Writing to me is a form of exercise. When writing articles I would strive to write at least a thousand words. Having longer essays forces the brain to work harder and over time such exercise is necessary to cultivate the mind to be creative to explain things more eloquently. But when writing for work, it is the opposite. I won't write a fifty words when I can put the message across clearer in ten.
I never start writing a story with a word count in mind. It will be as long or as short as it needs to be. Whatever feels natural. People often tell me "the story is too short, you should expand it, add to it." Sorry, folks, it doesn't work that way for me... What's funny is the books always land in that 85K spot. I don't know why that happens...
I agree that obsession with word counts has gone way overboard! That said, I love having a secret goal of around 1,000 words/day when I'm in the creative phase, simply to motivate myself to stick with it and get the hero out of that tricky spot (or whatever). I may not meet it, or I may write twice that much, but it forces me to keep my butt in the chair until the creativity starts to flow!
Writing to me is a form of exercise. When writing articles I would strive to write at least a thousand words. Having longer essays forces the brain to work harder and over time such exercise is necessary to cultivate the mind to be creative to explain things more eloquently. But when writing for work, it is the opposite. I won't write a fifty words when I can put the message across clearer in ten.
Your last sentence points out the folly of focusing on word counts one writes. Content is king! Woohoo!
I never start writing a story with a word count in mind. It will be as long or as short as it needs to be. Whatever feels natural. People often tell me "the story is too short, you should expand it, add to it." Sorry, folks, it doesn't work that way for me... What's funny is the books always land in that 85K spot. I don't know why that happens...
Good approach to writing! Mine reach 100k and keep going. Sigh.
I agree that obsession with word counts has gone way overboard! That said, I love having a secret goal of around 1,000 words/day when I'm in the creative phase, simply to motivate myself to stick with it and get the hero out of that tricky spot (or whatever). I may not meet it, or I may write twice that much, but it forces me to keep my butt in the chair until the creativity starts to flow!
Don't worry about the word count. Just get that hero out of that mess! Hee! Have a great writing day!