What word counter do you use? Fanfiction and Microsoft Word have been counting my work much like the problem Subzero has been having (and we're working on the same piece, so, yeah, it's been aggravating thing with the word counter).
I am hoping you'll reconsider a few words leeway, but regardless I understand where you are coming from completely. All I ask is you provide us the word counter you use and we will make it fit the 10,000 word limit (or die trying). Thanks for your time.
Here's a tip from someone who does NaNoWriMo: always assume that the counter opposite the word count limitation is the correct one and trim or add accordingly. For example, in NaNo, you want a higher word count, so you'll need to test on a variety of word counters (Google Drive is a valid counter in that it's just the same as using Word's, by the by) and see which one has the smallest count. While cross-testing will tell you that you should be in range of your goal, the smallest count will tell you to add more to give you a cushion. For this challenge, what you need to do is the
opposite. Cross-test and find the count with the highest. The cross-test will tell you that you're dangerously close to 10k; the highest count will tell you how much to trim your work down by in order to get that cushion of safety.
You probably missed this edit as well, so I'll say it again. When you participate in writing challenges or contests, it's generally not up to the judges to give you leeway when it comes to the challenge's requirements because that would defeat the purpose of a challenge. It's up to you to ensure that your story meets the requirements they set. Ten thousand is a pretty high number for a short story, so if you hit that according to any counter, that should be a challenge to you to write a little more concisely. There are a variety of things you could possibly do to avoid hitting 10k, and you'll probably find that all of them might actually benefit your writing style. (For example, try removing adverbs. Reword sentences with the passive voice so that they're written with the active voice. Remove superfluous ellipses, which tend to be counted as separated words. Or just straight-up go back through your work and see if you can say things a bit simpler.)
Sorry again for being a bit bitey, but y'all are worrying yourselves over part of the contest's point. You're
supposed to bend over backwards in order to meet every single requirement. That's what a challenge
is, and although this is a contest that's meant to judge your writing style, it's also partly a challenge to you to see how well you write given certain limitations.
I mean, sure, knowing which counter Negrek is using to verify the entries would help, but what happens if Negrek's using Microsoft Word, which isn't available to everyone? Might as well know how to cross-check and edit as necessary.
Edit: And you might not want to use FFNet as a word processor. It's ... not a very
good word processor, as you have just found out. FFNet's kinda notorious for developing tools that are hilarious like that, and its word counters have
always been weirdly off, even in the story listings. I can't begin to tell you why that is (whereas with other word counters, it's not that difficult to tell what they're counting). It's just been a thing that FFNet does that. If you really want to use it, though, then look at its results when you cross-check. If it says you're significantly higher than the limit, trim down to create a cushion until it says you're under. Yes, you may lose a few hundred words as a result, but again, it's on you to meet the contest requirements to the best of your ability. That and if you're writing that much for a short story, you may want to trim down anyway. Wasn't it Poe who said that a short story needs to be concise enough to read in one sitting?