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0 pointsHard_Space5y ago0 comments

I think Stephen King was quoting someone else when he said "I wrote a novel because I didn't have time to write a short story".

In my experience, getting the same core information into a smaller word count is extra work, not less.

0 comments

Veen5y ago

He was paraphrasing Pascal: "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time".

I agree with the general point, but when a writer has a commercial relationship based on word counts, it changes the equation. I dislike word-count based contracts for that reason, but when the CEO of Widget Company Ltd hires me to ghost-write his blog articles, he isn't usually receptive to "you can have a 1000-word article for $400 or an 800-word article for $500".

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0 pointsHard_Space5y ago0 comments

I think Stephen King was quoting someone else when he said "I wrote a novel because I didn't have time to write a short story".

In my experience, getting the same core information into a smaller word count is extra work, not less.

0 comments

Veen5y ago

He was paraphrasing Pascal: "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time".

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse