counts, when wielding properly are useful. On the flip side, when word counts are wielded improperly, they can be discouraging, detrimental, and disastrous to those who struggle with writing.
When writing a book, word counts are a goal. They show us progress is being made and they give us guidelines on how long books can be. While we draft, we can go over those word counts but we know the general area we need to end up in before moving forward with publishing or querying agents. In writing a novel, the word counts are not as much set in stone as they are guidelines. For example, romance novels are generally between 50,000 to 90,000 words. The mainstream novels or the most popular ones are usually between 70,000 and 90,000 words. The Hunt for Christmas ended at 70,000 words, which is fascinating to me considering my first draft ended up somewhere around 50,000 words.
In science-fiction novels, we’re looking at 80,000-100,000 word counts. Again, these are guidelines, not set in stone rules. In fantasy, different guidelines, 90,000-120,000 words. Now when authors have become well known in their career and in their genre, they’re allowed to expand on those guidelines. Sarah J. Maas is an example of one of those authors. Her three most recent novels all carry word counts well above 150,000 words.
I could keep going and get into short stories and what not, but I think I’ve made my point. In writing novels or other types of writing when you are telling a story, the word counts are guidelines and not hard and fast rules. Plus, as you can see, the guidelines have gaps and they vary. Even when you aim for the low end of the word counts, you still have a book on your hands once you are finished.
These are examples of word counts wielded correctly. There isn’t any punishment for going over or sometimes even going under. (Going under usually brings you from a novel to a novella but a novella is still a story) There isn’t a grade given based on word count. The word counts really only exist behind the scenes, when drafting or when getting your story ready to publish. Once the story is done, nobody is asking about word count.
However, as I pursued higher education and a master’s degree, I discovered a wielding of word counts that was negative. It brought out a side that made me dislike writing. Which leads me to my belief/hot-take, word counts shouldn’t exist in academia.
When I taught middle school English, the first question in regards to any writing assignment I gave was: “What’s the word count?”
I don’t know if elementary schools started using word counts in their assignments but it wasn’t something I expected as a teacher. I don’t remember having word count requirements in school. When I was in school I had page requirements or paragraph requirements. I did get word counts in college but I was pursuing a writing degree so the word counts were ranges usually made to help keep us to short stories so we didn’t overwhelm our professors.
(Writing degrees will probably be the one area word counts are necessary but you are dealing with writers then and it helps to keep writers contained.)
In order to help teach writing and encourage a love of writing in my students, I didn’t give word count requirements. I told them to use as many words needed in order to tell a story, to complete the narrative, to meet all the writing assignment requirements. In my experience, especially with kiddos, they will stick to word counts like glue. You can say 300 words and the second they hit 301, they will stop writing, even if the assignment isn’t finished. The same can be said with page requirements and paragraph requirements. (Ask me how I know)
As time moved on, I did give minimums to help guide them. In an essay, they should at least have five paragraphs but they might need more. My goal was to always give them the freedom and flexibility to share their stories or writing assignment in a way that gave them the room to write. Most of my students hated it, and will probably tell you that it was annoying to not have word count requirements. Maybe when they’re older they will appreciate my different approach.
In my own experience, I had a lot of word count requirements for my assignments in my master’s program and each one was extremely annoying. It was frustrating and most of the word counts were unrealistic. It made me hate writing because these assignments weren’t checking writing skill, the word counts were arbitrary and didn’t make sense within the perimeters of the assignment.
I would have to write a blog post in 250-500 words but answer ten different questions and give examples. My word count always went far above those 500 words which then put me in a position to possibly lose points for not following the assignment guidelines.
(This does happen, if you exceed a word count, you will lose points. This is also dependent on the professor.)
Word counts in academia—when you can get marked off for not meeting or exceeding the word count requirements are really just a check box in obedience. College students are adults, they don’t need to be treated like children who need discipline and correction. Then again, I don’t think word counts have a place in lower level classrooms either.
In a world where people are advocating for not losing points for late assignments because it is just a check mark on listening ability, can we change the fight to something that doesn’t translate into real world skills? Outside of writing, there are zero skills related to meeting a word count in the real world. Deadlines do exist in the real world, yet students losing credit for late assignments is the hot-button issue amongst educators. I wonder if those same teachers give word count guidelines and mark off for not meeting or exceeding them.
Word counts have a time and place and can be used for the betterment of writers or to the detriment of students. There are good and bad in a lot of things, it always comes down to how it is used. I bet nobody thought word counts would fall into that category.
Let me know what you think! Would love to hear others opinions on this. Word counts—good or bad?
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash