How long is a typical short story?

How long is a typical short story?

5,000 to 10,000 words The average short story should run anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 words, but they can be anything above 1,000 words. Flash fiction is a short story that is 500 words or less.

Is 1000 words a short story?

However, the word “short” can mean different things, but generally speaking, a short story can be anywhere from 1,000–15,000 words, but most publications only publish short stories between 3000–5,000 words. Anything less than 1000 words is categorized either as a flash fiction or a micro-fiction.

Is 4000 words a short story?

So, in terms of what is acceptable and acknowledged as a short story in the competition world, between 10 words seems to be the range on which to set your sights. ... Some even accept stories up to 10,000 words, although these are less common.

Is 500 words a short story?

A short story is typically around 5,000 words in length but maybe as long as 10,000 words or as short as 2000 words. Stories that range from 500 to 1,00 words are classed as flash fiction (here's a great example). Stories less than 500 words are considered to be micro-fiction.

Is 20 000 words enough for a book?

Answer: 20,000 words is 40 pages single-spaced or 80 pages double-spaced. Typical documents that are 20,000 words include include novels, novellas, and other published books. ... A 20,000 word count will create about 40 pages single-spaced or 80 pages double-spaced when using normal margins (1″) and 12 pt.

What is the shortest story ever written?

For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn Ernest Hemingway—perhaps at Harry's Bar, perhaps at Luchow's—once bet a bunch of fellows he could make them cry with a short story six words long. If he won the bet each guy would have to fork over 10 bucks. Hemingway's six-word story was, “For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” He won the bet.

What is the longest short story?

novella A novella is the longest of the short fiction forms, granting writers freedom for an expanded story, descriptions, and cast of characters, but still keeping the condensed intensity of a short story. Modern trends generally seem to be moving away from publishing novellas.

How many pages is 2000 words?

4 pages Answer: 2,000 words is 4 pages single-spaced or 8 pages double-spaced.

What is the average number of words in a short story?

• In terms of length, word count is typically anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 for short stories, however some have 20,000 words and are still classed as short stories. Stories of fewer than 1,000 words are sometimes referred to as "short short stories", or " flash fiction ".

How long should it take to write a short story?

• Approximately ten to twenty hours of time. We all write at different paces, and depending on the length of your story (e.g. 200 word flash fiction vs. 5,000 word traditional short story) it might take five hours or fifty. But I’ve found that most short stories in the 3,000 to 5,000 word range take ten to twenty hours.

How many words constitutes a short story?

• A typical short story has a word count of anywhere between 1,000 words to 5,000 words, although, as always, there are exceptions to the rule.

What is the perfect length for short stories?

• In terms of competitions, short story length is usually between 1,000 and 5,000 words, although I have seen short story competitions with a 17,000 word maximum. Some people might regard this as a novelette or novella.