I swear I'm not trying to rules-lawyer this! I wanted to ask just to be safe, though: how does iterative/variable text feature with the wordcount?

Just as an off-the-cuff example, would something like "He had [if x]red[otherwise if y]green[otherwise]blue[end if] hair" count as 6 words or 12? (4 words x 3 potential sentences)

For something a bit more complex, if I have "It was snowing, and he had red hair and a deep-lined scowl" in one screen, but toggling a variable will result in "The sun shone brightly; he had bright red hair and a cheery smile" (the actual code being something like "[if x]It was snowing, and[otherwise]The sun shone brightly;[end if] he had [if x]bright [end if]red hair and a [if x]deep-lined scowl[otherwise]cheery smile[end if]"), would that be:

• 19 words (the actual total words in the text-minus-mechanics, "it was snowing and the sun shone brightly he had bright red hair and a deep-lined scowl cheery smile")
• 25 words (treating the sentences as separate, 12 words + 13 words)
• something else entirely?

And does it matter if the variable is located on another screen, and the player has to go there and return before seeing the new description? If it's relevant...I know I'm using Inform-ish syntax, but I'm actually planning to write in Twine for this one, I just think Inform's if/then logic is easier to read. :)

Again, I promise I'm not trying to find a sneaky loophole or anything; I just enjoy writing variable-triggered descriptions, and I don't want that to muck up my count!