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This may be a silly question, but is there a way to get a word count on a page in the editor?

I have a problem with being too wordy and making long pages. I can copy paste my work into Microsoft word, or another program that counts words, but I was wondering if there was a way to see word count as I go. It would also be nice if anyone had other tips on how they tell when a page is long enough, or too long. I have been told about 1000 words max is a good guideline by Mizal, but I don’t recall seeing that in a forum or beginners guide (very possible I just missed it).

This isn't currently possible. You can request it in the FWW, and see if other people would find it useful.

I wouldn't focus on the wordcount though -- you should get a general idea of what a good max length is for a page and then break it occasionally when it suits your purposes.

I will put in a request and see if it is of value to anyone. I like a hard requirement tied to a number, it is just how my brain works. I do appreciate the tip. The more stories I read the more I realize my own foolishness with page length. I do not think it would be hard to do it by feel after 2 or 3 stories if I am intentional about it.

I seconded this in the FWW, as being conscious of word counts is not a bad habit for a writer to get into. As I said there, if you're writing freelance for a magazine, there is almost always a word limit imposed by the editor -- partly because of the limited physical space on a printed page, and partly because the writer is being paid by the word.

So if we have writers on this who are working to be more concise, that's not a bad thing.

Yeah -- that's true. Hadn't considered that hard word counts are definitely a fact of life and can arrise even outside of newspapers/school but also novels. Didn't it take Herbert ages to get Dune published because of its wordcount?

I don't know off the top of my head, although I'm sure I have the answer to that question upstairs on my bookshelf. I do know that he labored over the manuscript for a long time.

I am glad the idea would be helpful to you. We will see what others have to say, and if it is even practical to try. As you said scripting May make this a bad idea in some cases.

I am very wordy, and have a lot of bad writing habits. This is all possible. Just being aware that is was a problem before has helped. I feel like I am already getting a sense of how long pages should be. I just feel being able to see a number would help. I typically write on this site, but see the appeal to writing offline and then transferring. I feel like as a new writer knowing a general word per page guide line, and having a word counter, would have been nice. I did not see this info in any of the guides for new story writers, but normal people probably do not have this problem. I also did not read every guide, and may have missed it as I skimmed through them. I really appreciate the help and continued support/advice I have received on this site!