Working with editors and word counts

“Why write in a few words what you can write in many.” ~ Patti Murphy

Over the years I’ve fretted over meeting, as close as possible, the word count my editors give me when assigning a story. I do tend to write a bit long, and it’s sometimes a challenge to cram what I think should be a 1,500 word story into the 800 word assignment.

Years ago I coined a saying for myself, “Why write in a few words what you can write in many,” which gives me a good chuckle and lets me poke fun at my sometimes verbose writing. But deep down, I am awed by beautiful, short-and-to-the-point pieces that, in just a few words, have changed the course of history.

Consider that the Lord’s Prayer is about 70 words, the 10 Commandments ranges between 175 and 350 words (depending on how it is transcribed), Abe Lincoln wrote the entire Gettysburg Address in about 276 words, and the Declaration of Independence is only about 1,300.

So, in my effort to produce lean, tight writing in spite of my natural inclination to go on and on, I started stripping away at my stories to try and hit that all important word count number. I definitely support doing some good old fashioned editing with a sharp eye before submitting work, but I found that sometimes, for the sake of saving 25 or 50 or 100 words, I would cut out whole thoughts that added flavor and texture and context to the story. I hated doing it but I thought it was my duty to hand in a word count that made my editor’s life easy and blissful.

One day as I was struggling to make brutal cuts on a very in-depth article which, out of necessity had a lot of facts and figures and details, I mentioned my dilemma to one of my other editors at another magazine. Her brilliant words of wisdom were, “If you have done all you can and you are happy with it as it is, you should submit it. Let your editor do her job.”

What I learned is this: I can generally turn stories in with about ten percent more words than the assigned word count, and I have yet to hear a complaint from any editor.

Back to the in-depth article that was causing me so much heartburn — It was originally a 1,200 word assignment but I found that when I included all the information I felt made it complete, it was nearing 1,800 words. I discussed it with my editor, and she said she would up the word count to 1,600. So I submitted what I had, and she wrote back and said, “This is a good read!”

I’m not saying that we should submit a 2,500 word article for a 500 word assignment simply because we believe every word we write is precious and must remain intact.  I do believe, however, that editors expect writers to submit their best work that will likely include more words than originally assigned. For us writers, it means having a bit of leeway to fully complete our stories, and for editors, it means receiving a richer, more finished piece to work with.