Survival of the Fittest: Write Like Every Word Counts

Here's a scenario that might sound familiar; you find yourself reading a book and you come to realize that the author is using words without communicating on the right level with her readers. Her language is colorful, and she paints a pleasant, sincere-sounding noise. It's attractive enough, but the more time you put into her words and the less you come away with, the more you start to realize you've been had.

I am guilty of this myself at times. Writers love words. We have a natural affinity for them. I get wrapped up in my style and instead of focusing on the needs of my characters or my readers, I go off on a lyrical tangent.


Perhaps you’ve found you are at fault for this yourself? Just wait, as you improve, you will begin to identify these tangents and will expect more of yourself. One way to improve and test the weight of your words is to practice writing with word limits.

Recently I was able to test myself when I decided to enter a contest with a word limit. I was given 3,000 precious words with which to hook the judges. That meant I had to trim some fat. I knew I had to pare down somewhere, yet I was in denial as I looked over what I had. Didn’t I need to use those twelve words to convey my heroes plight? Wouldn’t those fancy adjectives make the setting pop? If I deleted that witty little number that made me feel so clever, would my story be weaker for it? The answer? A blaring no! I could cut every single word and be able to include those that actually mattered. Once I started questioning those tweaks and saw how they affected the story as a whole, I began to look at not only every word, but every scene and in ever project.

To write well requires a dedicated effort, a detachment to your writing, and a cruel punch of the delete key. I don’t claim to have mastered this laundry list of requirements, but I’m a writer and I’d like to be recognized for doing it well, so when I am given a tried and tested piece of advice or I so happen to stumble across it myself, you better believe I’m going to put it into practice every time I sit down to write. It doesn’t matter if I’m looking down a tight word diet or not, every word matters and in a business where agents, editors and even readers are looking for a reason to put down your short story/novella/novel, you have to make sure you don’t give them a reason to.

~Happy writing and editing. May the muse be with you all!~