Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Word Count and Genre
They are my "emperor without clothes." I was not aware of their relevance until very recently, and only after a little boy, disguised under the form of a jovial lady editor "in the publishing business since Orange County was still very white, and the presence of an Asian store in the strip mall had brought on outrage and concerns among the city council members." The little boy pointed out in the lady's emphasis tone: "Watch for the word count," making the sentence as unfavorable as the one used by my husband's doctor at his last checkup: "Watch for the cholesterol count."
She continued to dwell into the subject with a considerable pleasure: "Well, fellows, that's all you've got, the number of words. Too much would ruin you, too little would leave your readers unsatisfied. Where to strike the balance between wordiness and exploratory is what differentiate a newbie and a new writer."
Then she launched into the technicalities of "Genre", not the kind that I had learned in my first biology course, memorized by the timeless mnemonic: "Kings Play Chess On Fine Green Sand"
The "Genre" here mentioned, here discussed, here dwelt, defines the type of writing an aspiring author devotes to: fiction versus non-fiction, then fiction-novel, fiction-mystery, fiction-romance, etc., or non-fiction memoir, non-fiction tech, non-fiction cookbook, etc. I am sure if she was not cut short by the meeting moderator due to the constraint in time, she could go on subdividing the writing "Genre" until the "Kingdom comes", not only for the kings who play chess on fine green sand, but for all of us aspiring to publish. ¶ 10:09 PM
They are my "emperor without clothes." I was not aware of their relevance until very recently, and only after a little boy, disguised under the form of a jovial lady editor "in the publishing business since Orange County was still very white, and the presence of an Asian store in the strip mall had brought on outrage and concerns among the city council members." The little boy pointed out in the lady's emphasis tone: "Watch for the word count," making the sentence as unfavorable as the one used by my husband's doctor at his last checkup: "Watch for the cholesterol count."
She continued to dwell into the subject with a considerable pleasure: "Well, fellows, that's all you've got, the number of words. Too much would ruin you, too little would leave your readers unsatisfied. Where to strike the balance between wordiness and exploratory is what differentiate a newbie and a new writer."
Then she launched into the technicalities of "Genre", not the kind that I had learned in my first biology course, memorized by the timeless mnemonic: "Kings Play Chess On Fine Green Sand"
The "Genre" here mentioned, here discussed, here dwelt, defines the type of writing an aspiring author devotes to: fiction versus non-fiction, then fiction-novel, fiction-mystery, fiction-romance, etc., or non-fiction memoir, non-fiction tech, non-fiction cookbook, etc. I am sure if she was not cut short by the meeting moderator due to the constraint in time, she could go on subdividing the writing "Genre" until the "Kingdom comes", not only for the kings who play chess on fine green sand, but for all of us aspiring to publish. ¶ 10:09 PM
Post a Comment