This question reminds me of a story that those of you connected with
publishing have possibly already heard.
A society pseud with an exaggerated accent was at a cocktail party and was
introduced to a publisher. 'Oh how exciting,' she gushed. 'Tell me, how
long should a novel be?'
'About fifty thousand words,' said the publisher (there is no such fixed
length, but why spoil a good story?)..
'Oh, thank goodness; I've finished!' exclaimed the would-be novelist.
Seriously, as one who has marked many essays, apart from keeping in mind a
general feeling as to how deeply you need to go into the subject, you should
never work to a length. The essay must develop to the plan you've prepared
(you have prepared one, haven't you?).
You then use Word's word count (very useful) and amplify or précis sentences
until you get the approximate length you want. Cadet journalists (newspapers
are the most testing form of writing to length) are frequently given
exercises where they write a story and must then adjust it exactly to
length. That comes *afterwards*.
The person reading the essay is far more interested in the form of your
essay than the length, so you fix the form first and then adjust the length.
HTH.
