If you have a novel that you want feedback on, please use this
area.

Put your novel title in the subject box.

Explain whether you want feedback on the first 13 lines or the short summary (what you'd put in a query letter) that you may post in your topic or whether you want people to critique a partial (the first 20 pages and an outline/synopsis of the rest--which you will email to them).

Then post the first 13 lines and/or a short summary.

And please only ask people to give you feedback on a novel partial. If they want to read the whole novel, they can ask you for it.

But if they volunteer to critique for you, only email them a partial.

But that's the easy definition. Some people seem to think that a short story is about the most important event in the MC's life, whereas a novel is about the most important period of time in the MC's life. I find this a rather restrictive way of thinking about it, but it works sometimes, and it does point out at least some of the possible differences in approach between the two forms.

If the reason for the two topics is simply to keep the longer works separate from the shorter, then go with the wordcount, regardless of the intention of the work. But if it's meant to encompass the attitude that one should approach it with, it might be better to use the above or something like it. With children's literature, for example, a novel can be far shorter--and it feels like a novel anyway. Even early chapter books (i.e. Louis Sachar's Marvin Redpost books, or Marie Pope Osborne's Magic Treehouse books--usually between 5,000 and 10,000 words) seem like novels instead of short stories.