How brief is too brief?

A quick search on a site like duotrope will reveal that there are tons of publishers out there that publish all sorts of lenghts.

Too short?

2000 words outside of America is called a short story. There are many markets who won't take longer than 2000 words including American literary ones.

I don't know what genre you write but you shouldn't worry about length. 2000 words is a good length. In fact these days so many magazines are going for the shorter length.

Under 2000 words are generally considered "very short stories" or flash. There is a market for it. You need to check the submission guidelines -- they most certainly will list the lengths they accept.

2,000 is a good length for a short story - I write flash fiction sometimes, 500 to 700 words for some markets. Under 1,000 is usually considered flash in the markets I submit to, but some have more stringent restrictions on word count.

When I write flash I usually write the story first then tighten it down to the word count I am looking for. Mr Ritchie is right that the author chooses the length, not the story. But not every story lends itself to a longer version - while almost any story can be successfully shortened (I think - tell me what you think)

I prefer boxer briefs, myself.

2k is a good length. I've heard that over 4k is harder to place. I wouldn't pad the story with extra (unneccesary) information just to reach a word count. For shorts, I tend to stay between 2500-4000 and that happens pretty naturally.

Innkeeper said:

Sorry. Couldn't resist.


http://www.jockey.com/en-US/Catalog...8009&CS_Category=Brief&CS_Catalog=Men&crawl=4

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May I ask how did you find my picture and why?

2,000

2,000 words is a short story in American, too. Short stories range from 2,000 to 7,500 words.

A 2,000 word short story can be difficult to sell if you aim it at markets that list 2,000 words as their minimum requirement.

For the average large magazine, 4,000 to 5,000 words is the most used length, and for smaller magazines 2,000 words may be too long.

Every magazine has a rnage width, and every magazine has a preferred length within that range. You just have to look at the individual gudielines, and more important, look at several issues of teh magazines and see what length of stories the magazinge actually buys most often.

2000 is on the short side for a short story, but I would consider it still far too long to be flash fiction, and there's certainly no reason that a word count of 2000 would stand between you and publication. If the story is long enough for you to have said what you needed to say, then you're done.

Kristen

Kristen King said:

2000 is on the short side for a short story, but I would consider it still far too long to be flash fiction, and there's certainly no reason that a word count of 2000 would stand between you and publication. If the story is long enough for you to have said what you needed to say, then you're done.

Kristen

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It is too long for flash fiction. Flash fiction really has whatever length an editor decides to give it, but it should always be under 1,000 word.

The official lengths are:

under 100 words--micro fiction.

100-1,000 words--flash fiction.

1,000-1,999 words--short-short.

2,000-7,499 words--short story.

7,500-14,999 words--novelettes (7,500-17,499 words in SF and fantasy.)

15,000-30,000 words --novella. (17,500-40,000 is SF and Fantasy.)

30,000 and up--novel. (40,000 and up in SF and fantasy.)

Check out Duotrope.com for markets.

200,000 words and up--doorstop.

caw.

Jamesaritchie said:

It is too long for flash fiction. Flash fiction really has whatever length an editor decides to give it, but it should always be under 1,000 word.

The official lengths are:

under 100 words--micro fiction.

100-1,000 words--flash fiction.

1,000-1,999 words--short-short.

2,000-7,499 words--short story.

7,500-14,999 words--novelettes (7,500-17,499 words in SF and fantasy.)

15,000-30,000 words --novella. (17,500-40,000 is SF and Fantasy.)

30,000 and up--novel. (40,000 and up in SF and fantasy.)

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Are you SURE James? About the 30,000+ being a novel and not a novella?

Cause I word counted my "novellas" and they banged in around 40,000-80,000...am I mislabelling them? Are they actual novel length at this point? I've never sent them out because I didn't know any novella markets.
I think how I made the decision that they were novellas was I downloaded Gutenberg's copy of "The Call of the Wild" and I put it in MS Word and word counted it, I think it was around 70k words. And that book is only like 50 pages.
Have I been mistaken all this time, do I actually have 3 full length novels I was unaware of!?

-Gromhard
*crossing fingers*

The length of a novel is entirely dependent on the genre. A full length YA is about 50k-60k words, a category romance is around 60k-70k, spec fic stuff tends to be in the 80k-100k range and historicals can go as high as 120k, depending on the subject matter. Of course, you'll always have big authors who have about a million words in their books, but they're the exceptions.

I´ve heard it said that the width is more important than the length

Any editors care to give their opinion about that???

Now see, I'd have to agree with that!

gromhard said:

Are you SURE James? About the 30,000+ being a novel and not a novella?

Cause I word counted my "novellas" and they banged in around 40,000-80,000...am I mislabelling them? Are they actual novel length at this point? I've never sent them out because I didn't know any novella markets.
I think how I made the decision that they were novellas was I downloaded Gutenberg's copy of "The Call of the Wild" and I put it in MS Word and word counted it, I think it was around 70k words. And that book is only like 50 pages.
Have I been mistaken all this time, do I actually have 3 full length novels I was unaware of!?

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Good news and bad news, sweets. The bad news is that you're way off on word counts. The good news is that you have THREE FULL-LENGTH NOVELS! That's awesome!

James is definitely right. 30,000 would be a short novel but a novel nonetheless, and even if you argued that it was borderline, 40,00 would definitely be a novel in any genre, and you are way beyond that. Good for you!

Kristen

Troilee said:

The length of a novel is entirely dependent on the genre. A full length YA is about 50k-60k words, a category romance is around 60k-70k, spec fic stuff tends to be in the 80k-100k range and historicals can go as high as 120k, depending on the subject matter. Of course, you'll always have big authors who have about a million words in their books, but they're the exceptions.

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No, you're confusing guideline requests with what is and what isn't a novel. They have nothing to do with it. All those numbers do is tell you what length given publishers ask for, and what the average length is. They have zero to do with what is and what isn't a novel. A novel remains a novel, whatever its length: 30K is always a novel, and so is 40K. So is 300K or 400K. Whether or not an individual publisher wants novels of this length is a different matter, but some very good novels have been published in the 30,40, and 50K lengths in nearly every genre.

But it was the genres of science fiction and fantasy that set the 40K length, and they did so for good reason. They did it because of serialization. These length limites make serializing novellas and novels very easy, and allow a novel at the 40K length to be published later on. Not too many years ago, published novels of 40K were pretty common.

And in some areas, they still aren't terribly uncommon. The Bridges of Madison County was only 35K, and it stayed on the bestseller list forever. The Notebook was 49K, and it was a huge bestseller.

In adult fiction, and in children's fiction to a lesser degree, and isn't a novel is determined by writing technique.

There is no such thing as a "full-length" novel. Something is either novel or it isn't, whether it's 30K or 300K. When's the last time you heard anyone use the term "partial length" novel.

And spec fic generally runs up to 120K, and historicals up to 150K, but every length is a novel. You do not write a novel the same way you write a short story. A 30K short story is going to be overlong, padded, and boring, just as a 5K novel would be cramped and unreadable.

A novel is a novel because it's written using novel techniques, not because this publisher or that one only wants novels of certain lengths.

All right, thank you for the back of the schoolhouse whupping.

Let me amend, then. The figures are the most common which are considered marketable according to editors. Their ideal, as it were. I just assumed we were talking about what's easiest to get in the door. For a beginning novelist, sure they can submit a 40k fantasy novel, but they better be damn good and damn marketable because otherwise, it's really too short for the genre. At least, according to the editors.

gromhard said:

Are you SURE James? About the 30,000+ being a novel and not a novella?

Cause I word counted my "novellas" and they banged in around 40,000-80,000...am I mislabelling them? Are they actual novel length at this point? I've never sent them out because I didn't know any novella markets.
I think how I made the decision that they were novellas was I downloaded Gutenberg's copy of "The Call of the Wild" and I put it in MS Word and word counted it, I think it was around 70k words. And that book is only like 50 pages.
Have I been mistaken all this time, do I actually have 3 full length novels I was unaware of!?

-Gromhard
*crossing fingers*

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Yes, I'm sure. It's been this way for almost a hundred years now. Now, the average novel is 100K in length, but there have been thousands an dthousands of novels published in the 40K to 80K range. "The Call of the Wild" is certainly a novel, and, in fact, is on many lists of all time best novels. And it isn't 70K, it's only 32K. To be exact, it contains 31,870 words. Yet it's consider by many to be one of the best novels of all time, and certainly the best animal novel of all time.

As I said in another post, there have been a bunch of short novels that have sold well. The bridges of Madison County hit number one in hardcover, number one in paperback, and number one again when the movie was released, and stayed at number one for nearly a year, all told. It was 35K. The Notebook was a bestseller at 49K. There have been so many thousand mysteries at 40-60K that counting them would be impossible.

And, of course, St. Martin's Press only demands 60K for mysteries.

It's easier to sell a novel if it falls within a publisher's desired guidelines, but a novel that's shorter than desired guidelines is almost always easier to sell than one longer than desired guidelines.

The shortest fiction story I've ever gotten published (twice) and paid for (once) was 99 words long.

Wow! This is literally christmas in July. I woke up today with one novel and now I have three and a fourth that just needs a final chapter.

I wish someone had told me this years ago, thanks!
-Grom-clicking-his-heels-hard

gromhard said:

Are you SURE James? About the 30,000+ being a novel and not a novella?

Cause I word counted my "novellas" and they banged in around 40,000-80,000...am I mislabelling them? Are they actual novel length at this point? I've never sent them out because I didn't know any novella markets.
I think how I made the decision that they were novellas was I downloaded Gutenberg's copy of "The Call of the Wild" and I put it in MS Word and word counted it, I think it was around 70k words. And that book is only like 50 pages.
Have I been mistaken all this time, do I actually have 3 full length novels I was unaware of!?

-Gromhard
*crossing fingers*

Click to expand...

I don't know about 30K, but 80K is definitely a novel. Mine is 75K and yes, it's sold as a novel. And 70K is not 50-page, unless it's printed on poster paper. Mine is 240.

Nick Sparks' The Notebook is only 57K. It was a best-selling novel.

YA is even shorter, something shorter than 60K.

I seriously don't think you know what you're talking about. But good luck with your 3 and a quarter novels.

I wish there was still a strong market for 40k sci-fi and fantasy novels. I think that's a wonderful length for a fantasy book, especially books in a series. I don't think you need eleven-plus books in your fantasy series, each one the size and weight of a cinderblock. What I rapidly believe is becoming an important rule of writing (partially because of the advent of the word processor) is "put up, then shut up."