The Duel Between Plot and Wordcount

The nemesis of plot is wordcount. Their epic enmity plagues all my stories.

First, plot is ascendent, racing ahead, leaping, punching, kicking ass.

Then wordcount pulls out the secret weapon — “You can’t get that published unless you get it past me! Two hundred and fifty thousand words? Are you mad? I spit in your face! Bwahahaha!”

Then the bloodletting really begins, what with the slashing and slicing, until plot has lost both arms, a leg, and occasionally a head. (Plot often has many heads, so sometimes this is a good thing.) Wordcount cackles, sure of the last laugh.

But plot is not dead… bloody fingers rake the grass, dragging the torso forward…. Plot throws a hidden dagger, and wordcount topples over one hundred thousand words…. with more and more words gushing out all over the page all the time….

It’s ugly.