Writing Exercises and Word Limits

From Carter Jefferson,
Co-Administrator, IWW Practice List

A member of Practice-w, an IWW group that sends out an exercise for its members to do every week, asked the other day just what the exercises are good for, and why we put stringent word limits on submissions. We have lots of members, but others might be interested in the answer I gave him.

Everybody I know has been frustrated by the word counts in the Practice exercises. Back when I submitted an attempt to do the exercise every week, now and then I used to run over by the three or four or twenty words and hope the admins wouldn't notice--but they always did, and I got my wrist slapped.

The word limits have two purposes, one practical, the other didactic.

If we didn't have word limits, there's no way anybody would critique more than a couple of submissions every week, which would be bad. With the limits, a crit is not hard to write, so everybody is likely to get several, and everybody knows some crits are worth more than others. The more the better.

From the learning mode, everybody also knows that many of us who write tend to use a lot of words to do a job a few would do infinitely better. The word limit challenges us to cut the useless and keep the ones that do the work effectively. I came to fiction writing after a newspaper career in which I thought I'd learned brevity--boy, was I wrong! Practice-w helped me learn to make every word count, and that's one of the things the list is for.

Finally, every member has her or his own use for the exercises. Some use them as goads, a way to force themselves to write at least once a week when they're feeling dry. Some see them as just exercises that hone one skill or another. Others use them to try new things, to write in ways they haven't before. Many see them as a chance to experiment--to see whether a germ of a story idea might be worth pursuing. And some make flash pieces of their responses to the exercises, using the tips critters give and going on to publish those subs for money or pure satisfaction. Who knows? There may be other reasons as well. One I wrote was a love letter, but nobody knew that but me and the recipient thereof.

Every one of the many lists in the IWW helps a lot of people. For me and some others, Practice-w, word limits and all, has been invaluable. However you use them, we're pleased to offer an exercise every week that some people will find inspiring, useful, or just plain fun. Members must submit a piece that meets the requirements of the exercise once a month, and do at least one critique. If you'd like to join this group, please send us your request at this address.