To all those who have exceeded the word limit and gotten away with it (2 Viewers)

[Therewego]

If, of course, it is possible.

Has it been done? have you done it and gotten away with it?
How many words over did you go?

I'm really asking because my own story is 500ish words over the limit...and I've already cut it down from over 9000 words and I feel like I'm really taking away from it by taking away any more.

Is it risky to hand in a 8500 word story then? Will I recieve a fat 0?

Or do I need to bastardize my work further...

Thanks in advance

 

[Kwayera]

Bastardise. Usually, a good rule of thumb for going over or under a word limit is 10%, or 800 words, but they'll really notice 500 and you have to declare the word count anyway.

 

[Therewego]

Thanks for the help,

One more thing, probably a stupid question,

Declaring an 8500 word count would be a bad idea right?

 

[bineal]

everyone seems to be going over 7500 words. would i be marked down for writing on 6200? =/

 

[Fenwickinho]

I'm in the same boat as you buddy - about 500ish words over after editing it down from over 9000.

Editing it down to about 8200-8300 should be fine I'm guessing.

And I'm pretty sure you don't have to declare the word count.. you can if you want, but it isn't necessary.

 

[jess39]

everyone seems to be going over 7500 words. would i be marked down for writing on 6200? =/

You're within the word count. As long as your story is good, I don't see how they could mark you down based on word count alone.

 

[diametric]

Mine is currently on 8300. I guess some tightening up throughout might lower it to 8200?

Is that okay?

 

[imsopostmodern]

im pretty sure it mentions in the syllabus that it should be between 6000 and 8000 words.

they're not going to go through and count how many words you have, so you can get away with a little bit. but these markers have often been marking for YEARS, and given the fact that they like everything to be a standard format/font size/spacing/etc, it's going to be rather obvious if you go over by a page or so more than what's normal or expected for the upper limit.

do NOT overtly lie on your word count. because should they become suspect, and actually DO go to the effort of going it, you're going to be done in.

i'd say max would be 50 words over the limit. and i would declare it as only just under.

try taking out excessive, lengthy descriptions and it may help your word count.

 

[alcalder]

If the word limit is 6000-8000 then make it 6000-8000. You wil not get marked down if your story fits into that in any way. Do not go over or under.

If you have too much, then you NEED to tighten it.

Lose a character or lose description.

You can use a tool in Microsoft Word called "Summarise" to help you pinpoint bits that could be culled. If you have 8500 and need 8000, that's what 90%? I don't have a calculator handy. Type that into the Summarise function and it will highlight the text it thinks you could keep. Or put in 75% and then you can be more selective about what you kill.

You have to be ruthless. Sometimes killing the bit that you like the best is the way to go, because then you have to strengthen everything that remains.

But the key is to BE RUTHLESS!!! Get it under 8000. You won't get away with it.

You have

 

[beve]

If the word limit is 6000-8000 then make it 6000-8000. You wil not get marked down if your story fits into that in any way. Do not go over or under.

If you have too much, then you NEED to tighten it.

Lose a character or lose description.

You can use a tool in Microsoft Word called "Summarise" to help you pinpoint bits that could be culled. If you have 8500 and need 8000, that's what 90%? I don't have a calculator handy. Type that into the Summarise function and it will highlight the text it thinks you could keep. Or put in 75% and then you can be more selective about what you kill.

You have to be ruthless. Sometimes killing the bit that you like the best is the way to go, because then you have to strengthen everything that remains.

But the key is to BE RUTHLESS!!! Get it under 8000. You won't get away with it.

You have

My teacher advised me that the bits you think are your "gems" are the parts that you give the flick - Alcader is right - it will sharpen up as a whole.

But I'm operating at around 7500 =D

 

[accio.brain]

wait, where do we have to declare out word count??

 

[diametric]

yeah, im gonna cull some bits from the ending, bring down the final scene to 750 (100 words gone). tighten up a few scenes in the middleish. perhaps another 100 words gone.

leaves me 100 words to lose my mind over.
ill try and cut as much as possible,
but i dont think ill lose my mind over anything that is <8050.

 

[accio.brain]

Ohh. Okay. Mine's roughly a bit less than 8100

 

[cookie.banana]

everyone seems to be going over 7500 words. would i be marked down for writing on 6200? =/

duh no

I'm just glad i'm beating someone with word count, everyone in my class won't shut their traps about how high theirnumber is

yeah

 

[alcalder]

Come on you can do it. Bring it into the 7000's. The best writing is tight. Edit, revise and edit again. No good book has gone to print on the first, second or even 10th draft.

Really sit back and ask yourself which bit is slow. Ask others to read it and ask them to be brutal and point out the slow bits. Cull and get it pacier.

The mark of a good story is not how long it is, but how well it is written in the smaller number of words. Thumb your nose at those posers. More words = more junk

 

[Garygaz]

I did about ~400 over last year for a short story. I also had heaps of paragraphs so it didn't seem/look like a small chunk of writing either. Still managed to get a e4. Meh, I guess if they like it they like it. They're not word counting Nazis.

 

[MzBiiBii]

If the word limit is 6000-8000 then make it 6000-8000. You wil not get marked down if your story fits into that in any way. Do not go over or under.

If you have too much, then you NEED to tighten it.

Lose a character or lose description.

You can use a tool in Microsoft Word called "Summarise" to help you pinpoint bits that could be culled. If you have 8500 and need 8000, that's what 90%? I don't have a calculator handy. Type that into the Summarise function and it will highlight the text it thinks you could keep. Or put in 75% and then you can be more selective about what you kill.

I can't find it
What heading would it be under?

 

[alcalder]

The Summarie tool in Word is under
TOOLS
AUTOSUMMARIZE

I am using Word 2003. I don't know if it will be under that in Word 2007 but I assume it would be in the same place. Look for "Autosummarize" in the help section of your MSWord program.

 

[diametric]

I'm down to 8040!
And still more I'd like to cut!
w00t.



(though i will admit that i think it came at a loss of quality)

 

[Therewego]

I'm down to 8040!
And still more I'd like to cut!
w00t.



(though i will admit that i think it came at a loss of quality)

exactly the same scenario here,

cut it down to 8040, and I definetly think my story is worse for it.

definetly no more I'd like to cut though...