Comments on: How to write the perfect amount of copy

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 15:44:00 +0000

In reply to Lesley Grainge. And don't forget that running your text through the Hemingway App can also help with tightening!

By: Lesley Grainge

Lesley Grainge — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 15:10:00 +0000

I tend to write ‘long’ at first and then edit. I find that my first draft is good for me to just get it out there- on paper! Then I outline (like you say – in reverse)! to get a tighter focus. I find this outline comes from my draft quite well – it’s like the draft tips out all the pieces and then the outline sorts them in some kind of logical order. Then I have fun editing with word count becoming really important as I piece it together.

By: Lost In Space

Lost In Space — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 14:40:00 +0000

In reply to Charli Mills. Ha Ha that makes two of us, one of the reasons I took her course was to shorten my writting, but as you can see it's still a work in progress. What I'm finding "good" crapy first draft can help alot. I've gotten a lot of my stuff down to a page or less, that from multiple pages before.

By: Charli Mills

Charli Mills — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 05:37:00 +0000

In reply to Daphne Gray-Grant. That's a pro-active approach!

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 01:58:00 +0000

In reply to Nay Gzlez. Thanks so much.

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 01:57:00 +0000

In reply to Charli Mills. I used to work with a writer who taught me a great tip: Whenever she wanted to submit a story that was longer than the specified word count, she sent two stories instead. One was the perfect length and the other included the material she thought was so important that it justified going longer. It gave me a choice. I thought very highly of her for this effort.

By: Nay Gzlez

Nay Gzlez — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 22:27:00 +0000

I am from Spain and like to read your articles,I think that

the brief but good, twice as good!!you finish boring people with long text..

By: Charli Mills

Charli Mills — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 20:09:00 +0000

Long! I’m sure you can tell by the length of comments I leave. 😉 I’ve been editor for 15 years for an organization’s publication and have contracted with many writers in that time. Working as an editor has made me a better freelancer — I aim seriously for both deadline and word count. I’ve actually had more writers write off the word count than I’ve had late submissions. In fact, one writer regularly turned in 400-600 more words despite explaining our needs and why. I did not hire her back. Same goes for book publishers. Learn what their typical book-length word count is before querying a manuscript. Be a good fit, learn to fit what is needed or find your fit elsewhere.

By: Elizabeth H. Cottrell

Elizabeth H. Cottrell — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 18:17:00 +0000

In reply to Daphne Gray-Grant. Great suggestion, Daphne. Thank you.

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 17:47:00 +0000

In reply to Remy. Yes, there are fewer of us who tend to write short. Glad to help!