Edited Words and Edited Characters

Many people assume good writing is found when you write. The truth is for most writers, good writing appears when you edit. You know you have become serious about your writing when you're proud of the number of words you're able to reduce from your rough drafts when editing. To help you see how well you've been editing, we wanted to create a counter which encourages writers to reduce their word count through editing, and the result is the Edit Counter.

This is a bit different than Word Counter in that in addition to telling you the word count of your writing, it'll keep track of how many words you have managed to add or remove from your writing. Word Counter tells you how many words you have written. Edit Counter allows you to put in a finished first draft and see whether you increase or decrease your word count while editing.

The tool is easy to use. Simply paste your writing into the text area, and then hit the "Start Over" button on the top right of the tool. This will still show you the number of words written, but it will reset the "edit" word and character counters to +0. When you begin editing your writing, the Edit Counter will show how many words your writing had decreased or increased through your editing.

Editing is an important part of the writing process, and it usually doesn't get the respect it deserves. If you're able to get your point across more succinctly, that's good writing. While many writers strive to up their word count as much as possible, it's essential to remember that word count is only important if the words written actually count. Getting rid of those filler words and tightening up your writing should be a celebrated and encouraged exercise, not something to be dreaded.

For those who are writing essays for a class which has a word count minimum or maximum, you likely fall into one of two types when trying to meet the writing parameters. You either have trouble reaching the word count needed, or you write far more than you're allowed to write. For those who never seem to be able to write enough, there are some simple ways to increase your essay word count. For those who seem to write too much, there are some steps that can be taken while editing to help reduce the number of words in the essay without removing vital information. Often the writing is improved in the process.

Using Edit Counter is also a great way to see the effect editing has on your writing, especially over time. When using the tool on a regular basis, you may begin to see a trend that your editing decreases or increases your word count a certain percentage for every 1000 words written. If you become attuned to this trend, you will know how much you need to write in your first drafts to meet the required word count once you have finished editing.