By Nick Sweeney
How long is a short story?
I don’t know, and nobody ever seems able to agree. Some people claim that they can be as few as 6 words, others as long as 40000 words. So that’s a good starting-point: somewhere between 6 and 40000 words.
Why 40000 words?
That’s how long the longest novella should be, apparently.
What’s that?
A short novel – but that’s for a different IAQ feature.
So what’s a novelette?
A short novella, about 20000 words.
Okay. Give me an example of a 6-word story, then.
That’s not a question.
Can you give me an example of a 6-word story? Please?
OK. Here, this moth-eaten old classic: For sale, baby shoes, never worn.
How is that a story?
Well, the six words tell the story that somebody is selling baby shoes that were never worn. That means they bought them for a baby, but the baby never wore them, for some reason. Maybe the baby died.
Or just had a load of other shoes, because you know how it is when you have a baby, and people always buy you lots of the same stuff you already have, or that others have already bought, thinking they’re really original?
Yes, possibly, but sometimes it’s better to go with the obvious.
So no drama at all in the story, maybe.
Okay, whatever, but is it a story?
I thought I was supposed to ask the questions?
Ask that one, then.
So is it a story?
I don’t really think it is. I said above that some people claim that stories can be certain lengths. The words tell a story, certainly, but then so does any advert of few words – Where car? Phone house!
What about an example of a long short story, then?
There are loads: Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, Graham Greene’s The Fallen Idol, Henry James’ Turn of the Screw, for example.
But aren’t they novels?
They’re generally published as novels or novellas, yes.
Well, then. So how long do you think a short story should be?
Me? Between a thousand and three thousand words really does it for me. But that’s just me.
Okay, then. That’s length sorted out. What defines a short story?
It shares some essential characteristics with a long story.
What are they?
It should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Okay. Sounds reasonable. How do you define a beginning?
A beginning is, without sounding too obvious, the part of a story that introduces the characters and situation to the reader.
Okay. What about a middle?
I’d rather answer your next question, first.
Okay. Why don’t you seem to have any proper answers?
That’s not the next question. Ask your real next question.
What defines an ending, then?
The ending resolves all the things that have come up in the story in a way that is satisfying to readers, and may make them want to read other short stories in general, or other short stories the author has written. Or possibly leave their parents or dump their spouses. Or chuck in their jobs and buy a boat and go tuna fishing in the Bahamas. Or kill themselves.
So, beginning = introduction, and ending = resolution?
Yes. Sort of.
Sort of?
Yes. It’s not as simple as that, quite, but, luckily, it can be, and what’s more this supplies a model for writers to work with, a starting point. Some writers, Raymond Carver, for example, and James Joyce, for another, often seem to have abandoned their stories mid-paragraph, leaving the reader to work out what might be about to happen. Kind of cheating, I think.
Yes. Okay. So what’s a middle?
It’s the bit between the beginning and the ending.
Ha ha – very droll. Is there any more?
Yes. But that is not so easy to answer. The thing about the middle is that you often won’t know you have it till you have finished it. Just write the story without overthinking it, and then you will have the middle. If you don’t, maybe you don’t have a story there, and should abandon it for now.
So in summary?
A short story can be between 6 and 40000 words, but it’s probably better to use a bit of common sense and not go to these extremes.
A short story should have a discernible beginning, middle and end.
These rules are a template, a way of starting, and can and, sometimes, should be discarded, depending on how the story is going.
Has any of this worked for you?
Happily yes, in that I’ve had something like 70 short stories published. You can find links to some of them here: https://www.nicksweeneywriting.com/my-published-short-stories.html