Hi. Sorry, I know this is in a post somewhere. But I just cannot find it. I tried searching.
How many words should my story fall between to be classed as a short story?
Thanks,
Posted by Paul-girtbooks (Member # 2799) on :
7,500 words in a rough ceiling for a short story.
7,500-17,500 for a novelette.
17,500-40,000 for a novella.
Technically anything above 40,000 is a novel, but most publishers won't consider a novel to be a novel unless it's at least 70,000 words (about a 250 page mass-market pocket paperback.)
Posted by benskia (Member # 2422) on :
Thanks Paul.
Phew, that means I'm getting close to the limit.
About 2,000 to play with to write the grand finale and scouring of the shire.
Man, this is going to be close. Even if I go over, I'm still its only a short story, and nothing grander.
You guys is going to have to give me some serious cutting advice when its done.
Posted by autumnmuse (Member # 2136) on :
The 7,500 is flexible, though. There are a lot of mags accepting lengths up to 9,000 or 12,000 or other numbers, and still calling them short stories. Check the markets you want to submit to, and see what their guidelines have to say. A great place to get info on word lengths accepted is www.storypilot.com .
My advice is to make the story the right length for the story, then afterwards look to see what it should be called, whether that ends up being flash, short, novelette or whatever.