I'm curious. How long is a Short Story?

Jerrold,

Go ahead an post an excerpt in the Share Your Work forum. And, while you're waiting for responses, read through the threads that interest you. There's a ton of information here. I'm sure the length question has been addressed. Start looking and you'll find all kinds of information.

There are different cut-off points suggested. 15,000 would be short story ofor many, novella for some.

Length

jerrold peralta said:

How long does a short story suppose to be? Are there any rules to follow? What are short stories? Is the "Old man and the sea" a short story? and when you finish writing it where do you send it?
Sorry! I'm just curious. I don't know anything about writing. I'm new. By the way, My name is jerrold and I have written a story about gargoyles. It is about 15,000 words. Is my story a short story? If anyone interested in criticing my story. Let me know. I'll be glad to post it.

Jerrold Peralta

Click to expand...

No, 15,000 words isn't a short story. It's a novelette, and a fairly long novelette, at that.

The basic lengths are:

Short short: under 2,000 words.
Short story: 2,000--7,500 words.
Novelette: 7,500--15,000 words (17,500 words in SF & Fantasy.)
Novella: 15,000--30,000 words. (17,500--40,000 words is Sf & fantasy.)
Novel: Anything over 30,000 words. (Anything over 40,000 words in Sf & fantasy.

These lengths have been standard for considerably more years than I've been alive, and there are good reasons for them. You don;t use the same techniques in a short story as in a novelette. Or you shouldn't. There come a point when short story techniques stop working, and you just adding too much detail, which will make the story boring.

Lengths and definitions aren't arbitrary, and there are standards.