Inch counts -- good or bad?

[Tom Petty]

Sorry, folks, but "write what it's worth" does not work. We deal with a finite amount of space every day and x-number of stories to fit into that space. You, as an editor, have to determine what each story is worth in relation to the space available.
To say "write what it's worth" means you simply are not doing your job.

spnited - i agree and disagree. i believe many writers want too much flexibility, and i think too many editors don't want to hold anyone's balls to the fire as far as inch count is concerned. but, at the same time, sometimes "12 inches can't nearly do what i just witnessed justice" is dead on.

 

[Taylee]

Discretion is advised.
I've read 10-inch stories that were too long and 30-inch stories that were too short.
Inch counts should be determined by the stories. Routine game? 12 inches. Feature on a kid who qualified to the state cross country meet a month after bering hit by a car while training? I'd at least double that length, if necessary.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Sorry, folks, but "write what it's worth" does not work. We deal with a finite amount of space every day and x-number of stories to fit into that space. You, as an editor, have to determine what each story is worth in relation to the space available.
To say "write what it's worth" means you simply are not doing your job.

Not to be a jerk about it, but many reporters at the smaller papers can't tell you what a story's worth because they assume that, because they're writing it, they need every since inch they produce. I read an 80-inch town council meeting paper at a small town I stopped in for lunch one day. It included, literally, every single word uttered in that meeting. If you were to ask that reporter if he wrote what it's worth, I'd be willing to bet he'd say yes.

 

[Barsuk]

Sorry, folks, but "write what it's worth" does not work. We deal with a finite amount of space every day and x-number of stories to fit into that space. You, as an editor, have to determine what each story is worth in relation to the space available.
To say "write what it's worth" means you simply are not doing your job.

Not to be a jerk about it, but many reporters at the smaller papers can't tell you what a story's worth because they assume that, because they're writing it, they need every since inch they produce. I read an 80-inch town council meeting paper at a small town I stopped in for lunch one day. It included, literally, every single word uttered in that meeting. If you were to ask that reporter if he wrote what it's worth, I'd be willing to bet he'd say yes.

I'm sorry, did you say you READ an 80-inch town council meeting story? You, sir, need to have your head examined (perhaps moreso than the dolt who wrote an 80-inch town council meeting story).

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Sorry, folks, but "write what it's worth" does not work. We deal with a finite amount of space every day and x-number of stories to fit into that space. You, as an editor, have to determine what each story is worth in relation to the space available.
To say "write what it's worth" means you simply are not doing your job.

Not to be a jerk about it, but many reporters at the smaller papers can't tell you what a story's worth because they assume that, because they're writing it, they need every since inch they produce. I read an 80-inch town council meeting paper at a small town I stopped in for lunch one day. It included, literally, every single word uttered in that meeting. If you were to ask that reporter if he wrote what it's worth, I'd be willing to bet he'd say yes.

I'm sorry, did you say you READ an 80-inch town council meeting story? You, sir, need to have your head examined (perhaps moreso than the dolt who wrote an 80-inch town council meeting story).

At some point, it had a Plan 9 From Outer Space quality to it. I had to see how a story that long on something so unworthy was built. When I got home, I grabbed the online version and stuck it in Word to see what it weighed in at.

 

[Sxysprtswrtr]

I like some reporter's train of thought -- I'll write 8 inches for print, and then 30 for the web because there's an infinite amount of space on the internet.

Yeah buddy.. because online readers frequently like to read your extraneous garble-turned-into-a-novella online.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

I like some reporter's train of thought -- I'll write 8 inches for print, and then 30 for the web because there's an infinite amount of space on the internet.

Yeah buddy.. because online readers frequently like to read your extraneous garble-turned-into-a-novella online.

You ain't kidding. I can already see the gleam in some crap reporter's eyes when he realizes that if he wants to do a 100-graf story on the water board meeting, nothing can stop him. And the small-time COLUMNISTS, hell's bells. Welcome to the Villarealization of sports journalism.

 

[SF_Express]

Our writers all learned fairly quickly that unlimited space doesn't mean the unlimited mandate to use it.

Our regular columns rarely run over 800-900 words. Internet readers aren't looking for long.

The nice thing, within that context, is that I haven't had to go through and do widow trims, or painstaking editing of quotes or whatever, for years.