#word count

[wyrm-house]

[fir-fireweed]

Y’all know what this is?

This is the current word count of Cantata. This is the word document itself, which means without code and without duplicate paragraphs cut and pasted. This is the raw word count of everything I have written…

…which means Cantata is now as long as Viatica was upon completion. Only 4.5 chapters and it’s as many words as my finished IF. 😵‍💫

[izzysromance-roadtrip]

I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT!

MY FIRST DRAFT OF MY NOVEL IS FINISHED!

FINAL WORD COUNT: 56, 776

AFTER 2 YEARS OF WORKING ON THIS I DID IT! I FINISHED IT!

[solarsthoughts]

how many words i wrote last week (as someone who writes fanfics as a hobby)

monday: 730

tuesday: 541

wednesday: 0

thursday: 0

friday: 0

saturday: 0

sunday: 0

do i write every day? absolutely not.

do i write every week? again, no. actually, i have gone years without writing before picking it up again.

but am i still a writer? yes. a million times YES.

because guess what? it doesn’t matter how often you write.

it doesn’t matter that you don’t write every day, or every week, or even every month.

and it doesn’t matter how many words you write each day.

you know what does matter though? the stories that you have created. even the ones that are only vague ideas floating in your head. even the ones that you haven’t yet transcribed into words on paper.

that’s what matters.

[paperclips37]

Kingdon Microfic: Day 1. Confetti.

384 words! On the nose.

Forgot to tag @kingdonmicrofic like a fool!!

-------------------

It had been a bad week sleep wise. Frank blinked sluggishly, one had rubbing at his temple. As though he could stimulate his brain into wakefulness. Unfortunately his eyelids still felt like ton weights, unconsciousness blurring at the edges of his vision. Dana’s constant supply of red bull barely making a dent in his exhaustion.

A band aid couldn’t fix a cut, just cover the injury. Mel had idly commented as he had necked his third in as many hours. He’d retorted about protecting the injury. Her disapproving stare had cut deep. Not that he’d admit to it. Not as Robby skirted around in the background.

Insomnia was worrying. The benzos had been his cure for it before. And the longing struck him at those long stretches lying in bed. He knew why he wasn’t sleeping. Board residency exams. Done and dusted.

The waiting it was always the waiting that killed him

The dopamine hunting, constant need for things to do, give him purpose all railed against the waiting. No amount of running, mindfulness or de-compressive lava lamp apps helped.

‘When was the last time you slept?’ Mel slid into the PC in front of him. Eyes looking at him over her glasses. Her eyes always looked more green when she thought him an idiot.

Frank leaned back. In that way that he knew annoyed her. Just a little too far back than sensible. Also every time he did so he knew his scrub top rode up. And her eyes flicked down. Frank Langdon was an evil man who enjoyed his favourite person turn rosy as she was caught out. ‘Technically I dosed off during Whitakers rambled about funk 20 minutes ago.’

Mel’s face, always so remarkably expressive: clashed between the eye roll and understanding. It had been a nonsensical ramble.

‘Langdon! This was just delivered for you.’

Perlah passed him a large envelope. His results?

Mel crossed her fingers with a big smile. God she was something else.

He ripped open the envelope.

DIVORCED AF

Opened it without thinking. The loud pop caused everyone around to jump.

Mel stared as confetti rained down.

His now ex-wife's horrendously out of tune voice echoing in the silent room about the joys of divorce.

Frank stared back.

Her eyes were a colour he’d never seen before.

[insane-detective]

Blindsided by an insane word to chapter ratio on AO3

2 chapters and 119,673 WORDS

[chaosgremlen]

The longest fic I ever wrote was 38k words, 130 pages.

Since then, I haven't really written anything past 10 pages.

My current Reed900 fic is up to 10k words, 30 pages.

You think I can beat my record?

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Hi! In a post you said that "writing professionals" aim for 300-600 words a day. I'm curious what you're calling writing professionals (published novel authors? Freelance journalists? Etc) and where that number came from?

Not criticizing or arguing just very curious because I've realized I might have been a bit harsh with myself on my goals and I'd like a good frame of reference for how that compares with me so I can maybe tell my brain to cool it with the expectations

Absolutely a fair question! That's a number I pulled from a writing book that is buried deep somewhere in my precarious shelves, but this page records 600-1000 to be the average of many authors. (Ignore any writing milestone of Stephen King, as he is the Spiders Georg of writing.)

You also have to note that the higher word counts are from people who write full-time. As someone with a day job who assumes most people are working and going to school, I lean toward lower word count goals with the focus of higher quality material. I've known a couple of writers who kept up dazzling daily word counts for the sake of it, only to have an uneditable mess at the end.

Whatever your word count, setting your goals low and gradually adjusting them upwards is my approach. I also want to stress that you should also lower your goals when having trouble meeting them, because the more you fail to meet a goal, the more discouraging it can be. Your goals are for your benefit, not anyone else!