so is there some definition or at least rough guide to how long a short story should be....... I dont feel mine is that long, currently around 1300 words, and prob another 500 - 700 words to go.....
A story should only be as long as it needs to be. The minimum/maximum length for a short story depends on the publisher. I think the longest I've seen is 20k.
yes, a short story should be only as long as it needs to be... but a good writer can develop the same basic storyline into a somewhat longer or shorter piece, depending on what the publisher wants... that said, 20k wouldn't be a short story... that's well over into novella/novelette size... short stories are generall considered to go up to around 7,500 and the most publisher-preferred max is 5k... the most important determining factor should always be what's specified by the venues you want to submit your work to... so don't submit an 8k piece to a magazine that doesn't take anything over 3k and so on...
