How Long Should Be A Short Story?

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Introduction

Famous for her funny and moving short stories, American fiction writer Lorrie Moore once said…” A short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.” This very well gives us the idea that short stories are supposed to have fewer words in comparison to novels, but how many words exactly?

According to Edgar Allan Poe, a short story is something readable in a single sitting, but someone can finish reading the same story in 45 minutes, and the other may take an hour. So, while measuring the length of a short story, reading time can be helpful, but not very efficient. Wouldn’t it be easier if we have an idea of approximately what number of words we can touch? So let’s dive deeper into the subject and find out an answer.

Let’s have a look at 20 famous short stories by famous writers and try to find out the appropriate word count for a short story.

Famous short stories and their lengths

Word Count	Title	Writer’ Name
710	A Haunted House	Virginia Woolf
810	A Telephonic Conversation	Mark Twain
994	One of These Days	Gabriel Garcia Marques
1274	The Open Window	H H Munro
1377	Mrs. Packeltide’s Tiger	H H Munro
1464	Moonlight	Guy de Maupassant
1503	A Slander	Anton Checkov
2457	The Imp of The Perverse	Allan Edgar Poe
2500	The Last Leaf	O Henry
2623	Italian with Grammar	Mark Twain
3772	The Baron of Grogzwig	Charles Dickens
3998	The Black Cat	Allan Edgar Poe
4356	The Poor Relation’s Story	Charles Dickens
4722	The Stranger	Katherine Mansfield
5028	The Darling	Anton Checkov
5215	A Little Cloud	James Joyce
5672	A Blackjack Bargainer	O Henry
6155	The Pit and The Pendulum	Allan Edgar Poe
6776	Useless Beauty	Guy de Maupassant
7053	The Door in the Wall	H G Wells

If we look at the table above, it can be seen that the average length of these twenty short stories becomes 3,425 words exactly. So, when you don’t understand what to do, go for the Magic Number i.e. 3,425.

But some of the best short stories, by some of the best writers are also written in less than 1,000 words. Aren’t they?

 What’s the takeaway?

• Famous writers don’t necessarily write long short stories.

Famous writers like H H Munro, Mark Twain, and Virginia Woolf have written short stories with a word count lower than that of 1,500 words, but does that make them any less popular? Short stories are meant to be short, why else would they be called short stories.

• There is no exact word count for short stories.

We can understand from just these 20 short stories, that professional writers don’t really consider there to be a word count limit. Take for reference Mark Twain, one of his short stories ‘A Telephonic Conversation’ has only 810 words, but another one, ‘Italian with Grammar’ has 2,623 words. Don’t forget that legendary writer H G Wells’ ‘The Door in the Wall’ had a word count of 7,053 words.

• Word count of a story should be decided according to the story’s requirements.

No one but you get to decide what word count your story needs. Your characters may need more description, something may seem missing, to avoid these situations, think about what word count is right for your story, and do justice to it.

• People would rather read better stories, rather than longer or shorter stories.

What matters at the end of the day, is that your story is complete and remarkable, such that it stays with the reader for quite some time. What will readers think of a shorter short story, if they think that it’s no good? Or a longer short story that just feels like a waste of time? Writing a good short story should be your first priority, not its word count.

What’s the best thing to do if nothing works?

If after doing all that’s written here, you still are not satisfied with your work, I would suggest that you read your story one more time. Then, if you find something missing, you should add it then and there, and if you find something written unnecessarily, you can just cut it out.

Structure of a Short Story

To understand the structure of a short story, I would suggest you use the classic story plot map.

The story plot map is easy to understand, and use, it gives new writers a better idea about what they are getting started with. To help us understand better, let’s look at some of these topics in detail.

• Background/Introduction:

In this part, as one can guess, the characters are introduced, the mood is set, and the date and time are also set. You can also use this part to provide backstories to your characters for interesting effects. All types of background details are provided in this part.

• Rising Action: 

Right after the introduction, an inciting event begins, which in one or several stages leads to the point of greatest interest. This is the most important part of the story since the entire plot depends on these events to set up the climax. Remember, that if this part goes wrong, then none of the stories is going to make sense.

• Climax:

The climax is supposed to be the turning point of the story. For some people, the climax is the highest point of tension in a story. At this point in the story, everything starts going against the protagonist, their weaknesses are revealed in front of the world. This part can be different for different genres. But usually, it’s a transition from the previous time in the story.

• Falling Action:

During this part, the protagonist, along with other supporting characters, is supposed to gather all their strength and fight with whatever the circumstances we’re in the climax. This part also calls for a moment of final suspense, if your story allows. If the climax is the highest point of tension in a story, this is where the tension slowly starts to decline.

• Resolution:

Resolution is simply the end of the story. This is part when all the conflicts are already resolved. Now, there’s no need for an explanation for this part. It’s your story, the characters are made up by you, so you get to decide how the story ends. Make sure you write a suitable ending for your story, as it is the part which the readers will use the most to decide how well they liked the whole story.

Should you always stick to the Plot Map?

No, absolutely not, if you think your story needs something more than just the usual plot map, don’t hesitate in spicing it up with your imagination or any other plot ideas you might have. Experiment with your creativity, because after all, somebody experimented with their ideas in order to create the plot map. But I would suggest you practice using the given plot map one or two times. It’ll only help you sharpen your skills as a writer.  

To know more about creative writing and many more such tips, one can go for a creative writing course like the one provided by Henry Harvin.

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