#thursdaythoughts – but it’s a picture
Once during NaNoWriMo,
I posted an update to a Facebook Group I was in and said, “I didn’t write anything
today, but I created quite a few images for NaNoWriMo.”
To which one of the moderators wrote (I am paraphrasing
again), “Those are part of your word count.”
Another person said (paraphrased, “A picture is worth a thousand
words, so I’d count them.”
It was at that point, I began counting the images and
graphics that I create as part of my word count. I had to figure out a system for giving the picture
a number value, so I ended up doing some math.
Just in case you do not know, Math and I fell out in the 8th
grade when my teacher said letters were part of math problems.
Here is how I calculate the numeric value of a picture…
I count the number of words that I write for the graphic.
I use the highest number for the dimensions (in pixels) of the picture up to 500
pixels.
I add both of those together and get the numeric value.
It has been fun to do this.
Writers use and create pictures all the time. Perhaps it is a picture of a character. It is a cover for our book. It might be a picture that reminds us of a
place. Maybe it is a picture that we
will include in our book. We even use pictures
that are symbols for words, ideas, and feelings. To writers, pictures are almost as important as
words.
Pictures conjure up thoughts and words in your minds. They also inspire us to write about them and
explain them. Writers use pictures to
help us visualize what we are writing or want to write. We use them on our vision boards and story
boards. I think it is only right that we
count them in our word count.