It occurred to me that I really don't know how long my current endeavor is going to end up, so I scoured the internet trying to find some sort of firm length guidelines that defines a short story, novel, etc. This is what I concluded with: A short short story, or "flash fiction" - less than 1,000 words Short Story - 1,000 - 7,500 words Novelette - 7,500 - 17,500 words Novella - 17,500 - 40,000 words Novel - 40,000+ words Anybody agree/disagree with this?
Those are generally good guidelines, but the most important thing is what each publication you send your work to uses. They may have slightly different ideas about how long each of those categories are. When you're submitting, use the word that they use.
ILLZ, as Rei indicated, the general guidelines you posted are generally accepted, but you also need to consider the individual publishers. For example: Some markets accept short stories up to 10,000 words in length. Many publishers request novels to be between 80,000 to 100,000 in length. Both of those examples are outside the listed parameters. Terry
I think 40 k will be too short for a novel, i think the min has to be at least 60 k, but everything else fits
Thanks for the replies. It doesn't immediately matter really; I guess I'm more or less curious about what I'm going to actually end up with. Thanks again.
