First draft Word count.?

Question

Do you find your first draft is longer or shorter than your completed work? I understand that I will be cutting alot of unnessary words, but I also have a list of things I need to add. I haven't gone back to add these in yet.I'm finding it difficult to know if I'm doing okay with the word count. Is it okay and normal for it to be lower than than the final piece?

Answer 1

I've often found, in my own work, that I end up cutting a LOT of material. It's not uncommon for me to have, for example, 40 pages of notes that I turn into a 10-15 page paper.

There are no rules to the writing process, so unless your instructor has an assigned word count for your first draft, I wouldn't worry.

The process can be messy, but in general, it's better to have too much material than not enough.

Answer 2

Either scenario would be "okay" or "normal" but of course it depends on the requirements of the assignment. If you are writing a book, are you working with an agent or publisher or are you in the draft stages only? Were you told to achieve a specific word count?

I never sweat this; the only goal is to make either a crisp, fascinating read or a lyrical, gently paced story, whichever is your intent.