1. webdev

    webdev New Member

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    Short Story Silly Question

    Discussion in 'Genre Discussions' started by webdev, Jun 23, 2006.

    Sounds like a bit of a silly question, but exactly how long, or short is a short story? I've think I've read one or two that were approximately five or eight pages on 8 1/2 by 11 paper.
     
  2. Daniel

    Daniel I'm sure you've heard the rumors Founder Staff

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    However long you like. A good deal of the short stories people commonly read, espeically online, are between 2,000 and 4,000 words. However, most short stories that are published in print are usually in an anthrology or a collection or combination of short stories of sorts, and they're usually 7,000 - 14,000... after that I think they're technically considered a novella, but I'm not sure.
     
  3. Crazy Writer

    Crazy Writer New Member

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    Well, short stories less than 1000 words are technically flash fiction, so you should aim for longer than that.

    From Wikipedia.com:

     
  4. Hylo

    Hylo New Member

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    I found these length descriptions on another writing forum which seems to be pretty fair:

     
  5. cl0ud

    cl0ud New Member

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    I dont really think theres a guideline for short stories. Basically, it can't be a whole book. I believe that would be the ground rule.
     
  6. d00m5day

    d00m5day New Member

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    like kind of a section?
     
  7. Bambilover101

    Bambilover101 New Member

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    However long you like them to be. I once read a short story that was 25 pages long on 8 by 11 paper.
     
  8. Laimtoe

    Laimtoe New Member

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    If it's 100 pages or more, it's a novel. If it's anything shy of that, it's a short story.
     
  9. Neo

    Neo Member

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    I use A4 paper and print using Microsoft Word as standard, so i work by word count. I'd say about 2000 - 5000 words.
     
  10. Ivy.Mane

    Ivy.Mane New Member

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    Anything that can be read in one hit is a short story, apparently. Short stories are normally under ten A4 pages
     
  11. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    you should only consider word count, not pages... that's all editors go by... and to the professional writing/publishing world, 'anything that can be read in one hit' is not a 'short story'... see the categories listed above by hylo, for the industry standards... add to that, under 1,000 is 'flash fiction'...
     

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