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Thread: How many words do you get on a page?

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    Senior Member Ole Juul's Avatar
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    Default How many words do you get on a page?

    I do rough copies on 8-1/2x11 and I have wide margins. I'm just writing for content and I don't do calligraphy as such. I just decided to estimate the size of a story, and I notice that I get about 260 words per page. What do other people get?

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    Senior Member penwash's Avatar
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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Hmm... I do one sketch per page.

    They say "a picture is worth ..."

    So to answer your question, about 1000.

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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Depending on nib width, 9–12 words per line and about 35 lines per page of unlined A5 (quick average from recent morning pages). Double that for A4, which is close to 8 1/2 by 11, would be around 700 words per page.

    That said, 300 words per page of A4 is a reasonable estimate for double-spaced typescript.

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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    I use fine and x-fine nibs, A5 sheets, and lines about 5mm apart. (Typical grid paper.) I get about 250 words per page if I’m writing mixed exposition and dialog. Exposition alone, about 350 words. It would be hard for me to estimate A4, because a lot of my writing unfolds in conversations. (Line lengths are very variable when mimicking speech patterns.)
    Last edited by elaineb; July 27th, 2020 at 04:19 PM.

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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Depends on what i’m writing and the nib i’m using.

    If i’m writing lots of back and forth dialogue, then i won’t get many words per page. If i’m doing math, then very few. Otherwise, 200-250, more if i use a medium or fine nib.

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    Senior Member Ole Juul's Avatar
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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Thank you everyone for taking the time to answer. That gives me a good idea of where I'm at.

    I probably use about a two inch margin on A4. I tried an A5 pad, just for scrap the other day, and I found my lines were the same length as on A4. I guess to me a line length is not dependent on the paper size, but rather on the number of words. Everyone has different sensibilities. For example when I type (eg. email) I prefer lines of 58 to 65 characters. Traditional typesetting is 2.5 alphabets per line and I'm pretty old school when it comes to that.

    Anyway, this question was partly because my calligraphy is now very poor because of some nerve and muscle issues. I honestly don't worry too much about that, after all content is king, but I see people with beautiful writing usually use quite large letters. That just made me wonder.

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    With me it is constant.

    Constant change!

    I have a lot of different nibs, and a lot of different sized papers/cards/etc. Between the quality of an ink in partnership with the nib width and style, the size of the lettering can vary a lot. I can write a letter with a 1.1 italic nib and not put all that many words on the page, but when I do post cards I have a particular pen: a Sailor Pro Gear with an XF nib, using Sailor Kiwa-guro ink (waterproof), so that I can squeeze as much information as possible in that tiny vehicle.

    I hear you - I have issues with nerve damage and occasional intention tremor, so I choose times for writing depending how things are going. If it has to be small and neat I hope for a good spell; if I'm tired or the arm is acting up, I go with larger/broader nibs and just try to go slow to maintain some semblance of readability. Always a struggle.

    So it's hard for me to say a strict word count for the above reasons.
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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Depends on which newspaper I am using to cut the letters from...

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    Senior Member Ole Juul's Avatar
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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Quote Originally Posted by Empty_of_Clouds View Post
    Depends on which newspaper I am using to cut the letters from...
    At least there's lots of choice with papers. Unlike if you're using crayon rubbings from man hole covers.

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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    If I'm writing letters to international penpals I need to be aware that the regular airmail postage stamps that I have can only be used for letters that weigh up to 10grams. Therefore if I use two A4 sheets of Tomoe River paper plus an airmail envelope, I reach that maximum. It makes more sense that I try to use smaller margins and write more compactly so that I can get more words on a page.

    Unfortunately I've never counted the words.

    For letters to penpals in the UK I use different papers and envelopes because weight matters less. Therefore I write fewer words per line and use wider margins.

    Horses for courses?

    Space also doesn't matter in notebooks as I have several different types. I can really spread out words and doodles in notebooks.
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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    I think the 1000 words of penwash could might be outperformed with good will.... 😜

    Show_response_02 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

    The grid is 5mm x 5mm

    But I don’t think the receiver of such a letter would have a lot of fun reading it.
    On the other hand the receivers optometrist might would like it as it would likely boost his business.

    So at least I would prefer the picture of penwash.

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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    I don't count words and when I am writing and after writing I can see how many pages I have done.
    I can be many pages or half a page or few rules on a page.
    It is important to put all your wrods on the page and amount of words depends!! on the size of the lettes you draw, and the pens you are using too.

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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Never thought about it before. Most of my writing is done in a plain A5 notebook. I have arthritis and when it is worst my writing tends to be larger. For that reason it varies between 60 and 100 words per page.

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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    I have no idea. I use A4 paper with the exception of what comes to hand if I need to jot down a brief note (shopping receipts out of my wallet for instance). I will outline and note take by hand on paper, and then rough draft, edit, proofread and re-edit on computer.

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    Senior Member Ole Juul's Avatar
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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Thanks for the additional replies.

    I guess if one is writing letters it doesn't matter. At least for me it will be what it will be. However it does matter if it's for publication. I need to know at least a ballpark figure - like whether I'm at a short thousand words, or a more reasonable four thousand. When I was using a computer for original text input, it was second nature to type the traditional "wc" command at the end of a session to get letter, word, and line totals.

    The original question came up more because I haven't been writing by hand to this degree before, and was wondering if my writing was sized out of the ordinary. Peoples writing, as shown on ink reviews etc., seemed huge to me. As I learn here on this forum, it appears my natural writing is very small compared to most. In any case, I tend to leave a fairly wide margin as well as some space at the end of a page to make room for later corrections and edits after scratching out sections. I'm generally not into calligraphy.

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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Juul View Post
    Thanks for the additional replies.

    I guess if one is writing letters it doesn't matter. At least for me it will be what it will be. However it does matter if it's for publication. I need to know at least a ballpark figure - like whether I'm at a short thousand words, or a more reasonable four thousand. When I was using a computer for original text input, it was second nature to type the traditional "wc" command at the end of a session to get letter, word, and line totals.

    The original question came up more because I haven't been writing by hand to this degree before, and was wondering if my writing was sized out of the ordinary. Peoples writing, as shown on ink reviews etc., seemed huge to me. As I learn here on this forum, it appears my natural writing is very small compared to most. In any case, I tend to leave a fairly wide margin as well as some space at the end of a page to make room for later corrections and edits after scratching out sections. I'm generally not into calligraphy.
    Way back in the day, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, in a time before computers, we were taught to count every five letters as a word. It is tedious when it is a long document, but it does give you a reasonable count. Computers count each group of letter between spaces as a word. That will work as well.

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    Senior Member Ole Juul's Avatar
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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    @ An old bloke: I took a typing course in high school in the mid 60's. I'm guessing you're about my age. I remember the five word thing. Also the "allowed five mistakes" thing. Those were the days!

    For handwriting now, I just count a few average looking lines and average them, then multiply by the lines on an average looking page. That's good enough for me, and I use that count without further checking to get the ballpark figure I need.

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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Juul View Post
    Thanks for the additional replies.

    I guess if one is writing letters it doesn't matter. At least for me it will be what it will be. However it does matter if it's for publication. I need to know at least a ballpark figure - like whether I'm at a short thousand words, or a more reasonable four thousand. When I was using a computer for original text input, it was second nature to type the traditional "wc" command at the end of a session to get letter, word, and line totals.

    emacs or vi*?

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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    Quote Originally Posted by guyy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Juul View Post
    Thanks for the additional replies.

    I guess if one is writing letters it doesn't matter. At least for me it will be what it will be. However it does matter if it's for publication. I need to know at least a ballpark figure - like whether I'm at a short thousand words, or a more reasonable four thousand. When I was using a computer for original text input, it was second nature to type the traditional "wc" command at the end of a session to get letter, word, and line totals.

    emacs or vi*?
    vim of course. And I don't even use the Esc key
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    Default Re: How many words do you get on a page?

    If you remember when dirt was invented -- my youngest grandson believes I was there when it happened -- then we are probably the same age.

    I took typing in year 7 instead of art since the art teacher had little patience for red-green colour blind students. Being able to touch-type proved to be one of the best skills I had during my years of tertiary education, and in my work life.

    Long story short; there was a time when I actually had to be certified to be able to type 30 words per minute on a teletype machine. Touch typing was essential.

    An example: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/Antarct...y_teletype.jpg

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