When You Write

How Long Is a Short Story? What’s the Perfect Length?

Obviously, a short story is the shortest form of prose. But how long or short is a short story?

This isn’t an easy question—of course we know that a short story is typically a ‘short’ piece, but so is a novelette. What’s the unique and appropriate scope (word count and brevity) for a short story.

I have heard a lot of writers talk about short stories, and I have noticed that there are lots of gray areas in these bavardages—most writer to writer conversations that I have had vaguely cover elements like length and depth.

So, I decided to cover all the essential topics that are somewhat of a bother for new wordsmiths. Towards the end, I’ve compiled a list of famous short story writers and their incredible works to offer you some inspiration.

What Qualifies as A Short Story?

A word count is a good element used to qualify a piece of prose as a short story.

But on its own, it’s not sufficient.

There are other elements that have to be looked at for a story to qualify as a short story. We look at things like plot, character arcs, scenes, theme, and many others.

Unlike novellas , short stories have simple plots. They don’t have subplots or extensive backstories.

Typically, a short story has about one or two main characters (with shorter character arcs than a novel) and 5-6 scenes, at the most. Some short stories that I have read had a single drawn-out scene—this helps the reader get immersed into the story because the story doesn’t swing between many scenes.

Another typical characteristic of a short story is the brief reading length. Often, a short story can be read in a single sitting, in minutes, sometimes.

Although a short story takes a short time to read, writing it is a whole different rugged experience.

Ways to Measure a Short Story

The most obvious element that qualifies a short story is the word count. After researching the average word counts preferred by many publishers, I settled for the ones below.

How Long Is A Short Story?

Regular short stories lie within the word count range of 1000-7500, but some publishers will accept short stories with word counts of up to 10,000 (which is within the novelette range, I believe).

Other Types of Short Stories.

You may have noticed that I referred to the short stories in the previous general definition as “regular short stories”, that’s because short stories below the word count of 1000 are called micro-fiction and flash fiction.

Flash Fiction : If a short story has a word count below 1000 but above 100, it’s called flash fiction. The name flash fiction is befitting because a bibliophile can literally chew this type of fiction in a flash. Flash fiction is usually published as a one-page story in magazines and newspapers.

Micro-Fiction : A piece of fiction consisting of less than 100 words is called micro-fiction. Compared to a regular short story, micro-fiction is often hard to write. Imagine trying to write a very coherent story with just a dozen words. Luckily, there seems to be a good number of humorous micro-fiction pieces still being published in a couple of newspapers, so maybe it’s a sign that publishers love these squabby pieces.  

How Many Pages Does a Short Story Have?

I don’t believe that page counts really matter over and above word counts, but it’s still important.

Unlike word count, a page count is (in some cases) affected by formatting issues. To simplify things for yourself, just look at one of the famous publishing houses’ formatting requirements and use them to format your pages.

The average preferred length is 250 words per page… so if you get 5,0000 words stuffed into your story, you’ll have about 20 pages. I’m not particularly good at math, but that calculation would mean that a standard page count for a short story is about 4 to 30 pages.

Obviously, flash fiction covers up to 4 pages, and micro-fiction starts and ends on the same page.

Looking at the page count, it’s plain to see that it’s almost out of the question for traditional publishers to publish your short stories as a single piece. You have to bundle your stories into an anthology (alongside your own works or pieces by other writers).

But, with short stories, you have a better chance of self-publishing than convincing publishing houses to put out your work (even as an anthology), so it would do you little harm to tweak the page formatting according to your preferences and publish it wherever you like—Kindle, Kobo, etc.

How Many Paragraphs Should a Short Story Have?

There are no generally accepted touchstones for the number of paragraphs in a short story.

You could write micro-fiction in a single paragraph, or you might publish a regular short story made of 50 neatly stitched paragraphs.

The options are innumerable.

Sometimes, it might depend on the reason for writing the short story. Is it an academic assignment? Or a submission into a competition?

If you are writing it as an assignment, the assigner might impose paragraph benchmarks so you will have to work with those.

Otherwise, you need not to worry about paragraphs as long as they are readable.   

How Long Should It Take to Write a Short Story?

I wish I had a straightforward answer, I really do (it seems like this is how every question will be answered in this post).

But that’s the beauty of fiction writing—mutable laws.

Perhaps I should rephrase the question,

“ How Long Does It Take to Write a Short Story?”   

Not that the rephrased question makes it any easier for me to answer, but it gives me the license to draw on the experiences of published writers in addition to my own.

Most published authors will tell you that it might take them anywhere from a week to a couple of years just to finish a single story.

You might not believe it, but it’s true, and it’s all thanks to lack of time, writer’s block , lack of ideas, et cetera.

So let me rephrase the question, again, “how soon should I finish writing a short story?”

The answer to that is way simpler than the previous two: you should finish your story as soon as it becomes a coherent piece. That may be a day or two, a week, a month, or some years.

In creative writing, uniqueness is beautiful. You do not necessarily need to go by what some famous writer says is the way of doing things. You have to create your own worlds in your own timelines.

How Long Can a Short Story Be: Is There a Limit?

If you are writing just for the sake of showcasing your creative side, you can blur the upper limit lines.

You can go well beyond the 7.5k or 10k lines that most people regard as the max for a short story.

If you want to get published by traditional publishers or want to enter your story into a competition, then following the established word limit guidelines is a prudent move.

The industry has a lot of publishers and competitions with a lot of marginally different Ts and Cs. For you to be safe and have a greater chance of getting your story by many publishers and competition boards, write within an average range—say 3k to 7.5k.

How Do You Know When a Story Is Done?

A story doesn’t really end; it just becomes enough for a particular context—for a book, a script, a post, etc.

Writers don’t just end a story after writing the “they lived happily ever after” part. They often patch and re-patch, tweak and re-tweak, delete and rewrite the story.

So, how do published authors know “when the story is done?”

First, they understand that writing a story is a process, with consistent stages. Seasoned authors know that after writing the first draft, the story has just begun.

When writing the second draft, the writer gives the story adequate tension, twists, and conflict—the story has to have more meat, juice, and an extra dimension.

By the third draft, the story should have an exciting cohesive plotline, conflict, good pace, and fully rounded characters (with an apprehensible character arc).

After the third draft, there’s almost nothing a writer can add to the storyline. So, after listening to seasoned proofreaders, the writer can polish up the grammar and other minute issues.

The story is ready for publishing, it’s “done”, for now.  

Classic Short Stories by Famous Writers  

 ‘A Haunted House’ by Virginia Woolf

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‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ by Edgar Allan Poe

‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ by Oscar Wilde

‘The Signal-Man’ by Charles Dickens

“One of These Days” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

“The Gift of the Magi” by O Henry

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

“The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield

“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving

“Baby Shoes” by Ernest Hemingway

What Are Some Popular Short Story Collections?

Remember, most short stories are published as anthologies. Some authors have written so many good stories which have also gotten famous collectively.

Here are some of the most famous collections.

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut

Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker

The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever

Suddenly a Knock at the Door by Etgar Keret

It’s Time to Write That Short Story.

I’m quite sure that you now know how long your short story ought to be.

So now, what are you going to write? Flash fiction? Micro-Fiction?

Before you get the actual part, make sure you outline the short story , it’ll save you time and energy and act as a roadmap for your story.

Whatever type of prose you’d choose to write, you should place a huge chunk of your focus on the creative side. The other stuff will hugely depend on the platform you’re going to use to publish your fiction.

Recommended Reading...

Why short stories are important for readers and writers alike, why do authors use short stories the advantages of this genre, why are short stories so hard to write understanding the challenges, what is a novelette exploring the short story genre.

Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We try our best to keep things fair and balanced, in order to help you make the best choice for you.

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© 2024 When You Write

The Write Practice

How to Write a Short Story: 5 Major Steps from Start to Finish

by Sarah Gribble | 81 comments

Do you want to learn how to write a short story ? Maybe you'd like to try writing a short story instead of a novel-length work, or maybe you're hoping to get more writing practice without the lengthy time commitment that a novel requires.

The reality of writing stories? Not every short story writer wants to write a novel, but every novelist can benefit from writing short stories. However, short stories and novels are different—so naturally, how you write them has its differences, too.

how to write a short story

Short stories are often a fiction writer’s first introduction to writing, but they can be frustrating to write and difficult to master. How do you fit everything that makes a great story into something so short?

And then, once you do finish a short story you’re proud of, what do you do with it?

That's what we'll cover in this article, along with additional resources I'll link to that will help you get started step-by-step with shorts.

Short Stories Made Me a Better Writer

I fell into writing short stories when I first started writing.

I'd written a book , and it was terrible. But it opened up my mind and I kept having all these story ideas I just had to get out.

Before long, I had dozens of stories and within about two years, I had around three dozen of them published traditionally. That first book went nowhere, by the way. But my short stories surely did.

And I learned a whole lot about the writing craft because I spent so much time practicing writing with my short stories. This is why, whether you want to make money as a short story writer or experiment writing them, I think writing short stories is important for every writer who wants to become a novelist.

But how do you write a short story? And what do you do afterwards? I hope that by sharing my personal experiences and suggestions, I can help you write your own short stories with confidence.

Why Should You Write Short Stories?

I get a lot of pushback when I suggest new writers should write short stories.

Everyone wants to write a book. (Okay, maybe not everyone, but if you ask a hundred people if they’d like to write one, I’d bet seventy-something of them would say yes.) Anthologies and short story collections don’t make a ton of money because no one really wants to read them. So why waste time writing short stories when books are what people read ?

There are three main reasons you should be a short story writer:

1. Training

Short stories help you hone your writing skills .

Short stories are often only one scene and about one character. That’s a level of focus you can’t have in a novel. Writing short stories forces you to focus on writing clearly and concisely while still making a scene entertaining.

You’re working with the basic level of structure here (a scene) and learning to perfect it .

Short stories are a place to experiment with your creative process, to play with character development techniques, to dabble in different kinds of writing styles. 

And you're learning what a finished story feels like. So many aspiring novelists have only half-done drafts in drawers. A short is training yourself to finish.

2. Building contacts and readers

Most writers I know do not want to hear this, but this whole writing thing is the same as any other industry: if you want to make it, you better network.

When my first book, Surviving Death , was released, I had hundreds of people on my launch team. How? I’d had about three dozen short stories published traditionally by that time. I’d gathered a readership base, and not only that, I’d become acquainted with some fellow writers in my genre along the way. And those people were more than willing to help me get the word out about my book.

You want loyal readers and you want friends in the industry. And the way to get those is to continuously be writing.

Writing is like working out. If you take a ton of time off, you’re going to hurt when you get back into it.

It’s a little difficult to be working on a novel all the time. Most writers have one or two in them a year, and those aren’t written without a bit of a break in between.

Short story writing helps you keep up your writing habit , or develop one, and they make for a nice break in between larger projects.

I always write short stories between novels, and even between drafts of my novels. It keeps me going and puts use to all the random story ideas I had while working on the larger project. I've found over the years that keeping up the writing habit is the only way to actually keep yourself in “writer mode.”

All the cool kids are doing it. Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Edgar Allan Poe, Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood . . . Google your favorite writers and they probably have a short story collection or two out there. Most successful authors have cut their teeth on short stories.

What is a Short Story?

Now that you know why you should be writing short stories, let’s talk about what a short story is. This might seem obvious, but it’s a question I’ve gotten a lot. A short story is short, right? Essentially, yes. But how short is short?

You can Google how long a short story is and get a bunch of different answers. There are a lot of different editors out there running a lot of different anthologies, magazines, ezines, podcasts, you name it. They all have slightly different definitions of what a short story is because they all have slightly different needs when it comes to providing content on their platform and meeting the expectations of their audiences.

A podcast, for instance, often wants a story to take up about thirty minutes of airtime. They know how long it takes their producers to read a story, so that thirty minutes means they’re looking for a very specific word count. An ezine might aim for a certain estimated reading time. A magazine or anthology might have a certain number of pages they’re trying to fill.

Everyone has a different definition of how short a short story is, so for the purpose of this series, I’m going to be broad in my definition of a short story.

What qualifies as a short story?

A short story word count normally falls somewhere between 1,000 words and 10,000 words. If you’re over ten thousand, you’re running into novelette territory, though some publications consider up to 20,000 words to be a short story. If you’re under a thousand words, you’re looking at flash fiction.

The sweet spot is between 2,000 and 5,000 words. The majority of short stories I’ve had published were between 2,500 words and 3,500 words.

That’s not a lot of words, and you’ve got a lot to fit in—backstory, world-building, a character arc—in that tiny amount of space. (A book, by the way, is normally 60,000 to 90,000 words or longer. Big difference.)

A short story is one to three scenes. That’s it. Think of it as a “slice of life,” as in someone peeked into your life for maybe an hour or two and this is what they saw.

You’re not going to flesh out every detail about your characters. (I normally don’t even know the last names of my short story characters, and it doesn’t matter.) You’re not trying to build a Tolkien-level world. You don’t need to worry about subplots.

To focus your writing, think of a short story as a short series of events happening to a single character. The rest of the cast of characters should be small.

How to Write a Short Story: The Short Version

Throughout this blog series, I’ll take a deep dive into the process of writing short stories. If you’re looking for the fast answer, here it is:

  • Write the story in one sitting.
  • Take a break.
  • Edit with a mind for brevity.
  • Get feedback and do a final edit.

Write the story in one sitting

For the most part, short stories are meant to be read in one sitting, so it makes sense that you should write them in one sitting.

Obviously, if you’re in the 10K range, that’s probably going to take more than one writing session, but a 2,500-word short story can easily be written in one sitting. This might seem a little daunting, but you’ll find your enthusiasm will drive you to the ending and your story will flow better for it.

You’re not aiming for prize-winning writing during this stage. You’re aiming to get the basic story out of your head and on paper.

Forget about grammar . Forget about beautiful prose. Forget about even making a ton of sense.

You’re not worrying about word count at this stage, either. Don’t research and don’t pause over trying to find the exact right word. Don't agonize over the perfect story title.

Just get the basic story out. You can’t edit a blank page.

Take a break

Don’t immediately begin the editing process. After you’ve written anything, books included, you need to take a step back . Your brain needs to shift from “writer mode” to “reader mode.” With a short story, I normally recommend a three-day break.

If you have research to do, this is the time to do it, though I highly recommend not thinking about your story at all.

The further away you can get from it, the better you’ll edit.

Edit with a mind for brevity

Now that you’ve had a break, you’re ready to come back with a vengeance. This is the part where you “kill your darlings” and have absolutely no mercy for the story you produced less than a week ago. The second draft is where you get critical.

Remember we’re writing a short story here, not a novel. You don’t have time to go into each and every detail about your characters’ lives. You don’t have time for B-plots, a ton of characters, or Stephen King-level droning on.

Short stories should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, though. They’re short, but they’re still stories.

As you edit , ask yourself if each bit of backstory, world building, and anything else is something your reader needs to know. If they do, do they need to know it right at that moment? If they don’t, cut it.

Get feedback

If this is your first time letting other people see your writing, this can be a scary step. No one wants to be given criticism. But getting feedback is the most important step in the writing process next to writing.

The more eyes you can get on a piece of writing, the better.

I highly recommend getting feedback from someone who knows about writing, not your mother or your best friend. People we love are great, but they love you and won’t give you honest feedback. If you want praise, go to them. If you want to grow as a writer, join a writing community and get feedback from other writers.

When you’ve gotten some feedback from a handful of people, make any changes you deem necessary and do a final edit for smaller issues like grammar and punctuation.

Here at The Write Practice, we’re huge fans of publishing your work . In fact, we don’t quite consider a story finished until it’s published.

Whether you’re going the traditional route and submitting your short story to anthologies and magazines, or you’re more into self- publishing , don’t let your story languish on your computer. Get it out into the world so you can build your reader base.

And it’s pretty cool getting to say you’re a published author.

That’s the short version of how to go about writing short stories. Throughout this series, I’ll be taking a more in-depth look at different elements of these steps. Stick with me throughout the series, and you’ll have a short story of your own ready to publish by the end.

A Preview of My How to Write a Short Story Series

My goal in this blog series is to walk you through the process of writing a short story from start to finish and then point you in the right direction for getting that story published.

By the end of this series, you’ll have a story ready to submit to publishers and a plan for how to submit.

Below is a list of topics I’ll be covering during this blog series. Keep coming back as these topics are updated over the coming months.

How to Come up With Ideas For Short Stories

Creative writing is like a muscle: use it or lose it. Coming up with ideas is part of the development of that muscle. In this post , I’ll go over how to train your mind to put out ideas consistently.

How to Plan a Short Story (Without Really Planning It)

Short stories often don’t require extensive planning. They’re short, after all. But a little bit of outlining can help. Don’t worry, I’m mostly a pantser! I promise this won’t be an intense method of planning. It will, however, give you a start with the elements of story structure—and motivation to get you to finish (and publish) your story. Read this article to see how a little planning can go a long way toward writing a successful story.

What You Need in a Short Story/Elements of a Short Story

One of the biggest mistakes I see from new writers is their short stories aren’t actually stories. They're often missing a climax, don't have an ending, or just ramble on in a stream-of-consciousness way without any story structure. In this article , I’ll show you what you need to make sure your short is a complete story.

Writing Strategies for Short Stories

The writing process varies from person to person, and often from project to project. In this blog , I’ll talk about different writing strategies you can use to write short stories.

How to Edit a Short Story

Editing is my least favorite part of writing. It’s overwhelming and often tedious. I’ll talk about short story editing strategies to take the confusion out of the process, and ensure you can edit with confidence.Learn how to confidently edit your story here .

Writing a Better Short Story

Short stories are their own art form, mainly because of the small word count. In this post, I’ll discuss ways to write a better short, including fitting everything you want and need into that tiny word count.

Weaving backstory and worldbuilding into your story without overdoing it. Remember, you don't need every detail about the world or a character's life in a short story—but the setting shouldn't be ignored. How your protagonist interacts with it should be significant and interesting.

How to Submit a Short Story to Publications

There are plenty of literary magazines, ezines, anthologies, etc. out there that accept short stories for publication (and you can self-publish your stories, too). In this article, I’ll demystify the submission process so you can submit your own stories to publications and start getting your work out there. You'll see your work in a short story anthology soon after using the tips in this article !

Professionalism in the Writing Industry

Emotions can run high when you put your work out there for others to see. In this article, I’ll talk about what’s expected of you in this profession and how to maintain professionalism so that you don't shoot yourself in the foot when you approach publishers, editors, and agents.

Write, Write, Write!

As you follow this series, I challenge you to begin writing at least one short story a week. I'll be giving you in-depth tips on creating a compelling story as we go along, but for now, I want you to write. That habit is the hardest thing to start and the hardest thing to keep up.

You may not use all the stories you're going to write over the next months. You may hate them and never want them to see the light of day. But you can't get better if you don't practice. Start practicing now.

As Ray Bradbury says:

“Write a short story every week. It's not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.”

When it comes to writing short stories, what do you find most challenging? Let me know in the comments .

For today’s practice, let’s just take on Step #1 (and begin tackling the challenge I laid down a moment ago): Write the basic story idea, the gist of the premise, as you’d tell it to a friend. Don’t think about it too much, and don’t worry about going into detail. Just write.

Write for fifteen minutes .

When your time is up, share your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop. And after you post, please be sure to give feedback to your fellow writers.

Happy writing!

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Sarah Gribble

Sarah Gribble is the author of dozens of short stories that explore uncomfortable situations, basic fears, and the general awe and fascination of the unknown. She just released Surviving Death , her first novel, and is currently working on her next book.

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Last updated on Feb 07, 2023

How Long is a Short Story or Novella? (Updated for 2024)

In book publishing, the average length of a novel will be influenced by its genre (sci-fi epics are much longer than romance novels, for example). Those averages are a reflection of publishing norms rather than any hard-and-fast rule. But with novellas, novelettes, short stories, word counts are crucial as they’re the only defining features of these formats. 

In this post, we’ll show you how long a novella , novelette, and short story are — and reveal the word counts for popular examples of all three. But if all you're after is a quick answer, here they are:

  • Novella : 17,500 – 40,000 words
  • Novelette : 7,700 – 17,500 words
  • Short Story: Less than 7,500 words

Why is word count so important?

‘Too long’ and ‘too short’ are rarely criticisms of a story's length but a comment on how well-written the piece is. There are 150,000-word epics that readers will effortlessly breeze through, and we’ve certainly read our fair share of short stories that seemingly drag on forever. 

In writing a story, recommended word counts only really come into play when you’re weighing up your publishing options. For example, literary magazines typically have strict limits to the length of short stories they will print. After all, they have a limited number of pages for each issue (and their editors only have so many hours in the week to edit manuscripts).

Publishers can be fussy about word count

Novellas are usually sold at a lower price point than novels. This (combined with the fact that a 30,000-word book and an 80,000-word one cost roughly the same to edit, design, and market) means that editors at major presses are generally reluctant to take on novellas — and even less likely to seek out novelettes. The exception, of course, would be those written by established writers with an existing readership. For this reason, authors with traditional publishing aspirations are often discouraged from putting all their eggs in the novella basket.

In the world of indie publishing , where readers overwhelmingly buy ebooks, the distinction between a novel and novella , for example, is less crucial. As prospective readers can’t see how thick the spine of your book is, you don’t really have to label it as a novel, novella, or novelette.

In the next few sections, we’ll dash through the generally-accepted word counts for novellas, novelettes, and short stories.

Learn how to structure your words, however many they may be, with our free book development template. 

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Use this template to go from a vague idea to a solid plan for a first draft.

How long is a novella?

A novella is a work of fiction with a word count between 17,500 words and 40,000 words. This range is commonly cited by literary organizations such as the Hugo and Nebula awards — both of which celebrate novellas in the science fiction genre (as well as fantasy, in the case of the Nebulas.

How long is a novelette?

A novelette is a work of fiction with a word count between 7,500 and 17,500 words. This range is also cited by the Hugo and Nebula awards criteria.

Many prominent works into this category were initially published in magazines of the late 19th and early 20th century. Perhaps considered short stories at the time, the most popular examples have since been reclassified and re-published as standalone books.

How long is a short story?

A short story is a work of fiction with fewer than 10,000 words. This word-count ceiling is somewhat fuzzy, however, with many major writing prize s and magazines requesting submissions of no more than 7,500 words.

In addition, there are subsets of short stories with even more restrictive word counts. For example, works under 1,500 words are commonly considered flash fiction .

Pro-tip: Interested in writing short stories? We recommend taking this free 10-day course taught by professional editor Laura Mae Isaacman. 

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How to Craft a Killer Short Story

From pacing to character development, master the elements of short fiction.

Examples: How many words are in popular short stories, novelettes, and novellas?

Word count is merely a number. Many shorter works of fiction have made a cultural impact that far exceeds their modest length. In the sections below, we’ll reveal the number of words that make up some of the most popular books of all time. 

Note: the listed word counts are approximate. In addition, there is also some debate around which category a few of the books belong to. As you’ll find out when you do your own research, what constitutes a short story, novelette or novella is not always cut-and-dry.

🏚️ The Fall of the House of Ushe r by Edgar Allan Poe (11,000 words)

👹 The Call Of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft (12,000 words)

🌕 The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (17,000 words)

🗡️ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (17,000 words)

🪲 The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (21,000 words)

💍 Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote (26,000 words)

👻 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (28,000 words)

🐁 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (29,000 words)

🐖 Animal Farm by George Orwell (30,000 words)

🚣‍♂️ Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (38,000 words)

Short stories

🐘  “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway (1,500 words)

🎟️  “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson (3,000 words)

🐑  “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl (4,000 words)

🗣️  “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros (4,500 words)

💧  “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston (4,700 words)

🏊  “The Swimmer” by John Cheever (5,000 words)

🌼  “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (6,000 words)

👱🏼  “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor (6,500 words)

📍 “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates (7,000 words)

🐈  “Cat Person” by Kristen Roupenian (7,000 words)

🌎  “The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri (7,700 words)

👒  “The Husband Stitch” by Carmen Maria Machado (8,000 words)

And there you have it — the long and short of how long and short these three types of story should be!

Continue reading

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Writers.com

The short story is a fiction writer’s laboratory: here is where you can experiment with characters, plots, and ideas without the heavy lifting of writing a novel. Learning how to write a short story is essential to mastering the art of storytelling . With far fewer words to worry about, storytellers can make many more mistakes—and strokes of genius!—through experimentation and the fun of fiction writing.

Nonetheless, the art of writing short stories is not easy to master. How do you tell a complete story in so few words? What does a story need to have in order to be successful? Whether you’re struggling with how to write a short story outline, or how to fully develop a character in so few words, this guide is your starting point.

Famous authors like Virginia Woolf, Haruki Murakami, and Agatha Christie have used the short story form to play with ideas before turning those stories into novels. Whether you want to master the elements of fiction, experiment with novel ideas, or simply have fun with storytelling, here’s everything you need on how to write a short story step by step.

The Core Elements of a Short Story

There’s no secret formula to writing a short story. However, a good short story will have most or all of the following elements:

  • A protagonist with a certain desire or need. It is essential for the protagonist to want something they don’t have, otherwise they will not drive the story forward.
  • A clear dilemma. We don’t need much backstory to see how the dilemma started; we’re primarily concerned with how the protagonist resolves it.
  • A decision. What does the protagonist do to resolve their dilemma?
  • A climax. In Freytag’s Pyramid , the climax of a story is when the tension reaches its peak, and the reader discovers the outcome of the protagonist’s decision(s).
  • An outcome. How does the climax change the protagonist? Are they a different person? Do they have a different philosophy or outlook on life?

Of course, short stories also utilize the elements of fiction , such as a setting , plot , and point of view . It helps to study these elements and to understand their intricacies. But, when it comes to laying down the skeleton of a short story, the above elements are what you need to get started.

Note: a short story rarely, if ever, has subplots. The focus should be entirely on a single, central storyline. Subplots will either pull focus away from the main story, or else push the story into the territory of novellas and novels.

The shorter the story is, the fewer of these elements are essentials. If you’re interested in writing short-short stories, check out our guide on how to write flash fiction .

How to Write a Short Story Outline

Some writers are “pantsers”—they “write by the seat of their pants,” making things up on the go with little more than an idea for a story. Other writers are “plotters,” meaning they decide the story’s structure in advance of writing it.

You don’t need a short story outline to write a good short story. But, if you’d like to give yourself some scaffolding before putting words on the page, this article answers the question of how to write a short story outline:

https://writers.com/how-to-write-a-story-outline

How to Write a Short Story Step by Step

There are many ways to approach the short story craft, but this method is tried-and-tested for writers of all levels. Here’s how to write a short story step by step.

1. Start With an Idea

Often, generating an idea is the hardest part. You want to write, but what will you write about?

What’s more, it’s easy to start coming up with ideas and then dismissing them. You want to tell an authentic, original story, but everything you come up with has already been written, it seems.

Here are a few tips:

  • Originality presents itself in your storytelling, not in your ideas. For example, the premise of both Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ostrovsky’s The Snow Maiden are very similar: two men and two women, in intertwining love triangles, sort out their feelings for each other amidst mischievous forest spirits, love potions, and friendship drama. The way each story is written makes them very distinct from one another, to the point where, unless it’s pointed out to you, you might not even notice the similarities.
  • An idea is not a final draft. You will find that exploring the possibilities of your story will generate something far different than the idea you started out with. This is a good thing—it means you made the story your own!
  • Experiment with genres and tropes. Even if you want to write literary fiction , pay attention to the narrative structures that drive genre stories, and practice your storytelling using those structures. Again, you will naturally make the story your own simply by playing with ideas.

If you’re struggling simply to find ideas, try out this prompt generator , or pull prompts from this Twitter .

2. Outline, OR Conceive Your Characters

If you plan to outline, do so once you’ve generated an idea. You can learn about how to write a short story outline earlier in this article.

If you don’t plan to outline, you should at least start with a character or characters. Certainly, you need a protagonist, but you should also think about any characters that aid or inhibit your protagonist’s journey.

When thinking about character development, ask the following questions:

  • What is my character’s background? Where do they come from, how did they get here, where do they want to be?
  • What does your character desire the most? This can be both material or conceptual, like “fitting in” or “being loved.”
  • What is your character’s fatal flaw? In other words, what limitation prevents the protagonist from achieving their desire? Often, this flaw is a blind spot that directly counters their desire. For example, self hatred stands in the way of a protagonist searching for love.
  • How does your character think and speak? Think of examples, both fictional and in the real world, who might resemble your character.

In short stories, there are rarely more characters than a protagonist, an antagonist (if relevant), and a small group of supporting characters. The more characters you include, the longer your story will be. Focus on making only one or two characters complex: it is absolutely okay to have the rest of the cast be flat characters that move the story along.

Learn more about character development here:

https://writers.com/character-development-definition

3. Write Scenes Around Conflict

Once you have an outline or some characters, start building scenes around conflict. Every part of your story, including the opening sentence, should in some way relate to the protagonist’s conflict.

Conflict is the lifeblood of storytelling: without it, the reader doesn’t have a clear reason to keep reading. Loveable characters are not enough, as the story has to give the reader something to root for.

Take, for example, Edgar Allan Poe’s classic short story The Cask of Amontillado . We start at the conflict: the narrator has been slighted by Fortunato, and plans to exact revenge. Every scene in the story builds tension and follows the protagonist as he exacts this revenge.

In your story, start writing scenes around conflict, and make sure each paragraph and piece of dialogue relates, in some way, to your protagonist’s unmet desires.

4. Write Your First Draft

The scenes you build around conflict will eventually be stitched into a complete story. Make sure as the story progresses that each scene heightens the story’s tension, and that this tension remains unbroken until the climax resolves whether or not your protagonist meets their desires.

Don’t stress too hard on writing a perfect story. Rather, take Anne Lamott’s advice, and “write a shitty first draft.” The goal is not to pen a complete story at first draft; rather, it’s to set ideas down on paper. You are simply, as Shannon Hale suggests, “shoveling sand into a box so that later [you] can build castles.”

5. Step Away, Breathe, Revise

Whenever Stephen King finishes a novel, he puts it in a drawer and doesn’t think about it for 6 weeks. With short stories, you probably don’t need to take as long of a break. But, the idea itself is true: when you’ve finished your first draft, set it aside for a while. Let yourself come back to the story with fresh eyes, so that you can confidently revise, revise, revise .

In revision, you want to make sure each word has an essential place in the story, that each scene ramps up tension, and that each character is clearly defined. The culmination of these elements allows a story to explore complex themes and ideas, giving the reader something to think about after the story has ended.

6. Compare Against Our Short Story Checklist

Does your story have everything it needs to succeed? Compare it against this short story checklist, as written by our instructor Rosemary Tantra Bensko.

Below is a collection of practical short story writing tips by Writers.com instructor Rosemary Tantra Bensko . Each paragraph is its own checklist item: a core element of short story writing advice to follow unless you have clear reasons to the contrary. We hope it’s a helpful resource in your own writing.

Update 9/1/2020: We’ve now made a summary of Rosemary’s short story checklist available as a PDF download . Enjoy!

writing short stories how long

Click to download

How to Write a Short Story: Length and Setting

Your short story is 1000 to 7500 words in length.

The story takes place in one time period, not spread out or with gaps other than to drive someplace, sleep, etc. If there are those gaps, there is a space between the paragraphs, the new paragraph beginning flush left, to indicate a new scene.

Each scene takes place in one location, or in continual transit, such as driving a truck or flying in a plane.

How to Write a Short Story: Point of View

Unless it’s a very lengthy Romance story, in which there may be two Point of View (POV) characters, there is one POV character. If we are told what any character secretly thinks, it will only be the POV character. The degree to which we are privy to the unexpressed thoughts, memories and hopes of the POV character remains consistent throughout the story.

You avoid head-hopping by only having one POV character per scene, even in a Romance. You avoid straying into even brief moments of telling us what other characters think other than the POV character. You use words like “apparently,” “obviously,” or “supposedly” to suggest how non-POV-characters think rather than stating it.

How to Write a Short Story: Protagonist, Antagonist, Motivation

Your short story has one clear protagonist who is usually the character changing most.

Your story has a clear antagonist, who generally makes the protagonist change by thwarting his goals.

(Possible exception to the two short story writing tips above: In some types of Mystery and Action stories, particularly in a series, etc., the protagonist doesn’t necessarily grow personally, but instead his change relates to understanding the antagonist enough to arrest or kill him.)

The protagonist changes with an Arc arising out of how he is stuck in his Flaw at the beginning of the story, which makes the reader bond with him as a human, and feel the pain of his problems he causes himself. (Or if it’s the non-personal growth type plot: he’s presented at the beginning of the story with a high-stakes problem that requires him to prevent or punish a crime.)

The protagonist usually is shown to Want something, because that’s what people normally do, defining their personalities and behavior patterns, pushing them onward from day to day. This may be obvious from the beginning of the story, though it may not become heightened until the Inciting Incident , which happens near the beginning of Act 1. The Want is usually something the reader sort of wants the character to succeed in, while at the same time, knows the Want is not in his authentic best interests. This mixed feeling in the reader creates tension.

The protagonist is usually shown to Need something valid and beneficial, but at first, he doesn’t recognize it, admit it, honor it, integrate it with his Want, or let the Want go so he can achieve the Need instead. Ideally, the Want and Need can be combined in a satisfying way toward the end for the sake of continuity of forward momentum of victoriously achieving the goals set out from the beginning. It’s the encounters with the antagonist that forcibly teach the protagonist to prioritize his Needs correctly and overcome his Flaw so he can defeat the obstacles put in his path.

The protagonist in a personal growth plot needs to change his Flaw/Want but like most people, doesn’t automatically do that when faced with the problem. He tries the easy way, which doesn’t work. Only when the Crisis takes him to a low point does he boldly change enough to become victorious over himself and the external situation. What he learns becomes the Theme.

Each scene shows its main character’s goal at its beginning, which aligns in a significant way with the protagonist’s overall goal for the story. The scene has a “charge,” showing either progress toward the goal or regression away from the goal by the ending. Most scenes end with a negative charge, because a story is about not obtaining one’s goals easily, until the end, in which the scene/s end with a positive charge.

The protagonist’s goal of the story becomes triggered until the Inciting Incident near the beginning, when something happens to shake up his life. This is the only major thing in the story that is allowed to be a random event that occurs to him.

How to Write a Short Story: Characters

Your characters speak differently from one another, and their dialogue suggests subtext, what they are really thinking but not saying: subtle passive-aggressive jibes, their underlying emotions, etc.

Your characters are not illustrative of ideas and beliefs you are pushing for, but come across as real people.

How to Write a Short Story: Prose

Your language is succinct, fresh and exciting, specific, colorful, avoiding clichés and platitudes. Sentence structures vary. In Genre stories, the language is simple, the symbolism is direct, and words are well-known, and sentences are relatively short. In Literary stories, you are freer to use more sophisticated ideas, words, sentence structures and underlying metaphors and implied motifs.

How to Write a Short Story: Story Structure

Your plot elements occur in the proper places according to classical Act Structure so the reader feels he has vicariously gone through a harrowing trial with the protagonist and won, raising his sense of hope and possibility. Literary short stories may be more subtle, with lower stakes, experimenting beyond classical structures like the Hero’s Journey. They can be more like vignettes sometimes, or even slice-of-life, though these types are hard to place in publications.

In Genre stories, all the questions are answered, threads are tied up, problems are solved, though the results of carnage may be spread over the landscape. In Literary short stories, you are free to explore uncertainty, ambiguity, and inchoate, realistic endings that suggest multiple interpretations, and unresolved issues.

Some Literary stories may be nonrealistic, such as with Surrealism, Absurdism, New Wave Fabulism, Weird and Magical Realism . If this is what you write, they still need their own internal logic and they should not be bewildering as to the what the reader is meant to experience, whether it’s a nuanced, unnameable mood or a trip into the subconscious.

Literary stories may also go beyond any label other than Experimental. For example, a story could be a list of To Do items on a paper held by a magnet to a refrigerator for the housemate to read. The person writing the list may grow more passive-aggressive and manipulative as the list grows, and we learn about the relationship between the housemates through the implied threats and cajoling.

How to Write a Short Story: Capturing Reader Interest

Your short story is suspenseful, meaning readers hope the protagonist will achieve his best goal, his Need, by the Climax battle against the antagonist.

Your story entertains. This is especially necessary for Genre short stories.

The story captivates readers at the very beginning with a Hook, which can be a puzzling mystery to solve, an amazing character’s or narrator’s Voice, an astounding location, humor, a startling image, or a world the reader wants to become immersed in.

Expository prose (telling, like an essay) takes up very, very little space in your short story, and it does not appear near the beginning. The story is in Narrative format instead, in which one action follows the next. You’ve removed every unnecessary instance of Expository prose and replaced it with showing Narrative. Distancing words like “used to,” “he would often,” “over the years, he,” “each morning, he” indicate that you are reporting on a lengthy time period, summing it up, rather than sticking to Narrative format, in which immediacy makes the story engaging.

You’ve earned the right to include Expository Backstory by making the reader yearn for knowing what happened in the past to solve a mystery. This can’t possibly happen at the beginning, obviously. Expository Backstory does not take place in the first pages of your story.

Your reader cares what happens and there are high stakes (especially important in Genre stories). Your reader worries until the end, when the protagonist survives, succeeds in his quest to help the community, gets the girl, solves or prevents the crime, achieves new scientific developments, takes over rule of his realm, etc.

Every sentence is compelling enough to urge the reader to read the next one—because he really, really wants to—instead of doing something else he could be doing. Your story is not going to be assigned to people to analyze in school like the ones you studied, so you have found a way from the beginning to intrigue strangers to want to spend their time with your words.

Where to Read and Submit Short Stories

Whether you’re looking for inspiration or want to publish your own stories, you’ll find great literary journals for writers of all backgrounds at this article:

https://writers.com/short-story-submissions

Learn How to Write a Short Story at Writers.com

The short story takes an hour to learn and a lifetime to master. Learn how to write a short story with Writers.com. Our upcoming fiction courses will give you the ropes to tell authentic, original short stories that captivate and entrance your readers.

' src=

Rosemary – Is there any chance you could add a little something to your checklist? I’d love to know the best places to submit our short stories for publication. Thanks so much.

' src=

Hi, Kim Hanson,

Some good places to find publications specific to your story are NewPages, Poets and Writers, Duotrope, and The Submission Grinder.

' src=

“ In Genre stories, all the questions are answered, threads are tied up, problems are solved, though the results of carnage may be spread over the landscape.”

Not just no but NO.

See for example the work of MacArthur Fellow Kelly Link.

[…] How to Write a Short Story: The Short Story Checklist […]

' src=

Thank you for these directions and tips. It’s very encouraging to someone like me, just NOW taking up writing.

[…] Writers.com. A great intro to writing. https://writers.com/how-to-write-a-short-story […]

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Home / Book Writing / How Long Is A Short Story? [Comprehensive Word Count Guide]

How Long Is A Short Story? [Comprehensive Word Count Guide]

A short story is any story between 1,000 and 10,000 words. A tale of fewer words than that is considered flash fiction . More than 10,000 is a novelette , followed by a novella , then a full-blown novel .

Exact word counts are not hard and fast rules, but a rule of thumb — just an average length. New writers should aim for a reasonable number of words for their novel length based on what makes sense for their narrative.

Short stories and novellas are different from long novels in the following ways:

  • Lower word count
  • Less character development
  • Less world-building
  • Fewer subplots than longer works
  • Different marketability

Short stories and novellas are difficult to market for self-publishers and traditional publishing companies alike. You could try to get your short story published in a short story collection with other authors , but those don’t sell incredibly well.

The best method for getting your short story published is generally looking for a literary magazine or a publication specifically meant for publishing short stories.

Are there literary magazines looking for short stories? If you’re wondering where to submit short stories, there are tons of literary magazines and other publications actively searching for short story writers, many of whom pay the authors:

  • The New Yorker
  • Antioch Review
  • Barrelhouse
  • Three Penny Review
  • Cincinnati Review
  • The Georgia Review
  • The First Line

Short stories are still an in-demand market. Publishing a short story in one of these publications is an excellent first step towards a traditional publishing deal. Also, you definitely get bragging rights if your submission gets accepted.

All these publications have strict word count limits, which is one of the main reasons word count is so important.

  • Why word count is important
  • Definitive word count guide
  • Resources for short story and novella writers

Table of contents

  • Why is word count important?
  • How long is a flash fiction story?
  • How long is a short story?
  • How long is a novelette?
  • How long is a novella?
  • How long is a novel?
  • Are you writing a short story or a novella?

Word count is crucial because readers don’t want to read stories that are too rushed or too slowly paced. Word count norms are the standards for a reason. However, the main reason word count is important is when you’re trying to get published.

Literary magazines have strict word count limits that submissions must adhere to.

From the point of view of a literary agent or New York City publishing house, they seldom waste their time with novellas. After all, it costs about the same to edit and design a novella as it does a novel, yet novellas often sell at a lower price point.

A quick search on Amazon’s marketplace shows many of the top-performing stand-alone short stories are highly condensed romance novels available on Kindle Unlimited.

There’s also a soft limit for first-time authors on the maximum length of a book. If you can’t tell your first book’s story in under 100,000 words, tell a different storyline for your first book. For fantasy or science fiction (sci-fi), 120,000 is the maximum for a first novel.

Traditional book publishers know it’s more expensive to print a longer book, so they are more likely to avoid publishing first-time authors with a book beyond 120,000 words.

If you’re self-publishing, word count matters less. Self-published authors typically sell a lot more ebooks than physical print books, so consumers aren’t checking the thickness of the spine to see how long the book is.

As long as you’re not misleading readers about the length of your book, self-published authors don’t really need to denote whether their book is a novel or novella. (Don’t put “a novel” on the cover or in the description if it is under 40,000 words.)

A flash fiction story is always fewer than 1,500 words and usually fewer than 1,000 words.

Sometimes, flash fiction under 500 words is called micro-fiction or micro flash fiction.

Take a look at this list of publications looking for flash fiction . You might be surprised how many people are willing to pay for these quick stories.

Famous authors are no stranger to flash fiction. Joyce Carol Oates , Franz Kafka, and Ernest Hemingway have all published flash fiction. (Oates even teaches a MasterClass on the topic of short stories — I highly recommend it!)

The shortest story ever written is most likely “Baby Shoes” by Ernest Hemingway (though the authorship is dubious).

This would be considered flash fiction.

Of course, young children’s books are often fewer than 1,000 words. Instead of calling them short stories or flash fiction, children’s books are usually classified as board books, picture books, and early reader books.

Short story length is always between 1,000 and 10,000 words, and usually 1,500-7,500 words.

How long should a short story be in pages? A short story is 3-30 pages long. This number of pages works best when published in a literary magazine or similar publication.

Check out Kindlepreneur’s article on how to write short stories .

Examples of short stories (1,000-10,000 word count):

  • “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry
  • “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
  • “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury
  • “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
  • “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
  • “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl
  • ”The Monkey's Paw” by W. W. Jacobs

You’ll notice I’ve put these titles in quotation marks. It is proper to place short stories in quotations while you should italicize novellas and novels. There are plenty of exceptions to these rules.

A novelette is between 7,500 and 20,000 words long — with some novella word count crossover at the top of that range.

Novelette is an uncommon term meaning longer than a short story but shorter than a novella. Some organizations, like the Nebula Awards, separate novelettes and novellas into two categories. On the other hand, Wikipedia does not have a page on “novelette.”

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most prolific writers of short fiction and novelettes, including “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

Novella length is between 17,500 and 40,000 words.

Although it is challenging to market a novella nowadays, several famous shorter works were novella-length:

  • A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  • Animal Farm by George Orwell
  • I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
  • The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
  • Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
  • The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Is a novella longer than a novel? No, a novella is not longer than a novel; it’s shorter than a novel.

Are 20,000 words enough for a book? Yes, 20,000 words are long enough for a book, but it may be sold at a lower price and labeled “a novella.”

A novel is a story spanning more than 40,000 words. However, most novels boast a 50,000+ word count. Between 40,000 and 50,000 words, some experts use the term “short novel.”

It’s also worth noting that most writers shouldn’t write books longer than 120,000 words — especially not as a first novel.

How many pages are 40,000 words? 40,000 words is a page count of about 125 pages, which is the industry minimum for the label “novel.” A book page contains 250-300 words, depending on the font and formatting.

Are 50,000 words enough for a novel? Yes, 50,000 words are enough for a novel. In fact, the typical minimum for a novel of 40,000 words is often considered too short to be a proper novel. A 50,000-word novel is a more widely accepted minimum word count for novel status.

Now that you understand the importance of word count and how to tell the difference between a short story, novella, and novel, you know how to market your story and where to submit your work of fiction.

Not sure how long your book is going to be? Make sure to outline your book . A first draft outline should give you a good idea of how long your text will be.

If you’re struggling to finish your novella or short story, check out my handy article on How to Write Faster .

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

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Creative Writing News

How Long Is A Short Story?: A Guide On How To Write A Short Story.

The short story form is in high demand. Many writers want to learn how to write a short story. Also, many writers wonder how long is a short story?

In this article, Tega explains everything he learned from prolific writer TJ Benson. Wrapped in short story examples are nuggets on short story outlines, elements writing hacks, and more.

Ready to learn how to write a short story? Ready to learn how long a short story should be.? Read on. This article starts with a vivid short story about a writing festival.

How To Write A Short Story: Lessons Learned From TJ Benson’s Short Short Story Day Africa Workshop. 

It’s the Jos Museum Festival. It means the celebration of ancient cultures and histories to keep the future breathing. 

I want to roll with the massive crowd gathering at British-America Junction. I want to soak the raw banging of the local drums and the seismic blast of horns scattered everywhere.

Another thing, the popular Terminus Market is falling flat today. I want to see Chinese engineers setting demolition charges to the quiet sprawl of mossy buildings that were once the economic pride of Jos.

I have also been invited to a Cast and Crew Party at the Jos Repertory Theatre. The party means Jollof rice and baked chicken and groundnut oil. It means moi-moi, and chilled juices and evergreen high-life music.

But guess where I am headed with Lardo, YoungLan and our copies of We Won’t Fade into Darkness ?

How to write a short story

To a short story workshop taught by fiction writing maestro, TJ Benson. There I intend to learn more about how to write a short story.

For the uninitiated, here’s a definition of a short story.

A short story is a work of prose fiction (sometimes prose poetry) that can be read in one sitting. It can also be defined as a piece of fiction that focuses on a specific moment in a character’s or group of characters’ lives.

On my way to this workshop, someone begged me to ask how long is a short story. But I said, I already knew about the word counts of short stories.

A short story is usually as long as it wants to be. Or as short as it wants to. Thankfully, the short story market is flexible. It can accommodate stories that are as short as six words and as long as 10,000 or even 20,000 words.

Ernest Hemmingway famously wrote a beautiful flash fiction or micro fiction story that was six words long. It read:

Short story examples by Ernest Hemingway

TJ Benson had interesting things to say about how long a short story should be. More on that later.

A Short Story About Meeting The Other Workshop Participants.

nHUB is all vintage lamps, impossible warmth, and brilliant graffiti. Poets move up and down, asking for the central Wi-Fi password.

I feel strangely related to all of them even with their mad varieties of accents. I broach one.

“What’s your name?”

“De General.”

“Bro, I mean your real name?”

He observes a long pause as though trying to remember his birth name. “Nuel,” he says, almost with a grudge. He is a performance poet, he says.

Performance poets prefer their stage names. He mourns his lack of earphones. Poets need their earphones, especially spoken word poets. Please, do I have any spare earphones to lend?

In the spacious lobby, Younglan and other poets find belonging in navigating the memories of a Pulitzer photographer who killed himself. Someone makes light of the tragic issue.

“Have you ever been in a deep depression?” Miriam asks the person, her voice bellicose.

Speculative and science fiction books

“Depression is depression .” The person says, in a quiet shout. “Nothing like deep depression.”

An argument on depression follows. It flows sadly, loudly.

I move away from them to a flower girl filling herself with music by a concrete balustrade. Her name is Sonia.

Her lips are soft passion fruits. Like passion fruits, maybe they will produce some sweetness. Maybe they will be comforting.

Hello, Sonia! What genre do you mostly write? Poetry too? Okay. So, Sonia what was your last poem about? Depression too? Mo gbe ! No, pleeeease don’t show me. Thank you! I leap into the hall.

Arriving At The Short Short Story Day Workshop Hall.

The hall is the milk veneer tables, which strangely turn purple when the white lights trip on.

The hall is also a rainbow of neatly arranged chairs and weird wall paintings. I jog my hands across the cold expanse of tinted glass windows that mute the daylight.

But I do nothing to mute the raucous sound downstairs. I roll back one of the windows.

I lower my gaze and take in the reckless movement of cars, and people in ridiculous tribal clothes. They’re dancing their way to British-America Junction for the festival. Someone, an old man with a brilliant toothy smile, waves at me. I wave back.

Write Your Story Immediately The Idea Comes To You.

We sit facing a whiteboard that reads, ‘WRITE IT NOW. SOMETIMES, LATER BECOMES NEVER.’ I feel attacked.

I know I shouldn’t. But I can help myself. Learning how to write a short story isn’t for wimps.

Rudolph, an ingenious spoken word poet and one of the organizers of the workshop, performs a poem while walking around our tables.

I find it hard to catch up with his experimental style. He talks about theme, coherence, plot, rhythm and diction. All the elements of a short story.

He talks as if these elements are things from outer space. I don’t understand much of them, maybe because I am not a poet.

I look at my wristwatch and scribble on my right palm: Where. Is. TJ Benson?

Crafting A Character Profile Of The Workshop Facilitator

TJ Benson breezes into the hall in the cool height of a Toyota Hummer bus, in swaying ash trousers and a white T-shirt that is MALAWI.

His eyes are focused on everyone. He owes Jos some years of his writing life, he says.

TJ’s movement is a lot like Salsa. The way his hands swim, and the way his shoulders swing back and forth when he says he has nothing against people who beer out their bellies. His movements are all endlessly fascinating.

He has the soul of an intricate Tiv song, this TJ. He imagines himself as the character he is writing. And by that way, he is able to find specific things about that character. He stalks himself. Applaudissez! We clap for him.

writing short stories how long

Straight to the matter. What are your names? He asks. Tell the house something about you.

The first writer is trying to love again. Wow. Bold of him to say that, TJ says. Isn’t writing about churning bold expressions when other art forms are reticent? Be bold. Know and say what you want. Write it. Don’t worry about the short story length. Just write it. Next!

The second is a psychologist who doesn’t socialize.

Her character is unique, TJ points out. She is wearing a shouty blue lipstick to draw our attention. And she doesn’t like socializing, huh?

An accurate irony, something writeable! “It’s green,” she says to TJ, smiling, “my lips are green.” It’s all a story, TJ says. That’s the long and short of it. 

Depictions don’t have to be factual. Just make them interesting and believable. Okay? Next!

Someone wants to situate deep humour inside a short story strictly on pain. More like distilling perfume from garlic. Why not! It’s possible. Everything is. There is something called Speculative Fiction , and there is Fantasy, TJ says.

What is speculative fiction

Someone wants to write a book about life.

‘WHAT PART OF LIFE?’ TJ writes on the whiteboard. Life is too broad, he says facing us, his voice a decibel higher.

Avoid blanket statements. Don’t think of life when writing. Think about specific experiences in life. Good writing thrives on specificity.

But avoid the obvious, he adds. Like poverty, disease, hunger, and other clichéd subject matters that are copious in most African Literature.

Write something new. Write from a fresh and unique angle , he admonishes. Writing is not a tidy experience, he adds. We must avoid the urge to put the process into a small or bland space.

What about urban markets? Bank Vault? About BRT buses? About the surface of the moon? About Maximum prisons? About afterlife? Research. Tell outgoing stories.

Someone says he is a writer who is mostly too lazy to lift a pen. But when he does, OMG happens. For example, he helped a secondary school student write an essay and the essay is taking the student to the USA.

TJ tells him to trust his lazy process as long as it gives him OMG results. He proceeds to ask a moral question: Do we think it was wrong of him to have helped the student write the essay?

An argument breaks out between two participants.

“Oh! It’s cheating.”

“EVERYONE cheats one way or the other.”

“I don’t cheat!”

“He was just helping an underprivileged kid get to the USA!”

“It was a competition for school kids.”

“And so what? What of ghostwriting ?”

“What about ghostwriting!?”

“Are you not a ghostwriter?”

“That’s none of your business!”

Someone says he photographs for a local newspaper.

TJ Benson asks him to give a picture of the newspaper office. The person says it’s conducive, beautiful –

Keep your opinion to yourself, TJ cuts it. Just paint a picture. Show what the place looks like then let the reader say whether it’s conducive and beautiful. Show. Don’t tell.

Next! Next!…

writing short stories how long

Determining How Long Your Short Story Should Be.

The short story is a compact wonderful literary form. Yes, there’s a lot of contention about the aptest short story length. This explains why budding writers are often asking, how long is a short story?

According to TJ, short story lengths are dynamic. In some cases, they overlap.

Many short story journals and contests often publish short stories with word counts between 2000 – 5000 words. Some flash fiction magazines and contests prefer stories that are less than 1000 words. Some prefer sudden or microfiction stories that are under 500 words.

There is no easy answer to the FAQ, how long is a short story. But below is a yardstick you can use to determine the correct short story length.

Microfiction or sudden fiction: 500 words or less.

Flash fiction (also called short, short stories): 1,000 words or less.

Short story: 1000 to 20,000 words (the style is often cyclical. There are often echoes strewn throughout the story)

Short novel or a novelette: 7,500 to 25,000 words

Novella: 10,000 to 49,000 words

Novel: 50,000 words or more.

More Of TJ Benson’s Tips On How To Write A Good Short Story.

If you’re learning how to write a short story, you must take the following tips seriously.

Your Story Should Haunt The Reader.

Your short story supposed to make the reader feel a strange sense of wonder. There are a bunch of amazing short stories out there. But there will also be a space for yours. Simply make your reader truly feel that strange sense of wonder.

Create Seminal Moments Of Change.

For a short story to be successful, there has to be a profound change. Our lives are stories of changes.

We are born. We die. We change senses. We change our minds. We change our clothes. We change levels.

Something has to change in the story you are writing. The more major and unpredictable the change is, the better the sense of wonder.

Freelance writer jobs

Ask Yourself The Following Questions After the First/Second Draft of Your Short Story:

  • What makes this piece different from every other piece?
  • How does it capture a specific moment or consciousness?
  • Why should people give up their precious time for it?
  • How can I cut it down? This question is important is you’re wondering how long your story should be.

Practice The Art Of Word Count Economy. Say A Lot In Few Words.

A good short story isn’t unnecessarily wordy. The best short story writers often employ a rare technique called word economy.

Your short story should be able to convey as much meaning as possible in few words. And this must be neatly done –else, it becomes a burden to the reader.

Don’t forget that word count and length matter in short stories. But rather than ask, how long is a short story, pause. Compress your sentences. Delete unnecessary and repetitive words.

Aim For A Rythmic, Voice Driven Tale.

A good short story should flow and show. Don’t spend too much time describing to your readers. Or you will leave them with roadblocks and no story.

Show your reader a picture of the unfolding events. When you show, your readers experience and absorb your story.

Pay Attention To Your Mode Of Representation

There is a certain form of erasure of groups that do not belong to the mainstream in every part of the world.

There is no one-way to being human. Humanity is complex. Showing complexity and difference in your work matters.

Write the marginal in with dignity. But don’t be preachy about it.

Good Short Stories Don’t Waste Words On Stereotypes.

As a writer, assume no default identity. Rise above preconceived notions and unbridled traditional beliefs.

There are no fixed restrictions as to what should be or not be. Always be on the verge of saying something new. Work against stereotypes.

Resist The Temptation To Italicize Non-English Words.

Don’t italicize or explain indigenous words for the West. Your job isn’t to beg people to like your culture.

Your indigenous words aren’t exotic. Exhaust materials peculiar to your culture. Use folktales, songs, riddles, proverbs and so on. Enrich your works with these things.

Your experience is worthy of representation.

Reasons to write Folktales, fantasy and science fiction.

Give Your Story Context

Context is the ecosystem of your story. Context matters. It adds believability to your piece. Always check with context.

Pay Attention To Intent and Language

Your intent is the ocean wave that carries your words. It is the guiding spirit of the story.

It is the energy behind each word, the feeling. If your intent is to create a love story let it be clearly felt by the reader. Be intentional.

Favor language simplicity. Don’t rely on heavy or complicated language to tell your story.

Rely on yourself as an artist. Build a confident voice (and you do this by continuous writing practices and of course, reading)

 Watch a video of the workshop. Learn how to write a short story.

Create Moving Dialogue

Characters are different people. The way they talk should mirror their differences. Your characters shouldn’t speak like you. Study the cadence of people.

For example, assertive people talk with curt and short sentences or long rants.

Less self-assured or nervous people beat around the bush or ramble.

Never enter into a writing project without absorbing the sounds of various kinds of people.

 Choose Your Characters Names Wisely.

Humanize your story with names, profound names. Let diversity and color richly show in your characters’ names.

Often, writers assume that readers won’t remember indigenous names. The irony is that such names make them more memorable.

Remember Ralia, the sugar girl? Ali and Simbi? Who can ever forget Ifemelu or Okonkwo or Jagua Nana?

Your Title Should Tell The Reader Something About Your Short Story. 

Your title may cast an informing light on the story but should not give it away. You could get a title from when a major change occurs in the story.

If the essence of your story cannot be contained in its first and second paragraphs then let it be contained in the title.

Guide to landing entry level and expert level writing jobs

Read Materials That Make You A Better Short Story Writer. 

To read is to think and to think clearly is to write wonderfully. It opens and renews the mind. 

Reading is the surest way to learn how to write a short story. It gives you more words, more ideas, and consciousnesses.

When you read, you add heft to your voice. You know what is true to you. You know what is not. You know the right length for the short story you’re working on.

Read widely. Don’t look down on any genre. Have an acute consciousness. Read and absorb your environment. Be aware.

Bonus Tips: How To Care For Your Creative Health

  • Be kind to your mind.
  • Don’t let rejection letters get to you .
  • Remove market pressure from your worktable.
  • Don’t do it for prizes or for validation. Do it for you. Write at your pace .
  • Control your work. Be in charge of the process. Be in charge of how much of yourself you put into your work.
  • Network with friends. Have a support system that will insulate you from dark moods.
  • Be deliberate about the environments you expose your mind to. Some environments will never be good for you as an artist.
  • Don’t disappear into the world you are trying to create on paper.
  • Create time to stretch and do some physical exercises. Remove yourself from your manuscript once in a while, and seek out psychical spaces that are new to you.
  • Traveling is very essential to the craft. Travel out of your experience and embody other consciousnesses .
  • Don’t conform. Find your own formula. Don’t let how any writer writes to be your absolute way.
  • You may experience the imposter syndrome sometimes. You may feel you are not worthy of the attention you receive. You do, and you deserve even more.

Lurdo and Pudolph at the short story writing class.

Because TJ Benson says we deserve more, and because we do, Lardo and Rudolph skip forward bearing a pack of meat pie and frosty coke for each one of us.

Wrap Up On How Long Is A Short Story?: Understanding The Basics Of How To Write A Short Story.

The short story is a unique art form. It is almost as technical as drama and screenplay writing. But it is interesting still.

The easiest way to figure out how to write a short story is to read many, many stories. There are a lot of great short stories you can read for free online.

Rather than worry about the length of your story, simply write. Focus on getting the voice right, on plugging plot holes. Focus on making the most of the elements of the short story.

The tips above will help you write the perfect short story. And hopefully, you now know the answer to the FAQ, how long is a short story.

Have you written a short story lately? What was your experience? Did you have to worry about the short story length? And does reading and analyzing poetry make you a better writer?

Please leave a comment below. Click, if you’d like to learn how to write a novel .

  The workshop was co-organized by Just Create, Tales Afrik and Custodians of African Literature. It held on the 18 th of May, 2019, in Jos, Nigeria.

Bio: Tega Oghenechovwen has attended Short Story Day Africa workshop, Aké Festival writing Workshop, among others. He has published work with the Rumpus, Black Sun Lit, Litro Magazine, Arts and Africa, and elsewhere. He tweets @tega_chovwen

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Aniefuna Chisom

Jul 7, 2020 at 10:55 am

I will really love this

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Onuchi David

Jan 2, 2021 at 2:54 pm

It is a good introduction on the art of writing

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Chioma Iwunze-Ibiam

Jan 6, 2021 at 6:05 pm

Glad you benefitted from this guide on How to write a short story.

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How Long Is A Short Story? The Perfect Length For Short Stories

  • March 28, 2022

One thing that authors need to keep in mind when writing a story is word count. While you can technically write your story to be any length, keeping the pace of a story includes some planning.

Short stories have word counts with a fairly large range and are great when packed together in a collection or as stand-alone publications to help get your foot in the door when you begin writing.

Short story writing is not just for new authors. Some of the best-known, best-selling authors are known for their short stories. Jackson, London, King, Poe, and many others successfully mastered the art of the short story.

Short stories are also fun to read. You can get all of the essential elements and excitement that you would get from a novel in a bite-size story that you can usually read in one sitting. But how long is a short story? Are there hard and fast rules concerning short story word counts?

These questions and more will be answered in this article.

All the Stories

There are many classifications of stories based upon word count. While there aren’t exactly iron-clad rules regarding word count to qualify as a short story, there are general guidelines that every writer should know and keep in mind as they begin the writing process.

Word count in micro fiction

Micro fiction stories are stories that are less than 100 words. While this may sound impossible, there are some examples of this craft. Commonly credited to  Hemingway , there is a six-word story that simply goes, “For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.”

This simple story invokes an emotional reaction for most readers because we can only guess why the shoes are for sale and why they have never been worn, but the common perception of the point of this story is quite the melancholy one.

The story attached to its creation is that Hemingway placed a bet that he could write a six word story, and “Baby Shoes” was the product of that bet. Another that many people have heard goes like this, “The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door.”

A short story can pack a big punch and usually leave the reader more unsettled than stories with higher word counts because an incredibly short story packs a punch in very few words. With no real explanation, they end, leaving the reader curious.

how long is a short story, short story lengths, short story writers

Word count in flash fiction

Flash fiction is classified as a short work of fiction with a word count of under 1000 words. Another Hemingway, “A Very Short Story,” is told in under 700 words and, much like his famous six-word story, provides us with an example of being able to evoke an emotional response with very few words.

For example, In this flash fiction story, two characters, a soldier and a nurse fall in love when the soldier is injured. They vow to get married, and he goes home to the States to get a job and be able to make a life for the woman he loves.

She stays behind to wait for him to have resources for marriage. She has an affair in that time apart, and she is duped into thinking that the man she cheated with is in love with her and will marry her. The story ends with both the nurse and the soldier incredibly unhappy and apart.

With the right flash fiction prompts to inspire you, flash fiction may be a great start to write a short story.

How Many Words is a Short Story?

So, that brings us again to the question: How long is a short story?

The general rule for a word count on short stories is anything over 1000 words and under 10,000 words. While there is a lot of cushion here, many short stories range somewhere in the middle of these parameters in terms of their word count.

A short story tends to have more description than its micro fiction and flash fiction counterpart. If you write a short story, you want to give enough information and background to your reader so that they invest in the characters and the situation without dragging the plot out. 

A short story tends to get to the point fairly quickly after a bit of background has been established, and they move at a much faster pace than a novel does.

Writing short stories can be challenging because you can have a great idea but have just a limited amount of space in which to tell the story behind that idea. 

You have to address the subject matter fairly quickly into the story and can’t dawdle on the setup, introduction of the main character, character development , or the interactions of multiple characters. 10,000 words may seem like a lot, but it’s really not when you’re tasked with writing an entire story so that it will engage an audience.

How Long Is a Short Story in Pages ?

A short story has an estimated length of 3 to 30 pages. This range varies depending on the word count, font size and style, margins, line spacing, and insertion of visual elements like pictures, illustrations, tables, graphs, and the like.

As mentioned above, the average word count of a short story is 1,000 to 10,000 words. Short story length matters in certain circumstances. Having 3 to 30 pages for the mentioned word count range is advisable, especially if you want to publish your work in a literary magazine.

It would be best to talk to your publisher about their conventions on how many pages you need to deliver when publishing a short story since different publishers may have their own sets of standards and rules.

Do Short Stories Have Chapters?

A short story does not have chapters because it is so short. It may contain scene transitions and breaks to signify a new setting, show a different scene, or indicate that time has passed.

These transitions depend on where they make sense in a short story. A scene transition may appear before the climax or whatever part the author feels that shifting or pausing is possible when writing short stories.

Chapters are however, used to divide parts of novellas and novels as they are longer and the pause allows the reader to stop at each chapter’s end to rest and process what has taken place in the story so far. Often, a reader can finish reading a short story within one sitting, so they don’t require chapter breaks, where as this is not always possible with novels.

Bite-Sized Classics

Many of our favorite classic stories are actually short stories.

Many established writers are also masters of writing a short story. While many of them included their most famous short stories in short story collections, there is very little debate that a great short story can be read in one sitting and is just as enjoyable as longer works of fiction. 

The following are some examples of some short stories that have lived on in the hearts and minds of the reader and nearly everyone has heard of. While some of these are longer short stories than others, and most of them were included in collections, they are each also a great short story as a stand-alone.

  • Edgar Allen Poe: A Tell-Tale Heart (2100 words)
  • Stephen King: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
  • Katherine Mansfield: The Garden Party (5555 words)
  • Shirley Jackson: The Lottery (3775 words)
  • Jack London: To Build a Fire (7175 words)

The novella fits snugly between the short story and the novel. The length of a novella can have a word count that is typically anywhere between 10,000 and 40,000 words. Anything above 40,000 words is considered a novel.

Joyce Carol Oates is a well-known suspense author who wrote the novella “Beasts.” In this story, a female student becomes inappropriately obsessed with her English professor, throws caution to the wind, and engages in illicit and strange behavior with both the professor and his wife.

A tale of suspense, this is just one example of a great novella that pulls the readers in and gives them a lot of chaos and suspense in fewer words and space than a full-length novel. Oates has also written novella collections .

Word counts matter less with novels than they do with short stories and other short fiction pieces. Word counts can be a little elastic when it comes to novels, although the standard rule of thumb is that a novel is ideally between 50,000 and 100,000 words.

There are, however, standard practices that work best as far as word count and book genres go.

Romance novels are usually fun and quick reads without a lot of depth to them. In other words, when you read a romance, you’re not there for a lot of interesting backstory.

You’re there for the rush you feel when the main character falls in love and for the thrill of the story in general.

You fall in love with the story because it’s like the whirlwind romance: fun, quick, and largely superficial. Most romance novels are right at the minimum 50,000 word count.

how long is a short story

Thriller/Suspense

These are typically longer written novels. Usually coming in at around 70,000 words, thrillers, mysteries , and suspense stories typically take a little longer to build up, and writers often like to take their time with such genres.

Shirley Jackson, an author who is considered a master storyteller, wrote what is considered by many to be her masterpiece, the mystery novel ‘ We Have Always Lived in the Castle ,’ in under 50,000 words. It came in at the minimum end of what is considered to be the range for a novel, but it is so excellently written that it doesn’t matter to most readers or book critics.

Shirley Jackson was a master of the novel, novella, and short story and remains the inspiration for some of today’s best writers.

Science Fiction

The science fiction novel is often on the upper end of the scale when it comes to the number of words. Because there are often whole worlds being introduced to the reader in a sci-fi novel, the author needs more space in which to set and build the scene and explain things like technology, weapons, society, etc.

A sci-fi novel usually stretches from between 90,000 and 120,000 words. Again, this is not a hard set rule, as most of Kurt Vonnegut’s books, most of which had heavy sci-fi themes, were much shorter.

“ Cat’s Cradle ,” one of Vonnegut’s better-known novels, is satiric sci-fi and is barely over 50,000 words.

Short Story Collections

While a good short story can stand alone, they are often included in collections so that a writer can publish several of them at once. Many short story writers have the first draft of their stories published in magazines, such as Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King.

After they have enough short stories to include in a collection, a selection is made, and a book of short stories is produced.

King has released several collections and has claimed that he plans to write short stories for the rest of his career, although he is known as the master of the horror novel. Something about the short story challenges him, and he enjoys it immensely.

He has found so much success in his shorter works that many of them have been made into films.

Sometimes after a writer dies, their short stories are gathered and published as a collection. This is true of both Poe and Shirley Jackson. Vonnegut is another whose unpublished work were collected and published in one book after his death.

Do Word Counts Really Matter?

There are certainly circumstances in which word counts don’t matter. Word counts for non-fiction are often dependent upon the subject matter. The average short story can have words that vary by a margin of over 60,000 words.

Counting words shouldn’t get in the way of your writing short stories. But you should remain cognizant of them when you write a short story to know what sort of finished product you’re going to have.

You may start low and slow with flash fiction as you work your way up to bigger writing projects. Don’t get pressured with how many pages or words you need to churn out.

Short stories tend to be a bit of a challenge when you want to incorporate so much in your work. Press on and just keep writing and let your creativity take over. Soon, you will have a literary masterpiece in your hands.

2 thoughts on “How Long Is A Short Story? The Perfect Length For Short Stories”

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Your comment on SS’s is spot on thank you it provided the guidence I needed thank you. Good job.

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Thanks for making this information available to the public. This has really helped to answer the very questions that has been bothering me for some time. Thanks ever so much.

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How to write short stories

How to Write a Short Story That Captivates Your Reader

Trying to write a short story is the perfect place to begin your writing career .

Because it reveals many of the obstacles, dilemmas, and questions you’ll face when creating fiction of any length.

If you find these things knotty in a short story, imagine how profound they would be in a book-length tale.

Most writers need to get a quarter million clichés out of their systems before they hope to sell something.

And they need to learn the difference between imitating their favorite writers and emulating their best techniques.

Mastering even a few of the elements of fiction while learning the craft will prove to be quick wins for you as you gain momentum as a writer.

I don’t mean to imply that learning how to write a short story is easier than learning how to write a novel —only that as a neophyte you might find the process more manageable in smaller bites.

So let’s start at the beginning.

  • What Is a Short Story?

Don’t make the mistake of referring to short nonfiction articles as short stories. In the publishing world, short story always refers to fiction. And short stories come varying shapes and sizes:

  • Traditional: 1,500-5000 words
  • Flash Fiction: 500-1,000 words
  • Micro Fiction: 5 to 350 words

Is there really a market for a short story of 5,000 words (roughly 20 double-spaced manuscript pages)?

Some publications and contests accept entries that long, but it’s easier and more common to sell a short story in the 1,500- to 3,000-word range.

And on the other end of the spectrum, you may wonder if I’m serious about short stories of fewer than 10 words (Micro Fiction). Well, sort of.

They are really more gimmicks, but they exist. The most famous was Ernest Hemingway’s response to a bet that he couldn’t write fiction that short. He wrote: For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.

That implied a vast backstory and deep emotion.

Here are some other examples of micro fiction from my Facebook page.

Writing a short story is an art, despite that they are so much more concise than novels. Which is why I created this complete guide.

  • How to Come Up with Great Short Story Ideas

Do you struggle coming up with short story ideas?

Or is your list so long you don’t know where to start?

Writing fiction i s not about rules or techniques or someone else’s ideas. 

It’s about a story well told .

Short story ideas are all around you, and you can learn to recognize them. Then you can write with confidence and enjoy the process.

I recommend these strategies to generate story ideas:

1. Recognize the germ.

Much fiction starts with a memory—a person, a problem, tension, fear, conflict that resonates with you and grows in your mind. 

That’s the germ of an idea that can become your story.

2. Write it down.

Write your first draft to simply get the basics of the story down without worrying about grammar, cliches, redundancy or anything but the plot.

3. Create characters from people you know.

Characters come from people you’ve or have known all your life (relatives). 

Brainstorming interesting, quirky, inspiring, influential people and mix and match their looks, ages, genders, traits, voices , tics, habits, characteristics. The resulting character will be an amalgam of those.

4. Get writing.

The outlining and research has to end at some point.  

You’ve got to start getting words onto the page.

Interested in reading more about these strategies?

Click here to read my in-depth blog post on how to come up with story ideas .

  • How to Structure Your Short Story

Regardless whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser like me (one who writes by the seat of their pants),  I recommend a basic story structure .

It looks like this, according to bestsellin g Dean Koontz :

  • Plunge your main character into terrible trouble as soon as possible. (That trouble will mean something different depending on your genre. For a thriller it might be life-threatening. For a romance it might mean choosing between two suitors.)
  • Everything your character does to try to get out of the trouble makes it only worse.
  • Eventually things appear hopeless.
  • Finally, everything your character has learned through all that trouble gives him what he needs to win the day—or fail.

That structure will keep you —and your reader—engaged.

  • How to Write a Short Story in 9 Steps
  • Read as Many Great Short Stories as You Can Find
  • Aim for the Heart
  • Narrow Your Scope
  • Make Your Title Sing
  • Use the Classic Story Structure
  • Suggest Backstory, Don’t Elaborate
  • When in Doubt, Leave it Out
  • Ensure a Satisfying Ending
  • Cut Like Your Story’s Life Depends on It

How to Write a Short Story Step 1. Read as Many Great Short Stories as You Can Find

Read hundreds of them—especially the classics .

You learn this genre by familiarizing yourself with the best. See yourself as an apprentice. Watch, evaluate, analyze the experts, then try to emulate their work.

Soon you’ll learn enough about how to write a short story that you can start developing your own style.

A lot of the skills you need can be learned through osmosis .

Where to start? Read Bret Lott , a modern-day master. (He chose one of my short stories for one of his collections .)

Reading two or three dozen short stories should give you an idea of their structure and style. That should spur you to try one of your own while continuing to read dozens more.

Remember, you won’t likely start with something sensational, but what you’ve learned through your reading—as well as what you’ll learn from your own writing—should give you confidence. You’ll be on your way.

How to Write a Short Story Step 2. Aim for the Heart

The most effective short stories evoke deep emotions in the reader.

What will move them? The same things that probably move you:

  • Heroic sacrifice

How to Write a Short Story Step 3. Narrow Your Scope

It should go without saying that there’s a drastic difference between a 450-page, 100,000-word novel and a 10-page, 2000-word short story.

One can accommodate an epic sweep of a story and cover decades with an extensive cast of characters .

The other must pack an emotional wallop and tell a compelling story with a beginning, a middle, and an end—with about 2% of the number of words.

Naturally, that dramatically restricts your number of characters, scenes, and even plot points .

The best short stories usually encompass only a short slice of the main character’s life —often only one scene or incident that must also bear the weight of your Deeper Question, your theme or what it is you’re really trying to say.

Tightening Tips

  • If your main character needs a cohort or a sounding board, don’t give her two. Combine characters where you can.
  • Avoid long blocks of description; rather, write just enough to trigger the theater of your reader’s mind.
  • Eliminate scenes that merely get your characters from one place to another. The reader doesn’t care how they got there, so you can simply write: Late that afternoon, Jim met Sharon at a coffee shop…

Your goal is to get to a resounding ending by portraying a poignant incident that tell a story in itself and represents a bigger picture.

How to Write a Short Story Step 4. Make Your Title Sing

Work hard on what to call your short story.

Yes, it might get changed by editors, but it must grab their attention first. They’ll want it to stand out to readers among a wide range of competing stories, and so do you.

How to Write a Short Story Step 5. Use the Classic Story Structure

Once your title has pulled the reader in, how do you hold his interest?

As you might imagine, this is as crucial in a short story as it is in a novel. So use the same basic approach:

Plunge your character into terrible trouble from the get-go .

Of course, terrible trouble means something different for different genres.

  • In a thriller, your character might find himself in physical danger, a life or death situation.
  • In a love story, the trouble might be emotional, a heroine torn between two lovers.
  • In a mystery, your main character might witness a crime, and then be accused of it.

Don’t waste time setting up the story. Get on with it.

Tell your reader just enough to make her care about your main character, then get to the the problem, the quest, the challenge, the danger—whatever it is that drives your story.

How to Write a Short Story Step 6. Suggest Backstory, Don’t Elaborate

You don’t have the space or time to flash back or cover a character’s entire backstory.

Rather than recite how a Frenchman got to America, merely mention the accent he had hoped to leave behind when he emigrated to the U.S. from Paris.

Don’t spend a paragraph describing a winter morning.

Layer that bit of sensory detail into the narrative by showing your character covering her face with her scarf against the frigid wind.

How to Write a Short Story Step 7. When in Doubt, Leave it Out

Short stories are, by definition, short. Every sentence must count. If even one word seems extraneous, it has to go.

How to Write a Short Story Step 8. Ensure a Satisfying Ending

This is a must. Bring down the curtain with a satisfying thud.

In a short story this can often be accomplished quickly, as long as it resounds with the reader and makes her nod. It can’t seem forced or contrived or feel as if the story has ended too soon.

In a modern day version of the Prodigal Son, a character calls from a taxi and leaves a message that if he’s allowed to come home, his father should leave the front porch light on. Otherwise, he’ll understand and just move on.

The rest of the story is him telling the cabbie how deeply his life choices have hurt his family.

The story ends with the taxi pulling into view of his childhood home, only to find not only the porch light on, but also every light in the house and more out in the yard.

That ending needed no elaboration. We don’t even need to be shown the reunion, the embrace, the tears, the talk. The lights say it all.

How to Write a Short Story Step 9. Cut Like Your Story’s Life Depends on It

Because it does.

When you’ve finished your story, the real work has just begun.

It’s time for you to become a ferocious self-editor .

Once you’re happy with the flow of the story, every other element should be examined for perfection: spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence construction, word choice , elimination of clichés, redundancies, you name it.

Also, pour over the manuscript looking for ways to engage your reader’s senses and emotions.

All writing is rewriting . And remember, tightening nearly always adds power. Omit needless words.

She shrugged her shoulders .

He blinked his eyes .

Jim walked in through the open door and sat down in a chair .

The crowd clapped their hands and stomped their feet .

Learn to tighten and give yourself the best chance to write short stories that captivate your reader.

  • Short Story Examples
  • The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
  • The Bet by Anton Chekhov
  • The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
  • To Build a Fire by Jack London
  • Journalism In Tennessee by Mark Twain
  • Transients in Arcadia by O. Henry
  • A New England Nun by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
  • Miggles by Bret Harte
  • The McWilliamses And The Burglar Alarm by Mark Twain
  • Vanka by Anton Chekhov
  • Where to Sell Your Short Stories

1. Contests

Writing contests are great because the winners usually get published in either a magazine or online—which means instant visibility for your name.

Many pay cash prizes up to $5,000. But even those that don’t offer cash give you awards that lend credibility to your next short story pitch .

2. Genre-Specific Periodicals

Such publications cater to audiences who love stories written in their particular literary category.

If you can score with one of these, the editor will likely come back to you for more.

Any time you can work with an editor, you’re developing a skill that will well serve your writing.

3. Popular Magazines

Plenty of print and online magazines still buy and publish short stories. A few examples:

  • The Atlantic
  • Harper’s Magazine
  • Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
  • The New Yorker
  • Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
  • Woman’s World

4. Literary Magazines

While, admittedly, this market calls for a more intellectual than mass market approach to writing, getting published in one is still a win.

Here’s a list of literary magazine short story markets .

5. Short Story Books

Yes, some publishers still publish these.

They might consist entirely of short stories from one author, or they might contain the work of several, but they’re usually tied together by theme.

Regardless which style you’re interested in, remember that while each story should fit the whole, it must also work on its own, complete and satisfying in itself.

  • What’s Your Short Story Idea?

You’ll know yours has potential when you can distill its idea to a single sentence. You’ll find that this will keep you on track during the writing stage. Here’s mine for a piece I titled Midnight Clear (which became a movie starring Stephen Baldwin):

An estranged son visits his lonely mother on Christmas Eve before his planned suicide, unaware she is planning the same, and the encounter gives them each reasons to go on.

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Top left clockwise: Kevin Barry, Kit De Waal, Chris Power, Donal Ryan and Mary Gaitskill

Take risks and tell the truth: how to write a great short story

Drawing on writers from Anton Chekhov to Kit de Waal, Donal Ryan explores the art of writing short fiction. Plus Chris Power on the best books for budding short story writers

T he first story I wrote outside of school was about Irish boxer Barry McGuigan. I was 10 and I loved Barry. He’d just lost his world featherweight title to the American Steve Cruz under the hellish Nevada sun and the only thing that could mend my broken heart was a restoration of my hero’s belt. Months passed and there was no talk of a rematch, so I wrote a story about it.

My imagined fight was in Ireland, and I was ringside. In my story I’d arranged the whole thing. I’d even given Barry some tips on countering Steve’s vicious hook. It went the distance but Barry won easily on points. He hugged Steve. His dad sang “Danny Boy”. I felt as I finished my story an intense relief. The world in that moment was restful and calm. I’d created a new reality for myself, and I was able to occupy it for a while, to feel a joy I’d created by moving a biro across paper. I think of that story now every single time I sit down to write. I strive for the feeling of rightness it gave me, that feeling of peace.

It took me a while to regain that feeling. When I left school, where I was lucky enough to be roundly encouraged and told with conviction that I was a writer, I inexplicably embarked on a career of self-sabotage, only allowing my literary ambitions to surface very sporadically, and then burning the results in fits of disgust. Nothing I wrote rang true; nothing felt worthy of being read.

Shortly after I got married my mother-in-law happened upon a file on the hard drive of a PC I’d loaned her (there’s a great and terrifying writing prompt!). It contained a ridiculous story about a young solicitor being corrupted by a gangster client. I’d forgotten about the story, and about one of its peripheral characters, a simple and pure-hearted man named Johnsey Cunliffe. My wife suggested giving Johnsey new life, and I started a rewrite with him as the hero; the story kept growing until I found myself with a draft of my first finished novel, The Thing About December . I didn’t feel embarrassed, nor did I feel an urge to burn it. I felt peace. I knew it wouldn’t last, and so I quickly wrote a handful of new stories, and the peace didn’t dissipate. Not for a while, anyway.

So a forgotten short story, written somewhere in the fog of my early 20s, turned out to be the making of my writing career. Maybe it would have happened anyway, or maybe not, but I think the impulse would always have been present, the urge to put a grammar on the ideas in my head. Mary Costello, author of The China Factory , one of the finest short story collections I’ve ever read, says: “Write only what’s essential, what must be written … an image or a story that keeps gnawing, that won’t leave you alone. And the only way to get peace is to write it.”

I know that in this straitened, rule-bound, virus-ridden present, many people find themselves with that gnawing feeling, that urge to fashion from language a new reality, or to get the idea that’s been clamouring inside them out of their imagination and into the world. So I’ve put together some ideas with the help of some of my favourite writers on how best to go about finding that peace.

Don’t worry

Stephen King Full Dark, No Stars

In a short story, the sentences have to do so much! Some of Chekhov’s stories are less than three printed pages; a few comprise a single brief paragraph. In his most famous story, “The Lady with the Dog”, we are given a detailed account of the nature, history and motivations of Gurov within the first page, but there is no feeling of stress or overload. Stephen King’s 2010 collection Full Dark, No Stars is a masterclass in compression and suspense. My colleague in creative writing at the University of Limerick, Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, is, like me, a novelist who turns occasionally to the short form. Sarah considers short stories to be “storytelling’s finest gifts. In the best ones, nothing is superfluous, their focus is sharp and vivid but they can be gloriously elliptical too, full of echoes.” The novel form, as I’ve heard Mike McCormack say, offers “a wonderful accommodation to the writer”, but the short story is a barren territory. There’s nowhere to hide, no space for excess or digression.

My wife asked me once why this worried me so much. I’d just published my first two novels and had embarked on a whole collection of short stories, A Slanting of the Sun . She’d come home from work to find me curled up in a ball of despair. “Every sentence worries me,” I whined. “None of them is doing enough .” “Don’t worry about how much they’re doing until all the work is done,” she said. “Get the story written, and then you can go back and fix all those worrisome sentences. And the chances are, once the story exists, you won’t be as worried about those sentences at all. They’ll just be. ”

Ah. I can still feel the beautiful relief I felt at her wise words. Life is filled with things to worry about. The quality of our sentences should be a challenge and a constant fruitful quest, a gradual aggregation of attainment. But creativity should always bring us at least some whisper of joy. It should be a way out of worry.

One of the concepts my colleague Sarah illuminates is that of a “draft zero” – a draft that comes before a first draft, where your story is splashed on to your screen or page, containing all or most of its desired elements. Draft zero offers complete freedom from any consideration of craft or finesse.

Kit de Waal, Supporting Cast

Kit de Waal, who recently published a wonderful collection, Supporting Cast , featuring characters from her novels, offers this wisdom on getting your story from your head on to your page or screen: “Don’t overthink but do overwrite. Sometimes you see a pair of gloves or a flower on the street or lipstick on a coffee cup and it moves you in a particular way. That’s your prompt right there. Write that feeling or set something around that idea, you don’t know what at this stage, you’re going off sheer muse, writerly energy, so just follow it. And follow it right to the end – it might be a day, a week, a year. Overwrite the thing and then sit back and ask yourself, ‘Where is the magic? What am I saying? Who is speaking?’ When you’ve worked that out, you have your story and you can start crafting and editing.”

Your draft zero is Michelangelo’s lump of rough-hacked marble, but with David’s basic shape. It is the reassuring existence of something tangible in the world outside of your mind , something raw and real, containing within its messy self the potential for greatness. And the best way to make it great is to make it truthful.

Be truthful

I don’t mean by this that you need to speak your own truth at all times or to draw only on your own lived experience, but it’s important to be true to our own impulses and ambitions as writers; to write the story we want to write, not the story we think we should write. That’s like saying things that you think people want to hear: you’ll end up tangling yourself in a knot of half-truths and constructed, co-opted beliefs. You’ll be more politician than writer, and, as good and decent as some of them are, the world definitely has enough politicians.

Melatu Uche Okorie, This Hostel Life

Your own experiences, of course, your own truth, can be parlayed into wonderful fictions, and can by virtue of their foundation in reality contain an almost automatic immediacy and intensity. Melatu Uche Okorie’s debut collection, This Hostel Life , is drawn from her experiences in the Irish direct provision system as an asylum seeker. The title story in particular has about it a feeling of absolute truthfulness, written in the demotic of the author’s Nigerian countrywomen; while another story, “Under the Awning”, feels as though it might be an oblique description of events witnessed or experienced first-hand by the author.

You might as well do exactly what you want to do, even (or especially) if it’s never been done before. You have nothing to lose by taking risks, with form, content, style, structure or any other element of your piece of fiction. Rob Doyle , a consummate literary risk-taker, exhorts writers to “try writing a story that doesn’t look how short stories are meant to look – try one in the form of an encyclopaedia entry, or a list, or an essay, or a review of an imaginary restaurant, sex toy, amusement park or film. Have people wondering if it’s even fiction. Mix it all up. Short stories can explore ideas as well as emotions – huge ideas can fit into short stories. For proof, read the work of Jorge Luis Borges . In fact, I second Roberto Bolaño’s advice to anyone writing short stories: read Borges.”

Frank O’Connor in 1958.

Bend the iron bar

“When the curtain falls,” said Frank O’Connor of the short story, “everything must be changed. An iron bar must have been bent and been seen to be bent.” One of the first short stories to break my heart was O’Connor’s “ Guests of the Nation ”. It has been described as one of the greatest anti-war stories ever written, and one of the finest stories from a master of the form. Its devastating denouement closes with this plaintive statement from the shattered narrator: “And anything that happened to me afterwards, I never felt the same about again.” This line contains within it an entreaty to short story writers to reach for that profound moment, that event or epiphany or reversal or triumph; to arrive within the confines of their story at a moment that will have a resonance far beyond its narrow scope.

Another great literary O’Connor, this time the novelist Joseph, who teaches creative writing at the University of Limerick, says that “to me every excellent short story centres around an instant where intense change becomes possible or, at least, imaginable for the character. Cut into the story late, leave it early, and find a moment.” Joseph quotes the closing words of one of his favourite short stories, Raymond Carver’s “Fat”: “It is August. My life is going to change. I feel it.”

The moment of course needn’t be in the ending, and the end of a story doesn’t necessarily have to be incendiary or revelatory, or to contain an unexpected twist. Mary Gaitskill ’s story “Heaven” describes a family going through change and trauma and loss, and iron bars are bent in almost every paragraph, but its ending is memorable for the moment of relief it offers, in a gently muted description of the perfect grace of a summer evening and a family gathered for a meal. “They all sat in lawn chairs and ate from the warm plates in their laps. The steak was good and rare; its juices ran into the salad and pasta when Virginia moved her knees. A light wind blew loose hairs around their faces and tickled them. The trees rustled dimly. There were nice insect noises. Jarold paused, a forkful of steak rising across his chest. ‘Like heaven,’ he said. ‘It’s like heaven.’ They were quiet for several minutes.”

Listen to your story

Kevin Barry Dark Lies the Island

“Beer Trip to Llandudno”, Kevin Barry’s masterpiece of the short form, from his 2012 collection Dark Lies the Island , is another story that has remained pristine in my consciousness since I first read it. Part of the magic of that story, and of all Barry’s work, is its dialogue: the earthy, pithy, perfectly authentic exchanges between his characters. When I asked Kevin about this, he said: “If you feel like you’re coming towards the final draft of a story, print it out and read it aloud, slowly, with red pen in hand. Your ear will catch all the evasions and the false notes in the story much quicker than your eye will catch them on the screen or page. Listen to what’s not being said in the dialogue. Very often the story, and the drama, is to be found just underneath the surface of the talk.”

Such scrupulous attention to the burden carried by each unit of language and to the work done by the notes played and unplayed can make a story truly shine. Alice Kinsella is an accomplished poet who recently turned her hand to the short form in great style with her sublime account of early motherhood, “Window”. “Poetry or prose,” Alice says, “the aim is the same, to make every word earn its place on the page.”

Ignore everything

And as self-defeating as this sounds, here’s a final piece of advice: once you sit down to write your story, forget about this article. Forget all the advice you’ve ever been given. Free your hand, free your mind, cut yourself loose into the infinity of possibility, and create from those 26 little symbols what you will. We came from the hearts of stars. We are the universe, telling itself its own story.

Donal Ryan is a judge for the BBC national short story award with Cambridge University. The shortlist will be announced on 10 September and the winner on 19 October. For more information see www.bbc.co.uk/nssa .

Books for budding short story writers By Chris Power

If short story collections occupy a minority position on publishers’ lists, books about the short story are an even scarcer commodity. In the 1970s the academic Charles E May published Short Story Theories , which he followed up in 1994 with The New Short Story Theories . These volumes, out of print but easy enough to find second-hand, collect some of the key texts about short fiction, from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1842 review of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales , to Elizabeth Bowen’s tracing of Guy de Maupassant and Anton Chekhov’s influence, and Julio Cortázar’s brilliant lecture Some Aspects of the Short Story (“the novel always wins on points, while the story must win by a knockout”).

Frank O’Connor’s The Lonely Voice (1963) studies 11 great story writers, from Ivan Turgenev to Katherine Mansfield, and argues that the quintessential short story subjects are outsiders: “There is in the short story at its most characteristic something we do not often find in the novel – an intense awareness of human loneliness.” O’Connor’s assertiveness makes disagreeing with him part of the fun. As his countryman Sean O’Faolain wrote: “He was like a man who takes a machine gun to a shooting gallery. Everybody falls flat on his face, the proprietor at once takes to the hills, and when it is all over, and you cautiously peep up, you find that he has wrecked the place but got three perfect bull’s-eyes.”

I have a similar relationship with George Saunders’s remarkable study of seven classic Russian short stories, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain , published earlier this year. I don’t buy the overarching argument about fiction generating empathy, but this is a book stuffed with arresting observations and practical tips from a master craftsman. His 50-page close reading of Chekhov’s 12-page “In the Cart” is jaw-droppingly good.

Steering the Craft by Ursula K Le Guin isn’t specifically about short stories, but she could certainly write them, and her clear, practical advice is invaluable to anyone wanting to learn about two of the form’s prerequisites: rhythm and concision.

My last recommendation isn’t a book at all, but the New Yorker: Fiction podcast . Appearing monthly since 2007, each episode features a writer reading a story from the magazine’s archives and discussing it with fiction editor Deborah Treisman. These conversations are a wonderful education in how stories work. I strongly recommend Ben Marcus on Kazuo Ishiguro (September 2011), Tessa Hadley on Nadine Gordimer (September 2012), and ZZ Packer on Lesley Nneka Arimah (October 2020), a discussion which moves between craft, fairytale and motherhood.

  • Short stories
  • Raymond Carver
  • Stephen King
  • Anton Chekhov
  • Jorge Luis Borges
  • Mary Gaitskill
  • Kevin Barry

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How Long is a Short Story? Finding Fiction’s Sweet Spot

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Julia McCoy

how long is a short story

Edgar Allan Poe once said, “A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” You’ve got an idea buzzing in your head, ready to unfurl into a captivating narrative. But hold on— how long is a short story ?

It’s not just about spinning yarns; there’s an art to packing punch into limited space.

From the snap of flash fiction stories to longer tales that tease out tension over several pages, understanding this balance is key.

In this piece, you’ll discover what makes short stories tick — their word counts ranging from 1,000 up to 10,000 words — and how these compact forms compare with novellas or full-length novels. Get the scoop on where you can submit your work and find tips for honing those crucial storytelling skills within strict word count limits.

We’re cutting through the clutter with practical insights because when it comes to crafting memorable fiction swiftly and succinctly — a writer like you needs clear answers.

Table Of Contents:

Flash fiction vs. short stories, the average length of published short stories, nuanced differences between each form, fulfilling distinct audience expectations, influential authors and their iconic short stories, character development in brief narratives, balancing plot and brevity, navigating literary magazines, self-publishing vs. traditional publishing houses, building a portfolio of diverse shorts, enhancing creativity with short-format writing, how long is a short story typically, can a short story be 500 words, can a short story be over 1,000 words, is 1 page a short story, defining the short story: word counts and characteristics.

A short story packs a punch with fewer words than your average novel, typically hitting between 1,000 to 10,000 on the word count scale.

This literary form is all about brevity while still telling a complete tale — think of it as Ernest Hemingway’s famous six-word story “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

The difference between flash fiction and short stories isn’t just in their lengths but also in how they tackle storytelling.

While flash fiction often wraps up within an impressive sub-1,000-word limit — it forces writers like Charlotte Perkins Gilman or Edgar Allan Poe to distill their narratives into the purest form of storytelling where every word works hard.

You’ll find that these shorter pieces can be more challenging to write because they need the same depth as longer shorts without any room for fluff.

If you’re looking at traditional publishing avenues or aiming for inclusion in literary magazines, expect editors to prefer those sweet spots around 5,100 words — that’s what big names such as Joyce Carol Oates might aim for when crafting their tales.

Submission guidelines will spell out strict word counts, so whether you’re penning something reminiscent of Roald Dahl ‘s dark humor or diving into sci-fi realms à la Ray Bradbury , keeping an eye on length matters if you want that acceptance letter.

Comparing Forms: Novella, Novel, and Short Story

We often find ourselves lost in the pages of a hefty novel or whisked away by the succinct charm of a short story.

Nailing down their differences can be as tricky as baking a soufflé.

Novels serve up generous portions with room for multiple themes and complex character arcs; think “Animal Farm” by George Orwell or Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” .

A novella sits cozily between its literary cousins, neither an epic feast nor a quick snack.

Their lengths stretch from 17,500 to around 40,000 words — a perfect middle ground offering depth without the marathon commitment of book writing required for novels.

In this compact space where each word matters more than ever, we see strict word counts become part and parcel of the challenge and allure of crafting stories that resonate deeply yet briefly.

This contrasts sharply with longer forms where authors have more allowance to develop plots and characters across chapters upon chapters.

The novella length provides enough canvas for some development but demands brevity too — it’s an art form unto itself.

The expectations here are clear: readers looking to dive deep without drowning in details lean towards novellas while those ready for immersion choose novels.

The New Yorker, known for publishing standout pieces spanning various lengths, showcases how different formats cater to the appetite of diverse readers.

Literary magazines worldwide also acknowledge this variety through publications that reflect many reading moods.

The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe

When you think of Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” likely comes to mind.

This story grips us with suspense in just a few pages.

Poe’s knack for haunting detail shows why he’s the master of short fiction.

The narrative precision in Poe’s tale sets it apart as an emblematic piece within its genre.

Every word works hard to build tension, much like the infamous beating heart beneath the floorboards.

This approach helped shape modern standards for story length and content quality that we still see today in literary magazines and traditional publishing avenues.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is another cornerstone of short literature, challenging societal norms through its riveting storyline.

It may be brief, but every sentence carries weight.

Its lasting impact echoes that brevity can indeed pair with depth.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Brevity in literature has a power all its own.

Tales like “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman unravel the complexities of the human psyche and societal norms within just a few pages.

The story’s lasting influence demonstrates how shorter narratives can still pack an unforgettable punch.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” is a testament to this literary form, proving that novella-length works can delve deep into themes such as imperialism and human nature.

In his tightly woven narrative, every word carries weight, letting readers explore profound ideas without wading through volumes of text.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Satire comes alive in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” where the rise and fall of an animal society mirrors historical revolutions with stark clarity.

This allegorical novella remains relevant today because it distills complex political dynamics into an accessible farmyard tale — a skill showing mastery over language and storytelling.

Now that you know how long is a short story and you’ve seen the works of influential authors in this genre, are you ready to give it a shot?

To help you get started, here’s a short story checklist from Writers.com :

writing short stories how long

Take note of the short story length, fiction story writing style, and how to build out your characters.

Crafting a Compelling Narrative Within Word Count Limits

Storytelling magic happens when every word counts.

The challenge is to weave character development and plot within tight confines, which often means being ruthless in your editing process.

Writing short stories tests our ability to say more with less.

Brief tales need characters who grab us from the get-go.

You’ve got limited space, so each trait or dialogue must paint a fuller picture.

This isn’t just about giving them quirks but crafting people who feel real enough that readers invest quickly.

A satisfying story arc can be achieved even with strict word count limits.

The key lies in selecting scenes that show change or conflict without unnecessary fluff.

The New Yorker , for instance, might lean towards pieces where brevity amplifies impact rather than dilutes it.

Where to Publish Your Short Story Masterpieces

You’ve got a short story ready, polished until it shines like the top of the Chrysler Building. Now comes the big question: where can you get this gem published?

Literary magazines are gold mines for writers looking to break into publishing. These venues celebrate brevity and pack a punch in literary quality. But they’re not one-size-fits-all.

Landing a story in The New Yorker, a pinnacle for many authors, is like hitting the jackpot. It’s tough but thrilling.

Then we have gems like AGNI, where submitting your work feels less intimidating yet equally rewarding.

Finding that sweet spot requires matching what you’ve created with their editorial standards.

Sometimes though, creative freedom calls louder than strict guidelines from traditional publishers. That’s when self-publishing becomes appealing — you call the shots on everything from cover design to that crucial word count limit.

  • A flash fiction story under 1,000 words could be perfect as an online read or e-booklet
  • Your 5,100-word average narrative might thrive better within an indie anthology
  • Longer works stretching up to 10,000 words may even blossom into novella territory if given enough room to grow

It’s about finding balance — knowing how long each tale should breathe without suffocating readers with excess — or starving them of substance.

With literary journals leaning towards shorter works and publishing houses often setting strict upper limits, it’s essential to know your options well before deciding which path will give your stories life.

Whether submission at esteemed magazines or going rogue with self-publishing is more your style, the key lies in aligning those carefully crafted narratives with platforms eager for fresh voices.

Cultivating Skills Through Reading and Writing Shorts

Reading and writing short stories isn’t just a pastime; it’s a workout for your creativity muscles.

Shorts offer you the chance to enjoy concise narratives that pack a punch, perfect for the quick reading experience we often crave.

The brevity of shorts challenges writers to develop storytelling skills within tight confines, honing their ability to express ideas clearly and effectively.

A portfolio of diverse shorts showcases more than versatility — it’s proof of your adaptability in today’s marketplace.

To build this kind of portfolio, explore themes across genres, from science fiction’s ‘what if’ questions to the emotional depths found in literary magazines.

Famous authors like Edgar Allan Poe and Charlotte Perkins Gilman didn’t confine their talents — they let them thrive within shorter story forms.

Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” proves how suspense doesn’t need hundreds of pages but rather precise words at critical moments.

This art form encourages experimentation with narrative techniques that might be too risky for longer pieces yet are ideal when you write short stories.

FAQs – How Long Is a Short Story?

A typical short story stretches between 1,000 and 10,000 words. It’s brief but packs a punch.

Yes, at 500 words it’s called flash fiction — super quick and still impactful.

Sure can. Most hit the sweet spot above 1,000 but stay under the novella threshold of around 20,000.

If you’re concise enough to fit on one page without skimping on substance — it counts.

So, you’ve explored the definition of a short story. You now know how long is a short story — somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 words typically — and why this matters for writers aiming to captivate within tight confines.

Crafting these narratives demands precision as every word must count.

Dive into your characters swiftly but deeply. Balance the plot with brevity to keep readers hooked from start to finish.

Remember those famous authors? They didn’t need more space — they needed the right words.

Publishing paths vary; literary magazines often prefer concise pieces while traditional houses may demand strict lengths. Choose wisely where your story will call home.

In closing, embrace the challenge that comes with shorter forms: they refine your writing and storytelling prowess like no other medium can.

Need to write a quick story but you’re left staring at a blank screen? Get ideas from a smart chatbot! Content at Scale ‘s AIMEE can provide you with endless suggestions for your next short story.

10x your blogging with AI. Download our free guide to learn how.

10x your blogging with AI. Download our free guide to learn how.

Written by julia mccoy.

writing short stories how long

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How Long is a Short Story?

Everything you need to know about reading, writing, and editing short fiction.

Cat Webling

Here’s a riddle that isn’t a riddle: when you want to read fiction but don’t have the time or energy for a novel, what can you pick up? The answer - short stories! Short stories are works of fiction significantly shorter in length than a novel that still depict a complete scene or story. 

What you might not know is that there are lots of different kinds of short fiction! From the shortest sad story ever written to not-quite novels, short fiction is a compressed storytelling format that can help an author hone their plotting skills and sharpen their editorial knife.

But what qualifies as short fiction? How long is a short story, and what is the ideal short story length? Why does the distinction of word counts even matter? 

Here are the answers to some of your most pressing short fiction questions and a few tips on how to start writing it for yourself.

Word count definitions

What makes a short story a short story?

Well, usually, it’s the fact that a complete narrative is told in the space of a small number of pages rather than an entire book. Short stories are standalone pieces that resolve their plot in less than the space of a novella but more than the space of a piece of flash fiction.

Those are some new terms! They help to contextualize what a short story really is, but to do that, you have to know what those words mean. So, the most straightforward answer I can give you is the average range of word counts for short stories and their similar (but different) friends, from smallest to largest:

  • Microfiction is less than 100 words long. This is stuff like Ernest Hemingway’s famous “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” It’s telling a story in the space of less than a Tweet.
  • Flash Fiction is between 100 and 1000 words long. This is short, quickly written fiction usually found in contests, warm-ups, and social media writing (Instagram captions have a limit that makes flash fiction about the most you can do). Stories on the longer end of this spectrum may also be referred to as “short shorts.”
  • Short Stories are between 1000 and 15,000 words long. The average length runs under 7,500 words. More on these in a minute!
  • Novelettes sit awkwardly between short stories and novellas, and the word count to qualify for this will vary by publisher. They could be considered “long short stories,” or “short novellas.” Depending on who you ask, a 15,000 word story could be a short story, novelette, or novella.
  • Novellas are between 15,000 and 50,000 words long. They’re full stories that couldn’t be told in a smaller space, and often appear in anthologies. Examples include The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (approx. 25,500 words), Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (29,000 words), and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (approx. 29,000 words).
  • Novels are more than 50,000 words long. These are…well, they’re exactly what you think they are. They’re fully fleshed-out stories that take up a pretty solid amount of space. A rule of thumb for authors seeking traditional publishing for their first novel is that most traditional publishers prefer manuscripts of no more than 80,000 to 100,000 words from first time authors.

Technically there’s a larger class called the “long novel” or the “Russian novel,” which covers books longer than 200,000 words, but there aren’t very many of those (outside of classic Russian literature, obviously), so we don’t really need to worry about it. 

Why word count matters

How long should a short story be? Well… there’s really no hard and fast rules. The counts I’ve provided above are ballpark ranges, not strict limits; I’ve seen people label 600 word pieces as short stories and 1500 word pieces as flash fiction. I’ve seen people call 25,000 words a novel and insist that novel word counts don’t matter (they do, though, more on that below). In fact, I’ve seen people use words I haven’t included here, like “drabbles,” to describe a certain length of work.

What really matters is the individual assignment you’re working toward, and what the person you’re writing the story considers the word count goal to be. If you’re writing for yourself, feel free to call your short fiction whatever you like! If you’re working for someone else, that’s when things get somewhat tricky.

Word counts and business

From a business standpoint, it’s important to be able to classify your work. Most publishing houses, specific agents, and publications will require a word count to be listed in your query, and will ask you to describe your work in terms of which category it falls into. This is so that they know how to market it and where. 

For instance, literary agents and publishing houses are generally looking for full-length novels or novellas, while publications like literary magazines generally want short stories (though they do sometimes take serial fiction, but that’s another story). This is because agents and publishing houses need something that they can print and put in bookstores, while magazines and the like need pieces that can pack a punch in a much smaller page count. Either way, a publisher of any kind needs to know concrete word counts to estimate production costs for services like editing, formatting, printing, binding, shipping, and distribution.

W ord counts and writers

It’s also important for professional writers, who often get paid to create a certain amount of content. That’s my job as a copywriter; I’m given specific word counts for various projects because of clients’ specific needs, and I have to stick to them as a part of my contract. If I write a flash-fiction piece for a client who commissioned a short story, they’re going to feel ripped off. If I write a novella for that same client, I would feel ripped off.

From a writing standpoint, while many authors write without a specific word count in mind, you may find it helpful to have a set goal to work toward. Take as an example the National Novel Writing Month challenge, more popularly known as NaNoWriMo. During the month of November, writers around the world are challenged to write a full-length novel with a final goal of 50,000 words. The purpose of the challenge is to help authors get ideas out of their heads and onto paper in a structured and competitive atmosphere full of community support. The NaNoWriMo site lets you track daily word counts and even gives you a helpful chart that shows your progress. It can be a great way to stay motivated.

When writing short stories, you might find that having a specific word count in mind helps you tell the story in a more concise way. It can show you where you have issues with pacing; maybe you reach the end way too fast and only have 500 words, or maybe you’re on word 782 and your ending is nowhere in sight. Having a set word count means that, whether you’re a planner or a pantser, you’ve got to have a plan of attack as you write, helping you learn to structure your stories.

How to write short fiction stories well

Writing short fiction is very different from writing a novel. For starters, you don’t have any room - every word you write has to be plot-relevant and engaging. There’s no space for extended backstories or character development - if the audience doesn’t absolutely need to know it, it won’t fit in the story.

It can, however, use some of the same muscle memory that novel writing does. You still need to know what your story is before you tell it, and you need to know what beats to hit and when, with what information. Consider using a similar planning process to your novel writing, but on a shorter timeline.

Short fiction does have its benefits. You can still use fun literary tricks and tropes, and in some cases, you can even focus in on and highlight a trope that wouldn’t fill a full-length novel of story. You can set challenges for yourself or follow writing prompts to stretch your creativity to its limit. Best of all, you can write multiple short stories in a short amount of time!

With that in mind, here are some steps to help you write a short story that people will really want to read.

  • Have a plan of attack . It’s incredibly basic advice, but it’s well worth it. Like I said, every word counts here, so you should have some sort of plan for those words. If nothing else, have a plan for your main characters, overarching plot, story themes, driving conflict, and setting.
  • Do your research. Writing a story set on a ship? Know what a ship’s parts are called. Writing about the 1950s United States? It’s a good idea to know the major events and customs of the decade. Get to know your story’s setting and characters before you get to know the plot so that you writing can be well informed.
  • Set a word count goal . Have a number in mind, in the range of the kind of short fiction you’re writing (or, for contest pieces, the word count limit) then set it aside for now.
  • Write ! Write your short story until you hit the end of it. Don’t worry about word counts or grammar at this point - all you need to do is get a full draft onto the page. You can’t edit if there’s nothing to edit, after all.
  • Edit for space, then style. Now you can look at your first draft’s word count and compare it to your goal. Clip your writing until it’s as precise and direct as possible to bring long stories down to size, though of course, you’re allowed to keep your stylistic flair. For example:
  • “Clarissa’s home was a sprawling, four-story dream of a mansion in the sunswept Hollywood hills. It was a scandalous site, the home to many debauched and dangerous tales of star-crossed lovers turned meteoric foes.” This description is awesome! It’s also long and takes up 34 precious words.
  • “Clarissa lived in a sunswept Hollywood mansion full of scandals from star-crossed lovers turned meteoric foes.” There! Much cleaner, only 16 words, and you get to keep the really cool metaphor at the end.

       6. Proofread! Always, always, always proofread your stories as the very final step in writing. Nothing distracts a reader more than a misused word or weird grammatical typo, so make sure that what you’ve written makes sense. Also, now’s the time to check for spelling mistakes!

Common short fiction pitfalls

Now that we’ve talked about what it takes to make your short fiction great, it’s about time we talked about what makes it poor. I said writing short stories was different from writing novels; I never said it was easier.

As with any other form of writing, short fiction craft has its easy-to-fall-into problems. Some of them are stylistic choices while others are simple mechanical errors. Either way, they need to be addressed and actively combated to create a short story that doesn’t feel unfinished, rushed, or even boring.

Here are some common pitfalls to avoid when you’re writing short fiction, and how to navigate around them.

Making your story too big

It’s very easy as writers for us to get wrapped up in our big, elaborate fictional worlds with tons of fully-fleshed-out, brilliant characters of all kinds. We love knowing every minute detail about our fiction, from family lineages and political histories to geographical detailing and indigeonous flora and fauna.

Those worlds are fun! But they don’t often fit in short stories because, let’s face it, it’s difficult to build an entire world on the head of a pin (unless, of course, you’re Dr. Seuss). If you’re spending 700 words describing the castle and all of its inhabitants, you won’t have enough room to describe the dragon attack they fend off. This is a particularly easy trap to fall into when writing short sci-fi or fantasy stories.

While it may be challenging, this is where “killing your darlings” comes into play. Keep your details to the minimum and your cast small enough to work with in a few thousand words. I personally like writing short stories with no more than about 4 characters, and usually only one or two. Though, this limit will change with every writer.

If you do find that your story is too big to fit into the word limit you have, try telling only one part of it. Tell the story of a single character in the plot, and save the rest of the storyline for a full-length novel. It’s extremely common for short stories to inspire bigger works, so see it as a source of inspiration and the ability to give a teaser rather than as being confined to a single, short work.

Here’s a neat bonus tip: if you do have to cut out any descriptions or characters you’re particularly proud of, don’t delete them! Put them in their own “Miscellaneous” file and, when you do finally have the room for them, let them tell their story in their own, longer piece.

Making your story too small

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is the issue of there being no story to your short story. 

Readers are looking for action, intrigue, conflict, and motivation. They’re looking for changes in tension and action and resolution. They came here for the plot, and will be sorely disappointed if they don’t find any plot to speak of. If the only thing that happens is a character walks through a scene, then you aren’t really giving the audience a reason to read. 

So, as silly as it sounds, remember that you need to include a plot and approach it like you would with a longer work. Ask yourself some framing questions. Why is he walking? Where is he going? What was happening before he came in? Why does it all matter? Answer that last one, and you’ve got yourself a plot germ to work with.

This is another reason that outlining is important; you’ve got to know what your plot is and how to get through it effectively if you’re going to write it up in 15,000 words or less. 

Telling too many stories at once

So you have a protagonist going one way, an antagonist going the other way, your leading lady lamenting something over here, your comic relief cracking up over there, and somehow a battle is going on, too? In a short story, trying to work with multiple full story arcs and through lines is usually going to end up feeling rushed and unsatisfying, and may lead to frustrating narrative loose ends. 

Keep your plot simple and focused for the best possible impact. Have just one major arc we follow, with one set of characters, in one set timeline (unless, of course, timeline shenanigans are a part of your story). If you’re going to have a B-plot, make sure that it’s closely tied to the A-plot and able to resolve quickly; ideally, you’ll want to spend the most time with your A-plot. That way, you don’t have to manage a million details to get your point across.

Speaking of which…

Inconsistent storytelling

It’s annoying, but true: the shorter your piece of fiction is, the larger any plot holes and continuity errors will look. Your readers may forgive you for forgetting your protagonist’s eye color in a long 200-page novel, but in a 2-page short story, they’re going to be a bit less forgiving. Inconsistencies can be jarring, and while sometimes you can use that to your advantage to create a dramatic twist, if it’s not intentional, it can leave your writing feeling unpolished. 

If you have lots of little details to keep track of, try including them in your outline! Make small character profiles and setting synopses to remind you of important in-world facts. It also helps to have a beta reader looking specifically for inconsistencies if you can. 

Famous examples of short stories, from renowned short story writers

If you’d like to see some classic examples of powerful story writing in a limited number of words, take a look at the collection of short stories presented here.

‍ Gift of the Magi , by O. Henry - A classic tale of love and self-sacrifice.

The Fall of the House of Usher , by Edgar Allan Poe - A tale of madness, family, isolation, and decay

The Lottery , by Shirley Jackson - An examination of the harm that can be done by blindly following tradition.

A Good Man is Hard to Find , by Flannary O’Connor - Things go very wrong on a family trip.

Short stories are great fun to write - I’ve written tons of them and I hope I write tons more. They’re a great way to boost your creativity, get projects done quickly for that faster hit of self publishing excitement, and challenge yourself to try something new and work around limits. New writers may find it worth their time to practice their craft  in this medium before attempting full novels. Some writers will use them solely as warm ups, while others will make entire careers out of them.

However you choose to use short fiction, I hope you can take this advice and make your stories brief, but impactful.

Want to read more about indie publishing?

How to Write a Short Story

writing short stories how long

Many Hollywood movies are adapted from short stories , mostly because they are often easier to adapt than longer, sprawling novels with lots of characters and locations. The Invisible Man, Brokeback Mountain, Arrival, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 3:10 to Yuma, Apocalypse Now, Memento, All About Eve, Secretary, 2001: A Space Odyssey  and The Shawshank Redemption are all great movies adapted from short stories and have stayed relevant with modern audiences.   So, what do you need to know to write one? Here are some basic guidelines to get you started on how to write a short story. 

Read More: What is Prose?

Got a great short story? Enter it into the ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition !

5 Ways Becoming a Pro Screenwriter Will Change Your Writing Process

How Long is a Short Story Typically?

A short story typically ranges anywhere from 1,000 to 15,000 words, though there is no hard and fast rule. The story may be told from a first-person or third-person point of view and sometimes is divided into chapters or sections. Like a novel, a short story may use various literary techniques like foreshadowing, symbolism and irony to elevate the story and make it more interesting. 

Read More: 12 Best Short Stories to Read for Screenwriting Inspiration

Settings for Short Stories

Short stories are meant to be read in a single sitting and function as an escape to a world different from our own. So treat your short story like a vacation to an intriguing place that offers exciting locations, institutions or creatures. There’s nothing wrong with setting your short story at a local grocery store, just remember your word count is limited and you want to create as much novelty and excitement as possible to hook your reader upfront. Brainstorm all the settings you personally are curious about and start there. Short stories tend to take more risks with their settings, which is likely the reason short stories are so popular with so many sci-fi writers.

Read More: How to Write Short Stories That Make an Emotional Impact 

How to Write a Short Story

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Characters in Short Stories

Characters in a short story don’t have to be typical or commonplace. They can be a Neanderthal, something supernatural like an angel or devil, a rickety old house, a dire wolf, even a newborn baby. Keep in mind that short stories typically don’t have more than three main characters: a protagonist, an antagonist, and a catalyst – a character that accelerates the action in a story, forcing the protagonist to change. Because there are so few characters, the story is focused on the protagonist’s main problem, making the conflict and obstacles very clear. 

Read More: What Hollywood Wants (And How to Give It To Them): Intellectual Property

How to Plot a Short Story

Because of the limited number of words, keep it simple. It’s likely a 5,000-word story will only allow your protagonist to attempt to achieve one goal or activity. Make it something familiar or easy for the reader to grasp. There is no room for a B or C story. 

Read More: 5 Reasons You Should Write a Short Story

How to write a short story

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Start your story as close to the climax as possible

It’s important to start your story as close to the climax as possible to give the story a sense of urgency. A visit from an old friend, a high school reunion or even a break in the weather can create a window allowing the protagonist a limited time to get to the climax.

For example: Maybe your protagonist, we’ll call her Sue, is an astronaut whose dream is to go ice fishing on Europa, Jupiter’s smallest moon. If the climax in the story is Sue catching an alien sea creature, maybe a brief heat wave will give Sue a short window to achieve her goal.

Add to the story that Sue is using the fishing pole her recently-deceased father gave her as a child back on earth, and you’ve created history and an emotional through-line. You might start the story with Sue quickly preparing her pole, bait and tackle – just the way her father taught her – before she sets out to take advantage of the good weather. Will her father’s style of fishing work the same way on Europa? She’s certain of it – but is she in for an unexpected surprise? 

Read More:  Why Do Short Stories Make Great Movies?

How to write a short story

All About Eve (1950)

Conflict comes in all shapes and sizes

Explore multiple sources of conflict – the more the better. Things like other people, weather, difficult terrain, even self-doubt all create conflict for your protagonist. 

Example: As Sue becomes more and more focused on catching a fish, she might neglect her research duties, causing pushback from her colleagues at NASA. She might get caught in unexpected bad weather and begin to doubt her fishing abilities. Sue might even experience equipment interference from mysterious radio waves coming from another of Jupiter’s moons, increasing the amount of risk she’s taking on. All these things make it more difficult for Sue to achieve her goal of catching a fish.

One thing to keep in mind is that short stories are often more about character and theme than plot. You don't have a lot of space to develop complex plotlines, so focus on creating well-rounded, relatable characters and exploring themes that will resonate with your readers.

Example: Sue is relatable because she loves and misses her father, is single-minded in her goal to catch a fish (the plot) and doesn’t want to let go of the past despite being in a new world (theme). 

Read More: 8 Films You Didn't Know Were Based on Short Stories

How to write a short story

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Short stories are famous for using irony, especially when it comes to the ending. This can also include having a big reveal or surprise known as a twist ending. The bottom line is that the reader shouldn’t see the ending coming. It should take them by surprise and exemplify the theme in an unexpected way. Take your time with your ending and put your protagonist through as much turmoil as possible to get there, both emotionally and physically. 

For Sue, maybe she finally catches a fish but must eschew the techniques her father taught her, causing her anguish about her life’s purpose and shattering her sense of self. Let your ending be emotional, full of risk and even loss. 

Read More: Ground Control Producer Scott Glassgold Explains the Magic of Short Stories

Go for Big Emotions

The purpose of telling any story, no matter the length, is to make the reader/audience feel something deeply and experience catharsis. Reading about someone going through a traumatic, dangerous experience helps us to process our own trauma and often find hope. Exploring primal needs like survival, love, freedom, and justice can evoke major emotions in short stories.

A well-written short story can be an intellectual vacation for a reader while keeping the experience short and sweet. A short story can transport the reader to unfamiliar worlds and examine a theme that may be difficult to work into a larger story or feel belabored if too much time is spent on it. A short story is hyper-focused and by nature of the limited word count, does not meander – it gets to the point quickly without a lot of extraneous characters or secondary storylines. 

Short stories should be fun to write and take the reader to unexpected places without overwhelming them with too much information. Don’t be afraid to take risks and experiment with the above elements. Short stories are a great place to try out new writing styles and techniques.

Read More: Should Screenwriters Adapt Their Screenplays into Novels and Short Stories?

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writing short stories how long

A man walks through knee-high water on a sidewalk next to a car parked at the curb with water over its wheels.

El Niño is starting to lose strength after fueling a hot, stormy year, but it’s still powerful − an atmospheric scientist explains what’s ahead for 2024

writing short stories how long

Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York

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Paul Roundy receives funding from the National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

University at Albany, State University of New York provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.

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Wild weather has been roiling North America for the past few months, thanks in part to a strong El Niño that sent temperatures surging in 2023. The climate phenomenon fed atmospheric rivers drenching the West Coast and contributed to summer’s extreme heat in the South and Midwest and fall’s wet storms across the East .

That strong El Niño is now starting to weaken and will likely be gone by late spring 2024.

So, what does that mean for the months ahead – and for the 2024 hurricane season?

What is El Niño?

Let’s start with a quick look at what an El Niño is.

El Niño and its opposite, La Niña, are climate patterns that influence weather around the world. El Niño tends to raise global temperatures, as we saw in 2023, while La Niña events tend to be slightly cooler. The two result in global temperatures fluctuating above and below the warming trend set by climate change .

El Niño starts as warm water builds up along the equator in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, off South America.

A colored map shows temperature differences with a warm area just west of South America along the equator.

Typically, tropical Pacific winds blow from the east, exposing cold water along the equator and building up warm water in the western Pacific. Every three to seven years or so , however, these winds relax or turn to blow from the west. When that happens, warm water rushes to the east. The warmer-than-normal water drives more rainfall and alters winds around the world. This is El Niño .

The water stays warm for several months until, ultimately, it cools or is driven away from the equator by the return of the trade winds.

When the eastern Pacific region along the equator becomes abnormally cold, La Niña has emerged, and global weather patterns change again.

What to expect from El Niño in 2024

While the 2023-24 El Niño event likely peaked in December , it is still strong.

For the rest of winter, forecasts suggest that strong El Niño conditions will likely continue to favor unusual warmth in Canada and the northern United States and occasional stormy conditions across the southern states.

Two maps of typical winter conditions under El Nino and La Nina show the Southwest wetter and the Northwest and upper Midwest generally warmer under El Nino.

El Niño is likely to end in late spring or early summer, shifting briefly to neutral. There’s a good chance we will see La Niña conditions this fall. But forecasting when that happens and what comes next is harder.

How an El Niño ends

While it’s easy to tell when an El Niño event reaches its peak, predicting when one will end depends on how the wind blows, and everyday weather affects the winds.

The warm area of surface water that defines El Niño typically becomes more shallow toward spring. In mid-May 1998, at the end of an even stronger El Niño event , there was a time when people fishing in the warm surface water in the eastern tropical Pacific could have touched the cold water layer a few feet below by just jumping in. At that point, it took only a moderate breeze to pull the cold water to the surface, ending the El Niño event.

But exactly when a strong El Niño event reverses varies. A big 1983 El Niño didn’t end until July. And the El Niño in 1987 retreated into the central Pacific but did not fully reverse until December.

As of early February 2024, strong westerly winds were driving warm water from west to east across the equatorial Pacific.

These winds tend to make El Niño last a little longer. However, they’re also likely to drive what little warm water remains along the equator out of the tropics, up and down the coasts of the Americas. The more warm water that is expelled, the greater the chances of full reversal to La Niña conditions in the fall.

Summer and the hurricane risk

Among the more important El Niño effects is its tendency to reduce Atlantic hurricane activity .

El Niño’s Pacific Ocean heat affects upper level winds that blow across the Gulf of Mexico and the tropical Atlantic Ocean. That increases wind shear - the change in wind speed and direction with height – which can tear hurricanes apart.

The 2024 hurricane season likely won’t have El Niño around to help weaken storms. But that doesn’t necessarily mean an active season.

During the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season , El Niño’s effect on the winds was more than offset by abnormally warm Atlantic waters, which fuel hurricanes. The season ended with more storms than average.

The strange El Niño of 2023-24

Although the 2023-24 El Niño event wasn’t the strongest in recent decades, many aspects of it have been unusual.

It followed three years of La Niña conditions, which is unusually long. It also emerged quickly, from March to May 2023. The combination led to weather extremes unseen since perhaps the 1870s .

Two cars are trapped up to their widows in a mudslide that poured through a Los Angeles neighborhood. One car is parked in its driveway,

La Niña cools the tropics but stores warm water in the western Pacific. It also warms the middle latitude oceans by weakening the winds and allowing more sunshine through. After three years of La Niña, the rapid emergence of El Niño helped make the Earth’s surface warmer than in any recent year .

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Author Interviews

Police raided george pelecanos' home. 15 years later, he's ready to write about it.

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Andrew Limbong

writing short stories how long

Writer George Pelecanos reads The Washington Post every morning in his home. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

Writer George Pelecanos reads The Washington Post every morning in his home.

It was August 2009 when the police raided writer George Pelecanos' home in Silver Spring, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C., with a no-knock warrant.

He was performing his daily ritual of sitting on the couch reading The Washington Post when he saw cars enter the driveway. "I saw these guys wearing black and holding automatic rifles and battering rams," he said in an interview at his home. The police broke down the door overlooking the driveway, and the basement door, too. Pelecanos said they put him on the floor and zip tied his hands.

The police were looking for his then 18-year-old son, Nick. The younger Pelecanos was a part of the robbery of a weed dealer, with a gun involved. So, the cops executed the no-knock warrant looking for evidence of guns or drugs.

After not finding anything, George Pelecanos said the officers started needling him about his liquor cabinet, his watch, his home. "One of the SWAT guys was looking at my books, and he goes 'maybe you'll write about this someday.' And he laughed," Pelecanos said. "And right then I knew that I would write about it. He challenged me."

No knock warrants have been banned in multiple states

Pelecanos is known for his gritty, realistic crime stories. For television, he co-created The Deuce , about the burgeoning porn industry in 1970s New York City, and We Own This City , the mini-series detailing a real-life corrupt police ring in Baltimore. As an author, he's known for his deep catalog of stories set in the streets of Washington, D.C.

His new short story collection is titled Owning Up . And it features characters grappling with events from the past that, with time, fester into something else entirely. There's a story about two guys who knew each other in jail, crossing paths years later. Another has a woman digging into her own family history and learning about the 1919 Washington, D.C. race riots.

writing short stories how long

Many of Pelecanos' crime fiction book are set in Washington, D.C. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

Many of Pelecanos' crime fiction book are set in Washington, D.C.

But Pelecanos said he wanted to write about the August 2009 incident because he wanted to further show the effects of no-knock raids. The Montgomery County police department confirmed they executed the warrant but they didn't immediately provide any additional details. Pelecanos did share a copy of the warrant, which states: "You may serve this warrant as an exception to the knock and announce requirement."

The practice of issuing no-knock warrants has been under increased scrutiny since the police killings of Breonna Taylor in Louisville in 2020, and Amir Locke in Minneapolis in 2022. They're banned in Oregon, Virginia, Florida and Tennessee.

"They don't accomplish anything except mayhem and violence," Pelecanos said.

The story "The No-Knock" starts with a journalist named Joe Caruso drinking his coffee and reading the morning paper when the vehicles pull up. The same beats follow — the guns, the zip ties, the pinning down on the floor. Pelecanos writes like he remembers every sensation from that night, because, he said, he does.

It deviates further into fiction from there. Caruso wants to write about it, but he can't. He's too close. He starts drinking heavily, instead. Pelecanos, on the other hand, knew he could write about it, easily. But he waited for over a decade on purpose. He wanted his son's permission, first.

"I wanted my son to grow up," he said. "And so that I could say to you today – he's fine."

Owning Up to the past

"He allowed time for me to grow as a man, and develop myself as a responsible person," said Nick Pelecanos in an interview. He now works in the film industry as a director and assistant director. He got his start working on jobs his dad helped him get. So he's attuned to his father's storytelling style — how he favors details and facts over sepia-toned nostalgia.

"When he writes something, you know that it's technically correct," he said. "And has come to his objective, as non-biased as possible opinion."

writing short stories how long

In Owning Up , Pelecanos writes about a non-knock incident inspired by real events. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

In Owning Up , Pelecanos writes about a non-knock incident inspired by real events.

As personal as "The No-Knock" is, Pelecanos calls the title story in the collection his most autobiographical. It's about a kid in the 70s named Nikos who works a job where he gets in with a bad crowd, and eventually gets talked into breaking into a guy's house.

"It's just the way my life was in that era and on this side of Montgomery County," Pelecanos said. "It was about muscle cars, playing pickup basketball, drinking beer, getting high."

Listening to Pelecanos talk about this story, it sounds familiar. You get the sense that history does repeat itself. That the same lessons get taught again and again. But that's O.K., because some lessons bear repeating.

"I got in trouble occasionally," he said. "But I always came home to the warmth of my family, you know? That's all you need."

Meghan Collins Sullivan edited this story for radio and the web.

OpenAI launches video model that can instantly create short clips from text prompts

Mind-boggling AI is thick on the ground in 2024, but even the most hardened AI experts are impressed by OpenAI's new text-to-video tool, Sora.

"This appears to be a significant step," according to Professor Toby Walsh, Chief Scientist at the AI Institute, University of New South Wales.

Sora, which is Japanese for "empty sky", can create detailed and convincing videos up to a minute long from simple text prompts or a still image.

"The model has a deep understanding of language … and generates compelling characters that express vibrant emotions," OpenAI said in a blog post announcing the new model on Friday morning.

"This will transform content creation," Professor Walsh said.

Still, it's not perfect. Not yet, anyway.

One user posted a surreal video of half a dozen dogs emerging from a single dog:

OpenAI said Sora might struggle to accurately simulate "the physics of a complex scene", and may not understand cause and effect in some cases.

"For example, a person might take a bite out of a cookie, but afterward, the cookie may not have a bite mark," it stated in its blog post.

It's not the world's first text-to-video AI tool.

Google and smaller companies such as Runway have their own models, which have similar functions to OpenAI's.

However, early users of the new model have praised Sora for its detailed and mostly realistic looking output.

So far, Sora has only been released to a small number of artists and "red teamers" — expert researchers employed to actively look for problems with the model, including bias, hateful content, and misinformation.

OpenAI hasn't confirmed it will release the model to the public, or given any kind of time frame for release if it were to.

However, the company is strongly signalling that a public release is on the cards.

If and when that time comes, Professor Toby Walsh will be watching for the impact on misinformation.

"With text-to-image tools, we saw fake images such as Trump being arrested by the NYPD, soon after such tools were first released," he said.

"I expect these new text-to-video tools will be used to generate fake video to influence the US and other elections."

OpenAI is also planning to include a watermarking system, so members of the public can check if the video was made by Sora.

Existing watermarking systems have already proven relatively easy to circumvent, with the right skills.

"We are not used to disbelieving the video we see. Now you have to consider any digital content as suspicious," Professor Walsh said.

What about the risks?

Text-to-video's potential for harm extends beyond just misinformation.

One user of the social media platform X remarked, "the future of porn just changed forever".

In August, Australia's eSafety Commissioner warned that AI was being used by teenagers to create sexually explicit images of their peers.

OpenAI is up front about the risks.

"We cannot predict all of the beneficial ways people will use our technology, nor all the ways people will abuse it," it said in its statement.

It said if the model was released, it would have an in-built system to reject any text prompts that violate its policies, such as requesting "extreme violence, sexual content, hateful imagery, celebrity likeness, or the IP of others".

If OpenAI does choose to release the model, there may be risks for the company too, in the form of copyright lawsuits.

The company is currently facing several suits over the training data for its language model, ChatGPT, and image model, DALL-E.

The most high profile of those has been brought by the New York Times, which is suing both OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft over the alleged improper use of its news content.

In a statement to the New York Times, responding to questions about the release of Sora, OpenAI claims the model is trained on publicly available and licensed videos only — a statement Professor Walsh describes as "telling".

"I expect they're trying to avoid all the court cases they're now defending for their text-to-image tool DALL-E where they weren't as careful," he said.

Beyond the short term impacts, good and bad, OpenAI is framing Sora as a forward leap on the road towards Artificial General Intelligence — AI that exceeds human capabilities overall.

"Sora serves as a foundation for models that can understand and simulate the real world, a capability we believe will be an important milestone for achieving AGI," it said.

Professor Walsh is a little more cautious in his assessment, but concedes Sora represents progress in that direction.

"We are still a long way from AGI, even with these tools … but it is another step on the road."

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‘The 2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films’ Review: Small Running Times, Large Themes

Many of this year’s films take a darker turn, but there is some levity among the bunch.

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By Jeannette Catsoulis ,  Maya Phillips and Ben Kenigsberg

When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.

The Oscar-nominated short films are being presented in three programs : live action, animation and documentary. Each program is reviewed below by a separate critic.

Live Action

Whatever your takeaways from the live action section of this year’s Oscar-nominated short films, a good laugh is unlikely to be among them. Suicide, abortion, bereavement, discoloring corpses — they’re all here, in a deluge of downers that only the Danes (and, depending on your tolerance for extreme preciousness, Wes Anderson) can be trusted to alleviate.

Those Danes, though! In Lasse Lyskjer Noer’s magnificently morbid comedy, “Knight of Fortune,” two grieving widowers bond over toilet paper and the trauma of viewing a loved one whose flesh — as warned by a pair of ghoulish mortuary attendants — might be the color of a banana. Although, bathed in the sickly spill of the morgue’s fluorescents, no one’s complexion here is exactly glowing.

If “Knight of Fortune” is a gentle nudge to the ribs, Misan Harriman’s “The After” is a two-by-four to the gut — and not in a good way. Trafficking in the kind of forced sentiment that can break you out in hives, this handsomely shot movie, featuring a garment-rending David Oyelowo, follows a London ride-share driver in the wake of a shocking personal tragedy. A trite, bullying soundtrack herds us toward the histrionic climax of a film that doesn’t trust us to get there on our own.

6 Films Our Critics Are Talking About

book cover for Land of Bad

Land of Bad

R | Action, thriller

Fighters on the ground are assisted by drone pilots, including one played by Russell Crowe, half a world away.

Read our full review.

book cover for Upgraded

R | Comedy, romance

Camila Mendes plays a broke assistant posing as an art world bigwig in this slyly charming romantic comedy.

book cover for Monolith

R | Mystery, thriller

Lily Sullivan plays a podcaster investigating a supernatural mystery in this thriller.

book cover for The Space Race

The Space Race

Not rated | Documentary

The days of shooting for the stars are interpreted through the stories of people of color whose aspirations were thwarted.

book cover for God & Country

God & Country

PG-13 | Documentary

This film follows the rise of Christian nationalist voters and argues that they threaten pluralism and democracy.

book cover for Onlookers

This experimental nonfiction feature aims to reflect on travel and tourism in Laos.

More restrained, and infinitely more resonant, “Invincible” observes the final 48 hours in the life of a 14-year-old boy (Léokim Beaumier-Lépine) as he struggles to corral his emotions and earn release from a center for troubled youth. The acting is impressive and the direction (by Vincent René-Lortie, drawing from a painful real-life memory) is bold and intuitive. Subtly intimate photography by Alexandre Nour Desjardins does much to enhance a movie that understands when it comes to emotions, less is often more.

For Wes Anderson, less is rarely an option. As “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” flits through a forest of intricate sets, a flurry of famous faces (Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley) and multiple story lines, its 37 minutes of virtually nonstop narration can feel like as many hours. Changing character onscreen and speaking directly to the camera, the actors navigate an ever-shifting story ( adapted from Roald Dahl’s original ) and constantly shuffling surroundings. A gorgeous, ingenious and finally exhausting exercise in puzzle box moviemaking.

Even allowing for Anderson’s flash and fame, Nazrin Choudhury’s “Red, White And Blue” — the only one of this year’s entries that’s overtly political — is the program’s clear standout. Wrapping the cold steel of its message in velvet-soft packaging, this beautifully acted, warmly photographed observation of financial precarity follows a desperate single mother (Brittany Snow) who must cross state lines to terminate a pregnancy. Painstakingly constructed from small, telling details, the movie ends with the kind of sting that lingers longer than any news report. JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

This year’s Oscar-nominated animated shorts — sobering tales of war, assault, trauma, identity and regret — ask the question, what tools can filmmakers use to tell a poignant, but not exploitative or gratuitous, story about trauma?

The novel technique the directors Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess use in “Ninety-Five Senses” is the story structure: An inmate (voiced by Tim Blake Nelson) eating his last meal anecdotally reflects on each of his senses, telling tidbits of the life he had (and the life that could have been). Each sense is illustrated by different artists, in a different style, creating a kind of 13-minute anthology of a life — but that makes this understated film also feel a bit incoherent, with the vignettes lacking the build to bring the film to a satisfying emotional conclusion.

“Our Uniform,” a 7-minute selection from the Iranian director Yegane Moghaddam, packs a lot into a succinct reflection on her school uniform and the ways her culture’s restrictive fashion rules shaped her understanding of her gender and autonomy. Like “Ninety-Five Senses,” the narrative of “Our Uniform” is plain and direct, but the latter shows the most creative animation concept of the group; illustrations move against a backdrop of various fabrics, with characters running around buttons and along seams.

In the quiet but harrowing French short “Pachyderme,” from the director Stéphanie Clément, a young girl tells of her summers with her grandparents in the country. The robust art style — each shot is as beautifully shaded as a painting — and sedated narration create the sense of a Grimm fairy tale, showing how seemingly innocuous details can hide something menacing beneath.

The unspoken monster in “Pachyderme” mirrors the ever-morphing monster in the breathtaking “Letter to a Pig,” directed by Tal Kantor. In the film, a Holocaust survivor tells a classroom of young students about the pig who saved his life. Though the movie never details the atrocities of the war, it paints just as chilling a picture through incisive visual metaphors. The animation, which morphs from bare-bones line drawings in black and white to fleshy watercolor pinks to 3-D realism, creates a sophisticated, heart-wrenching account of a tragedy.

Juxtaposed with such a remarkable war story, Dave Mullins’s “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko” feels pat. In an alternate World War I, soldiers on both sides find a way to connect. A telegraphed death and the idealistic crooning of John Lennon and Yoko Ono make this the least impressive of an otherwise strong category of films about the darker parts of humanity. MAYA PHILLIPS

Documentary

Only one documentary short nominee this year has the full balance of human interest, social relevance and aesthetic appeal that tends to make a winner.

It’s “The Last Repair Shop,” directed by Ben Proudfoot, who won two years ago, for “The Queen of Basketball,” a New York Times Opinion production, and the composer Kris Bowers, who was nominated with Proudfoot for “A Concerto Is a Conversation,” another Times Opinion documentary. This time, both have made their documentary with The Los Angeles Times. But it’s a better movie, and it happens to have a Los Angeles subject.

The repair shop of the title fixes instruments for the city’s school district; according to the opening text, that service has been offered to students for decades. The movie presents the recollections of four specialists (in strings, brass, woodwinds and piano), who share their experiences of immigration, of coming to terms with being gay and even of opening for Elvis in a bluegrass band, a long-term payoff of buying a $20 fiddle at a swap meet. Schoolchildren further testify to how music affects their lives. The generational contrast gives “The Last Repair Shop” a pleasing shape and helps it make an uninflected case for the importance of financing music education.

Sentimentality in “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” is a given. Directed by Sean Wang, who received his Oscar nomination just as his debut feature, “Dìdi,” was becoming a Sundance darling , the short profiles Wang’s two grandmothers , who are so close they even sleep in the same bed. Wang depicts them as cut-ups (he films them arm-wrestling, watching “Superbad” and generally being goofballs), which is sweet, but the subject is a bit too easy. The doc never transcends being a professional-grade home movie.

It is also no trick to wring pathos from a centenarian World War II widow speaking out against a censorious Florida school board — something that happens in “The ABCs of Book Banning,” directed by the longtime HBO documentary chief, Sheila Nevins, now at MTV. The heart of the film is children talking about books that authorities have removed or considered removing from schools. While using kids might seem cheap, they are unfailingly thoughtful. “It’s like you’re trying to slow down children’s reading,” says a fourth-grader named Ruth Anne of those who would remove books from shelves.

John Hoffman and Christine Turner’s “The Barber of Little Rock” centers on Arlo Washington, who started a barbers’ college and then a nonprofit fund with the specific goal of helping underserved Black residents of Little Rock, Ark. The short splits the difference between observing Washington and his fund at work and presenting polished interviews with him and others. The first approach is more effective than the second.

Finally, “Island in Between,” a Times Opinion documentary by the Taiwan-born director S. Leo Chiang, explores questions of national identity through the lens of Kinmen, islands that are governed by Taiwan but geographically closer to mainland China. It’s the least pushy, least resolved title in the lineup, which means it barely stands a chance. BEN KENIGSBERG

The 2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action Not rated. Running time: 2 hours 31 minutes. In theaters.

The 2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Animated Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes. In theaters.

The 2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary Not rated. Running time: 2 hours 33 minutes. In theaters.

Maya Phillips is an arts and culture critic for The Times.  More about Maya Phillips

The Run-Up to the 2024 Oscars

The 96th academy awards will be presented on march 10 in los angeles..

What are the best performers of the year doing when they’re not on film? Here’s how Emma Stone, Bradley Cooper, and other great actors spend their free time .

Christopher Nolan and Robert Downey Jr. have worked on some of the most beloved superhero films of our time, so how is it that the two had never worked together  on a movie before “Oppenheimer”?

The “Holdovers” star Da’Vine Joy Randolph has had a charmed run  through awards season so far. But does that mean it has been easy to navigate?

At the Oscar nominees luncheon in Beverly Hills, the Border collie from “Anatomy of a Fall”  had the stars lining up to meet him.

The veteran actor Jeffrey Wright has played everything from an artist to a general to a professor, but his role as a novelist in “American Fiction” is what finally landed him an Oscar nomination .

In the documentary short “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” the filmmaker Sean Wang chronicles the inner lives of his grandmothers. Now, the film is nominated for an Academy Award .

COMMENTS

  1. How Long Is A Short Story? What's The Perfect Length?

    Regular short stories lie within the word count range of 1000-7500, but some publishers will accept short stories with word counts of up to 10,000 (which is within the novelette range, I believe). In general, short stories are under 10,000 words and shorter than a novellette.

  2. How to Write a Short Story from Start to Finish

    1. Training Short stories help you hone your writing skills. Short stories are often only one scene and about one character. That's a level of focus you can't have in a novel. Writing short stories forces you to focus on writing clearly and concisely while still making a scene entertaining.

  3. How to Write a Short Story: Step-by-Step Guide

    How long should a short story be? Like we said in the previous section, short stories typically contain between 1,000 and 10,000 words. Stories longer than 10,000 (but shorter than 40,000) words are generally considered novellas. You might even come across the term novelette to refer to a story between 7,500 and 17,000 words.

  4. How to Write a Short Story in 9 Simple Steps

    Short Stories: A Writer's Guide 1. Know what a short story is versus a novel 2. Pick a simple, central premise 3. Build a small but distinct cast of characters 4. Begin writing close to the end 5. Shut out your internal editor 8. Share the story with beta readers 9. Submit the short story to publications Last updated on Oct 29, 2023

  5. How Long is a Short Story or Novella? (Updated for 2024)

    In this post, we'll show you how long a novella, novelette, and short story are — and reveal the word counts for popular examples of all three. But if all you're after is a quick answer, here they are: Novella: 17,500 - 40,000 words. Novelette: 7,700 - 17,500 words. Short Story: Less than 7,500 words.

  6. How Long Is A Short Story?

    This is only a guide, though; there are many publications and competitions that accept short stories up to 7500 words. Some even accept stories up to 10,000 words, although these are less common. What qualifies as a short story? While the length of a short story is important, there are other things to consider.

  7. How to Write a Short Story: Your Ultimate Step-by Step Guide

    1 - You learn the skill of showing. Short story writers have a challenge that requires some patience to overcome, but it's worth it. When you only have a few pages to hook readers, paint a clear picture of the main character, and tell a story, you end up mastering the skill of showing instead of telling.

  8. How to Write a Short Story: The Short Story Checklist

    The short story is a fiction writer's laboratory: here is where you can experiment with characters, plots, and ideas without the heavy lifting of writing a novel. Learning how to write a short story is essential to mastering the art of storytelling. With far fewer words to worry about, storytellers can make many more mistakes—and strokes of ...

  9. How Long is a Short Story? Unraveling the Word Counts and Beyond

    As for page and average word count, using the industry standard of 250-300 words per page, a short story can be about 4 to twenty-five pages long. But again, these are not fast rules. Each story has its own rhythm, and as a writer, it's your job to find the right length for your tale. Varieties in the Short Story Landscape

  10. How Long Is A Short Story? [Comprehensive Word Count Guide]

    [Comprehensive Word Count Guide] Home / Book Writing / How Long Is A Short Story? [Comprehensive Word Count Guide] By Dave Chesson 0 Last updated on March 25th, 2022 A short story is any story between 1,000 and 10,000 words. A tale of fewer words than that is considered flash fiction.

  11. How to Write a Short Story: Tips, Definitions, and Examples

    Short stories generally do not exceed 8,000 words, but some writers have written longer ones that went up to 20,000 words. Any longer than 20,000 words and you start to enter novella territory, which start at around 30,000 words. What Is the Structure of a Short Story?

  12. How Long Is A Short Story?: A Guide On How To Write A Short Story

    It can accommodate stories that are as short as six words and as long as 10,000 or even 20,000 words. Ernest Hemmingway famously wrote a beautiful flash fiction or micro fiction story that was six words long. It read:

  13. How Long Is A Short Story? The Perfect Length For Short Stories

    While you can technically write your story to be any length, keeping the pace of a story includes some planning. Short stories have word counts with a fairly large range and are great when packed together in a collection or as stand-alone publications to help get your foot in the door when you begin writing.

  14. How to Write a Short Story: 9 Proven Steps

    Traditional: 1,500-5000 words Flash Fiction: 500-1,000 words Micro Fiction: 5 to 350 words Is there really a market for a short story of 5,000 words (roughly 20 double-spaced manuscript pages)? Some publications and contests accept entries that long, but it's easier and more common to sell a short story in the 1,500- to 3,000-word range.

  15. Take risks and tell the truth: how to write a great short story

    Donal Ryan Sat 14 Aug 2021 04.00 EDT T he first story I wrote outside of school was about Irish boxer Barry McGuigan. I was 10 and I loved Barry. He'd just lost his world featherweight title to...

  16. Short Story Writing For Beginners

    Step 4: List your ideas at the end of your document and start writing. Transfer your best ideas, plot points, pieces of dialogue or other phrases to the bottom of your document. Now it's time to write. At this point, you probably have an image in your mind as to how you want to start off your story. Go from there.

  17. What's the Best Length for Short Stories?

    Yes, there is a range. But the longer end (plus 7000 words) has fewer publishing options. Approximately 5000 and down are good for mid-length short stories. And of course, flash fiction is a lot shorter and has a fair amount of venues just for itself. Additionally, many magazines will straight out say that longer stories need to be more than ...

  18. A Guide on How To Write a Good Short Story in 6 Steps

    Most short stories are between 5,000 and 10,000 words long, though some can be as short as a few hundred words or as long as 30,000 words. How to write a short story in 6 easy steps While writing your first short story shouldn't take as long as writing your first book, it's not always easy. That's because short stories are so focused.

  19. How Long is a Short Story? Finding Fiction's Sweet Spot

    Defining the Short Story: Word Counts and Characteristics. A short story packs a punch with fewer words than your average novel, typically hitting between 1,000 to 10,000 on the word count scale. This literary form is all about brevity while still telling a complete tale — think of it as Ernest Hemingway's famous six-word story "For sale ...

  20. How Long is a Short Story?

    It's telling a story in the space of less than a Tweet. Flash Fiction is between 100 and 1000 words long. This is short, quickly written fiction usually found in contests, warm-ups, and social media writing (Instagram captions have a limit that makes flash fiction about the most you can do).

  21. Short Training for Your Long Game: How Writing Short Stories Can Help

    Writing a short story is a different experience from weaving the dense fabric of a novel, and it exercises different muscles. "Short stories are often like complicated locking mechanisms, while novels are more like tapestries," says Fran Wilde, author of Cloudbound.

  22. How long are your short stories? : r/writing

    Short stories are by definition 10,000 words or less. From 10,000 to 17,000, it's a novelette (roughly), and from 17,000 to like 25,000 (ish) it's a novella. However, if you're looking at submitting short stories for publication, take a look at the various journals and see what they have for word count maximums.

  23. How to Write a Short Story

    How Long is a Short Story Typically? A short story typically ranges anywhere from 1,000 to 15,000 words, though there is no hard and fast rule. The story may be told from a first-person or third-person point of view and sometimes is divided into chapters or sections. ... Short stories should be fun to write and take the reader to unexpected ...

  24. What to expect from El Niño in 2024

    It followed three years of La Niña conditions, which is unusually long. It also emerged quickly, from March to May 2023. ... Write an article and join a growing community of more than 178,500 ...

  25. Rachel Carson's Sky Writing Is Now a Picture Book

    She was only 11 when her story "A Battle in the Clouds" — inspired by her brother's time in the Army Air Service during World War I — was published in the popular young people's ...

  26. Crime writer George Pelecanos on 'Owning Up' in his new story ...

    His latest short story collection takes that same unsparing look at his own past. Author Interviews. Police raided George Pelecanos' home. 15 years later, he's ready to write about it.

  27. OpenAI launches video model that can instantly create short clips from

    In short: OpenAI, the company ... Sora, which is Japanese for "empty sky", can create detailed and convincing videos up to a minute long from simple text prompts or a still image. ... Related Stories.

  28. 'The 2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films' Review: Small Running Times

    The novel technique the directors Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess use in "Ninety-Five Senses" is the story structure: An inmate (voiced by Tim Blake Nelson) eating his last meal anecdotally ...