It’s always funny when your professor informs you that your first major paper is due, and someone will inevitably raise their hand and ask, “How long does it have to be?” Most professors will respond with a really vague, “As long as it has to be to answer the question successfully,” to which that same student will respond, “OK. But really — how many words do you want?” If your professors don’t care about the word count, neither should you.
By definition, a word is a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence, and typically shown with a space on either side when written or printed. Now let’s define writing a paper that needs to be 500 words: more or less 500 single distinct meaningful elements of speech or writing, used in conjunction with other words to form sentences...et cetera. The latter definition is the mentality many students imbue before starting their papers, and if you ask me, it’s why we struggle to write.
First, put the topic you’re writing about on top of the page and write down every single thing you know about it. STOP. That thought you just had that said, “Gee...I don’t really know anything about this topic without doing a quick Google search,” is completely false. We retain way more than we realize on subjects, and writing down everything as if we were vomiting words onto the paper will almost certainly leave you with a few valuable topic sentences, if not a thesis (or two).
Second, stop checking the word count after every sentence. It’s like watching your food getting prepared when you’re so hungry you can barely stand: it feels like it’s taking hours for you to get those pancakes that usually only take five minutes to make, and then when you shove them into your mouth because you just can’t wait any longer, you burn yourself.
Same with the word count: don’t burn yourself out by counting every single word. Let those words settle on the page.
Third, whatever you do, don’t edit a single word. Don’t check the spelling, don’t check the grammar, don’t try to pull a Hemingway and make your words float like lavender on the surface of a gentle pond, and just write. Oftentimes we’re our own worst enemies when it comes to analyzing our thoughts; we get self-conscious, we don’t think we sound smart, and we construct our own roadblocks.
If you’ve stayed with me thus far, you’re probably a little frustrated. You’ve heard all of this before. Who’s this guy to tell me how to write 500 words? He’s probably a terrible writer. And you’re right, I’m just as bad at getting my thoughts onto the paper as the next person. But guess what? I’ve distracted myself and made it to exactly 500 words doing exactly what I just outlined. Don’t believe me? Check my word count. The key: healthy distraction.
