Short Story Writing: Word Count

The short story market makes a lot of demands on writers in the form of strict word counts enforced on the short stories. However, most writers will still take the opportunity to do a short story, when one arrives, because of the high cost per word that short story writers are paid. If you can get work for a monthly publication you can earn a good living short story writing.

With that said, you don't have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to writing for monthly publications. They will have a very strict amount of space for your short story because every page is worth money in advertising dollars. It is very disheartening to finish writing what you think is great story only to see that it is several hundred words over the limit ,once you hit the word count button.

The only way that you can cut down on the words without compromising the integrity of the story is by removing the padding from your sentences. Look at the following words and phrases to get a better understanding:

Quite, extremely, it can be seen that, therefore, it should be remembered that, at this present moment in time, not withstanding the contrary, etc...

When engaging in short story writing leave these type of phrases out. Look over your story and take out anything that doesn't directly add to the readers understanding of what is taking place. Even the best writers can have their stories held captive by unsightly fluff cluttering up their story.

The next thing that you want to do is look at the describers, your adjectives and adverbs. Having shorter stronger sentences makes your writing stronger. The idea is to get as much of the story across without using any wasted words.

If you are still coming up too long, it is time to start changing the way you wrote the story. Without compromising the integrity of the short story, you might have to rewrite some portions of your story in order to reach the word limit. Meditate on how to properly get your point across. If your experience is anything like mine you will be happier with the leaner, meaner short story.

When writing a short story strip it down to the bare necessities. Hunt for padding and superfluous descriptors. If you are still over the limit, then, try to retool the wordage.

Sourcehttp://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/ , Oxford