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Word count help?

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leahmarshall View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote leahmarshall Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Word count help?
    Posted: 24 Jul 2021 at 8:06pm
Ya'll, please impart me with your wisdom.

I have go-with-the-flow typed as such, and my story is 100 words flat. 

THEN I had a horrible realization that Google docs was counting it as one word. What do you think!? Eek it down to 96? 

Pls help ty!!!


Edited by leahmarshall - 24 Jul 2021 at 8:06pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GenieAZ Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jul 2021 at 8:12pm
Your story cannot EXCEED 100 words.  You don't have to be exactly 100 words.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dark&StormyNight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jul 2021 at 8:14pm
Originally posted by leahmarshall leahmarshall wrote:

Ya'll, please impart me with your wisdom.

I have go-with-the-flow typed as such, and my story is 100 words flat. 

THEN I had a horrible realization that Google docs was counting it as one word. What do you think!? Eek it down to 96? 

Pls help ty!!!

I believe NYCM will count it as one word too.

Trying copying and pasting the story into the the submission field and typing a few more words.  As soon as you pass 100 you’ll get a red message and be unable to sub,it.  This will tell you if you’re at 96 or 100.

But as Genie said it’s ok to be under 100.


Edited by Dark&StormyNight - 24 Jul 2021 at 8:15pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ZoeLou Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jul 2021 at 8:30pm
I read somewhere that they take the count from Word and the count from Google docs, and then run with whichever one is lower (yay for benefit of the doubt!). So if Google docs is saying it's 100 words exactly, I'd say you're safe.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote leahmarshall Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jul 2021 at 8:56pm
Thank you so much!! What a relief lol. was able to submit it with go-with-the-flow :) 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote theinquisitor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jul 2021 at 3:42am
I thought with the Micro it was impossible to submit over the word limit - that the Submittable form wouldn't accept it?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote HeatherHaze Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jul 2021 at 4:15am
Sorry I’m late to the game here.  To be honest, I don’t know if I’d have chanced it.  To me, “go-with-the-flow” is four words, hyphenated or not.  The judges might view it as a cheeky attempt to squeeze in a few extra words.  Maybe since it made it past the submission process it won’t be an issue.  I hope not.  In any case, best of luck! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wisemel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jul 2021 at 5:45am
I think that Submittable blocks you from going over word count, so if it was accepted, you should be good. I highly doubt judges are counting words. 

I have read the same as posted above about how they determine word count using Word and Google Docs and using the lower number. That might have been in the SS rules?

That said, I noticed Google docs combines words when you use em dashes (!!), and I adjusted my count mentally so that the words were counted properly instead of as one word. Mostly because it felt like cheating to me in this particular case. 


Edited by wisemel - 25 Jul 2021 at 5:46am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RadBadOrJustSad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jul 2021 at 8:54am
Didnt realize the contest was "100 words or less!" I was targeting 100 as a firm and absolute requirement and so I had a panic moment last night where Word and Google were, for some reason, disagreeing about if a hyphen was a word in and of itself. 

Easily fixed once I figured out what it was doing. Gave me an extra word to play with, which is always merciful. 

My understanding otherwise is that on FF, the rules say they put your doc in both Word and Google to determine word count - going with the shorter count as the official. But I think here it's just that submittable wont let you save if their internal word count doesn't agree.
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