Word Count discrepancy between Word and Google Doc |
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tiffinyfelix
NYC Midnight Regular Joined: 15 Jan 2022 Status: Offline Points: 495 |
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Posted: 29 Jan 2023 at 12:09am |
So, I wrote my story in Google Doc, and then saved it as a word file so I could submit it. It's done and submitted. Yay!
Except I just saw that the word count in the word file is 2502, but the word count in the Google Doc is 2490. Why on Earth would the word counts be different?? Has anyone else run into this? If so, were you disqualified? I'm feeling a little freaked out.
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ZoeLou
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 19 Jan 2020 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 2809 |
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I do the same thing, and it freaks me out every time! I believe they check both Word and Google Docs and take the lower count of the two, so you should be fine. I've submitted a few stories that were technically over the word count in Word (but not in Docs), and as far as I know I wasn't penalised for it. :)
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tiffinyfelix
NYC Midnight Regular Joined: 15 Jan 2022 Status: Offline Points: 495 |
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Thank you for your reply! I've just been sick about it. I feel a little better! I'll feel all the way better when I have my confirmation email. Hahaha. Thank you, again!
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Lottewat
NYC Midnight Addict Joined: 16 Jul 2020 Location: NZ Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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Word seems to count characters like * as a word, as well as if something is separated by a . or a : (e.g. 9:00am) it seems to count it as multiple words where google docs will count it as one word. Same thing happened to me once when I separated sections of my story with ***. I was under the word count on Google docs, but over in Word.
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Mister_Write
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 11 Feb 2020 Status: Offline Points: 2231 |
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Yeah Word counts certain things that Google doesn't, and vice versa. I think Word counts scene breaks. But I think word sometimes underestimates em-dashes (where spaces aren't used). Anyway, I'm 98 percent sure that the rules say they'll take the lower count, so it should be fine
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mkharkins
Newbie Joined: 26 Jan 2022 Location: Mercer Island Status: Offline Points: 17 |
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I read in the FAQ's that they calculate both and take the lowest - so, no worries!
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Storyteller, author, writer, scribbler, fangirl
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CSongs
NYC Midnight Groupie Joined: 12 Jul 2020 Status: Offline Points: 120 |
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I'm so relieved to hear this! I panicked when my word count changed after converting my google docs to an new file format, so glad I also posted the google link. Thanks for asking this!
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SS 2023 Group 100 Warden's Call
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Jennk
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 15 Jan 2022 Location: N. California Status: Offline Points: 3127 |
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Just weighing in on this old thread to say that while the rules say, I believe, that you need to be under on only one, I know someone who was called out by a judge for being over the word count.
When the author checked again, after seeing the feedback, they reconfirmed that the story was under (by a word or two) on Google docs but over by a few on Word. In other words, this story should have been fine, but who knows if this impacted the judge's scoring. Given this situation, I will not take a chance in the future. I plan to keep my word count under the limit for both Google docs and Word to be on the safe side. Edited by Jennk - 30 Dec 2023 at 4:52pm |
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vnewman8545
NYC Midnight Newbie Joined: 02 May 2023 Location: Bucksport Status: Offline Points: 35 |
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I had the same thing happen to me and wondered what was going on. I am glad to hear that likely they will not dock points. I thought I remembered reading in the rules that they give like a 15-word leeway.
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VVV_Writes
Read my Round 1 story titled "Petrified" https://forums.nycmidnight.com/r1-g28-petrified-suspense-thriller_topic55704.html |
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