How Long is a Short Story?
A Guide to Short Story Length
How long is a short story?
According to the submission guidelines of most short story writing competitions and short fiction publishers, the length of a short story is usually between 1,000 and 5,000 words.
That said, through the research I've undertaken on this subject I have seen short story competitions with a 17,000-word maximum limit. Some publishers might regard this as a novelette or novella.
How Long is Flash Fiction?
Flash fiction has many different names, including micro fiction, sudden fiction, twitterage, twitterature, dribble, drabble, minisaga, nanotale, micro-story and very short fiction. Like short stories, opinions vary regarding the length of flash fiction.
So, how long is flash fiction?
If you write a story of under 1,000 words, most publishers and writing competition administrators seem to regard this as flash fiction. However, I have seen flash fiction contests with a 1,500-word limit, so opinions do vary.
How Long is a Novelette?
Opinions vary. My research shows that most publishers regard stories that are between 7,500 and 25,000 words in length as novelettes.
How Long is a Novella?
Again, opinions differ. But here's what my research shows. Most publishers regard stories that are between 10,000 and 50,000 words in length as novellas.
Please note, I have seen publishers asking for novellas up to 70,000 words in length.
How Long is a Novel?
Most publishers seem to regard novels as being stories that are over 50,000 words in length. Technically, there isn't a maximum word limit for a novel.
Story Lengths: Flash Fiction, Short Story, Novelette, Novella and Novel
Below is a full guide to story lengths and how they might be named. There’s a fair bit of overlap because research shows that opinions differ greatly from publisher to publisher.
- Flash fiction: under 1,000 words
- Short story: 500 to 17,000 words
- Novelette: 7,500 to 25,000 words
- Novella: 10,000 to 70,000 words
- Novel: 50,000 words or more
These numbers are a guide. There is no definite answer to the question "How long is a short story?" The same goes for any other story length related question.
How do you decide how long a story should be?
I’m of the opinion that the correct name or length is whatever any publisher, competition judge or magazine editor deem it to be. Be sure to read submission guidelines carefully before submitting anywhere and write within the parameters they ask for. If you do that, you’re more likely to win competitions and have your work published.
How Long is a Short Story? Find Out What Other People Think
There are many other resources available that give advice and tips regarding different story lengths. Here are a few to get you started:
- Read How Long Is A Short Story, Novella, Or Novelette? on Jericho Writers
- Read How Long is a Short Story or Novella? on Reedsy
- Read What is the Perfect Length for Short Stories? on Book Fox
- You can find many more on search engines like Google
By reading these articles, you will see what I mean about differing opinions. How long is a short story? Compare the information in these resources and see what you think 🙂
Other Useful Resources About Story Lengths
Here are a few more useful articles about story lengths and word limits:
- Read Novel Length: How Long Should Your Book Be? on Savannah Gilbo's website
- Read The Length of Stories on the Writing Cooperative website
- Read How Long Is A Short Story? [Comprehensive Word Count Guide] on Kindlepreneur
More Writing Advice
I hope you found this "How Long is a Short Story?" article helpful. You can find lots of other writing tips and advice in the Advice section of this website.
