500 Words

I gave myself a word limit of 500 words. Normally when people do this, they struggle to cut down to 500 words. I, however, took a week trying to get up to 500 words. Do a word count yourself: this piece has exactly 500 words in it. Enjoy.


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I have 500 words.

That's enough words to tell a story. A story that will make a reader cry, laugh, scream, sigh, and shudder, possibly all at the same time. Enough words to tell a story of great triumph over an even greater adversity. A story of love and hope. A story of hatred and deceit. A story of a journey that one must take in order to save a community, and quite possibly, themself. A story that will make a reader check every corner and closet in their home before going to bed.

I have 406 words.

That's enough words to keep a reader engaged from beginning to end. To make a reader care so much about a character that they will cheer when they do good, and scream when they screw up. Enough words to create tension so thick it can be tuned to a pitch, to have a character make a difference in a person's life, if only for a moment. Enough words to have characters love each other to pieces, while simultaneously finding five things to hate about each piece.

I have 316 words.

That's enough words to describe a landscape so beautiful, so awe-inspiring, that the characters would have no choice but to stop and stare at its beauty. Enough words to describe rolling hills, rustling leaves, and grandiose mountains that stretch past Heaven, to capture the scent of an approaching storm and the chill of sudden winds, to describe intricate settings where a character gains an ally, or loses a lover. Settings where battles rage, both inside and out. Settings a reader can retreat to when lost in thought.

I have 225 words.

That's enough words for a gripping climax, for the guy to get the girl, for the hero to vanquish the villain, for the Average Joe to continue living, for love to blossom or whither. Enough words for the characters to live happily ever after, to ride off into the sunset, or to cradle a friend in their arms, watching the life slowly slip out of their eyes. Enough words for that pinnacle moment, where all life is suspended, and the very fate of the human race depends on a final, crushing blow. Enough words for peace of mind, a new hope, or uneasy sleep.

I have 116 words.

That's enough words to answer any lingering questions and provide closure to such a captivating story. To show how the citizens of a once-doomed town readjust to a not-so-normal life, how the guy and the girl continue to love each other, how no one is safe as the loyal followers plan another uprising, how to continue on after the death of a friend and mentor. To provide a definite end, or to leave a reader hanging on until the sequel. To provide a life lesson to apply to everyday life. To show, from beginning to end, just how surreal life is when looking from the outside in.

All of this in 500 words.

hey, i loved this
although this is not what i usually read in forums and stuff, but well, i loved this.
and i can't spot any mistakes...
i liked the part when you described the landscape and nature. it was beautiful
take care, and keep up the good work!

Well, I really enjoyed this and if I could say so, it is very clever. 500 words each to describe how you're going to affect the reader with that small piece of text.

Fabulous.

This is interesting. It's a stream of consciousness, more than a story. It's interesting, like I said, but not the greatest. I think the idea has been used before, and used better.

Anyway, the main suggestions I have for this would be to write out "five hundred," although I realize that would mess with your word count. It might also be neat if the "I have 500 words" counted down using the number of words as of the end of the previous paragraph.

Meep wrote:It might also be neat if the "I have 500 words" counted down using the number of words as of the end of the previous paragraph.

I should've talked to you earlier. That's an excellent idea.

This is nice, it has an almost poetic feeling. However, it is a bit repetitive. I guess there's not much you can do to avoid that though. I like the idea of a countdown too.

I really enjoyed reading this. I love how you're summing up a writer's world and looking at it from the outside in... so to speak.

I just have one critique:

500 words for the characters to live happily ever after, to ride off into the sunset, or to cradle someone in their arms, watching the life slowly slip out of the eyes of another.

That last part "or to cradle someone in their arms, watching the life slowly slip out of the eyes of another." Is kind of strange. What you were trying to say, I think, is that someone is cradling a dying person in their arms, watching them die... right? It kind of comes across as someone cradling someone else in their arms and watching another (third party) person die. I'm not sure how you should fix that, but think about it; I'm sure you can come up with something.

I agree; the countdown would be a really cool touch.

Keep it up! This was great!!

~Azila

I totally dug the word count, so I added that. I also fixed the wording Azila pointed out, so now it should be all good.

The repetition bugged be after a while. So many of the sentences begin with "Enough words to..." which is fine for emphasis for a little bit, but then it continued... I think it comes off a list-y for a while, maybe because of this repetition?

To show, from beginning to end, just how surreal life is when looking from the outside in.

I felt that because of this sentence, I should have thought about things being surreal all along. But reading it, I didn't get the feeling of surreality.

At the beginning:

That's enough words to tell a story.

I thought that there would be more focus on a single storyline, but it seemed a little all over the place for that. You could consider connecting all the pieces, maybe? I think it's the "or"s that create this ambiguity:

Enough words for peace of mind, a new hope, or an uneasy sleep.

To provide a definite end, or to leave a reader hanging on until the sequel.

Exact word counts are difficult, in my opinion, so congratulations on achieving a perfect 5oo!

AmeliaOliver wrote:Exact word counts are difficult, in my opinion, so congratulations on achieving a perfect 5oo!

About that....

In an embarassing turn of events, I realized that "500 Words" actually had 510 words in it. It's thus been fixed (an easy remedy: I just took out some of the repetition).

I have to agree with all of the above =F hehe. I quite liked the concept of the story, and found that if i read it properly each of the seperate stories you mention in a paragraph are continued on some way to a conclusion in the end, (I may have been imagining it) but either way, very cool. I also agree with the repetition thing, although this isnt too hard to fix, some re wording and your there.

Word counts are notoriously hard to stick to no? Congrats on getting this on on the dot (eventually ) hehe.

Rocketation yo =D

Lol. I enjoyed this. It was just so clever! I loved how you counted down the words. I think it kind of created a sense of urgency, like you were realizing that you had all these words at your disposal, and building up your hopes for them. It also reminded me of procrastination, because you were saying all the things you could do, but not actually doing them. Sorry for the lack of coherency, I'm very tired, and I never really know where to start when critiquing (or trying to critique) fiction.

Overall it was fresh and interesting, and I really can't fault it. I felt that you embodied a lot of the writing experience (That sounds pretentious to me. Ick. I'm sorry!) in this piece, which was great, and the flow was beautiful. I especially enjoyed your vivid descriptions in the third paragraph.

The last line was really powerful, the perfect ending, I thought.

I liked how you said, "Enough words to describe hills and leaves stretching past Heaven." Great imagery.

The whole thing was well done. I think there was a contest... Is this part of it?

Kyte wrote:I think there was a contest... Is this part of it?

This, as well as another piece, inspired Alianna's (not sure of spelling) contest. I've really been on a kick of "500 word" stories, lately, but whatever.

I feel like I've read this before. This is the kind of thing where you find yourself skipping a sentence here and there, knowing you won'rt miss anything important. It is very repetitive. I read the first paragraph and I knew what the rest was about. The premise is interesting but it's very repetitive.