DISCUSSION -- The 75 word Challenge, April 2011

[goldenapples]

Having seen goldenapples 288-worder, I think the profile may be better coming from the FBI

I like to keep things brief.

Edit: My word count says it's a brief 265 words, not 288 as cruelly suggested by Alchie.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

12 X 24 is 288, not 265. However, counting the lines in your story, I found that there were actually 25 of them. 25 X 12 = 300, whatever your word processor might say.

Some word processors and online word counting programs ignore certain of the smaller words. I don't understand the rationale behind why they do it, but there it is -- which is why we urge everyone to count their words by hand.*

In this case, you didn't go over the limit, but whatever program you used to count the words could trip you up in the future. Don't trust it.


*I use Appleworks, which I have never known to produce an inaccurate word count. I still back it up by counting the words in my stories by hand.

 

[Parson]

12 X 24 is 288, not 265. However, counting the lines in your story, I found that there were actually 25 of them. 25 X 12 = 300, whatever your word processor might say.

Some word processors and online word counting programs ignore certain of the smaller words. I don't understand the rationale behind why they do it, but there it is -- which is why we urge everyone to count their words by hand.*

In this case, you didn't go over the limit, but whatever program you used to count the words could trip you up in the future. Don't trust it.


*I use Appleworks, which I have never known to produce an inaccurate word count. I still back it up by counting the words in my stories by hand.

Teresa, I use Word Perfect 12 and have never known that to give me a false count either. However, counting my words by hand, well let's just say that more errors creep in then.

 

[Ursa major]

If you place a pencil (or pen) in that hand and mark a printout of the story (with, say, a single / for every five words and // every ten, plus a running total of those tens), you should not only come to a valid count but one whose validity you can check and recheck.



(I can't be the only person who recalls the days when there were no computers, with or without accurate word counting.)

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Teresa, I use Word Perfect 12 and have never known that to give me a false count either. However, counting my words by hand, well let's just say that more errors creep in then.

For me, too. Which is why, if there is any difference between what I get and what Appleworks comes up with, I'll run it through Word (removing all the dashes and ellipses, which Word thinks are words), and then do another count by hand myself.

This month, I kept getting different answers when I counted (300 words offer a lot of room for mistakes!), so I asked my husband and a friend to count. When their numbers were consistent, I tried again and found we were in agreement. So then I counted one more time just to be sure. Then I decided that after all I wanted to change a few words, which made the count exactly 300. Which meant more counting by my husband and I, because I couldn't afford to be off by even one word.

To return to the subject of the 75 Word Challenge: I've never made a mistake in the hand counting there. My count always agrees with Appleworks. I don't lose my place when counting to 75, but after 100 apparently all bets are off.

 

[MstrTal]

Um I may be in trouble. I always loose count by hand, even when I print it out and hash it with a pencil. In the end I just gave up and went by the Processors counter.

 

[The Spurring Platty]

As one of last month's disqualified, I can attest to MS Word's fickleness.
Especially as it pertains to hyphenated words.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

You're OK, MstrTal. You could have been in trouble because two words were run together "ofמות" which put your count off by one, but correcting that brought you to 300 exactly.

 

[MstrTal]

You're OK, MstrTal. You could have been in trouble because two words were run together "ofמות" which put your count off by one, but correcting that brought you to 300 exactly.

OI, Talk about a Shaving it close to Sweeney Todd territory!

It was hard enough getting it down to just where it was as it is. I also am more embarrassed than I can say that I made such a ridiculous error.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Not a ridiculous error, just a common typo.

And the sort of thing that is very easy to overlook, which is why we keep urging people to keep an eye out for places where there is a space missing.

 

[Parson]

If you place a pencil (or pen) in that hand and mark a printout of the story (with, say, a single / for every five words and // every ten, plus a running total of those tens), you should not only come to a valid count but one whose validity you can check and recheck.



(I can't be the only person who recalls the days when there were no computers, with or without accurate word counting.)

Of course you're not. When I was in school, my school's typing classroom had only 3 electric typewriters. And the dictionary I got in college talked about a new day when computers would be able to check spellings etc. ---- I know I'm older than dirt.

But back then I wasn't worried about going over in word count in question my only concern was did I have at least x words.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Electric typewriters? Those would have been considered the height of decadent luxury at the school I went to.

If you don't trust yourself to count the words (for either Challenge) find a keen-eyed friend or relative to do it for you.

It would be a pity if one of your excellent efforts had to be disqualified because your word processor lied.

 

[Chel]

I'm getting nervous by this whole discussion! I always aim to get my stories to 75 words exactly (after the first few just sort of floated on to 75 without any effort on my part). So far my OpenOffice word processor has always agreed with Word Count Tool - Free Tool to Count Number of Words. Word counter!
, whereas my counting manually has been off on quite a few occasions.

For the 300-word challenge I'll have to be extra careful and maybe leave a safety margin to make up for my bad relationship to numbers together with the greater possibility of the word processor and counting tools to be wrong.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Word Count Tool appears to be accurate, but I've only tested it on two different pieces of text. Double check, triple check, and don't rely on one word processor or one online counting tool.

 

[goldenapples]

12 X 24 is 288, not 265. However, counting the lines in your story, I found that there were actually 25 of them. 25 X 12 = 300, whatever your word processor might say.

Oh dear. What a **** up! I got the whole thing completely wrong. It's entirely my own fault for being in such a hurry to enter.

 

[Parson]

It would be a pity if one of your excellent efforts had to be disqualified because your word processor lied.

I'm humbled to think that you consider some of my efforts in the contests to be "excellent." My whole day will be filled with joy and peace!

 

[nixie]

I always use my fingers to count. Although I haven't yet tried to count any in the 300 challenge.

 

[Ursa major]

* Wonders if nixie would say no to a helping hand or two (or fifty-eight). *




And never mind electric typewriters.... Typing classrooms? What are they?

(I'm not even sure we were allowed to use ballpoint pens. I don't recall seeing anyone using them On the other hand, they had omitted to ban inks of colours other than blue, black and blue/black.)

 

[Gary Compton]

Best way to avoid any probs on word count is to enter your 75 word story into the 300 word challenge or your 50 word story into the 75 word challenge.

Simples really!!

 

[Bob Senior]

Howdy,
Is the private message feature used a lot? I tried to send a message to Parson about country music ( being a big fan of the older country music) and also to find out if he was giving me a pat on the head or taking a cheap shot about my observation on intrepreting things. Anyway it was not allowed because I do not yet qualify.
Just wondered if folks use it often and check for messages.
Thanks
Bob S.