Writing 101: Day Thirteen: Play with word count

On days when you feel stuck and aren’t sure how to write a post, it might well be that your topic and content are solid, but your approach needs tweaking. Have you tried experimenting with word count?

In today’s post, pay attention to the total length of your post: if you usually write posts under 500 words, aim for longer. If you tend to write a lot, be succinct. For those who’d like to aim for a specific word count, here are ideas:

Write a 50-word story (or, if you feel daring, a series of 50-word stories). Get inspired by the tiny tales at 50-Word Stories.

Take a look at some 100-word stories at 100 Word Story, or this Reader’s Digest list of winning 100-Word True Stories, then take a stab at your own. Your first attempt at flash fiction? Your last vacation? A fleeting encounter at the grocery store?

Pick a previously published longer post you’d like to pare down. Keep it at 750 words or less, like the essays at Brevity, a site of concise creative nonfiction.

Want to go long? Expand on an existing post. Search your drafts that are thematically similar and see if you can merge parts of each. Or, combine two or more published posts into one longform piece, made up of multiple pages or sections divided by subheads or graphic elements.

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go” E. L. Doctorow

Writing 101: Day Thirteen: Play with word count

Write a 50-word story (or, if you feel daring, a series of 50-word stories). Get inspired by the tiny tales at 50-Word Stories…

Please find links to my posts of the same:

Shortest of Tales Collection, Tale One: Once there was a Man

Shortest of Tales Collection, Tale Two: The White Cat in a Hat

Shortest of Tales Collection, Tale Three: Could it be?