Writer's FAQ: Story Length

Before continuing I will add a note here, that each market/editor/publisher may have it's own definition, however these are considered standard:

Not very common, these are quick quips and fillers under 100 words. It is very difficult to write a high quality story with full plot and characters in less than 100 words, but it can be done.

Gaining popularity in some markets, these super short shorts are less than 750 words. Like Extreme Shorts, it is very difficult to write a high quality story with full plot and characters with so few words. Not many writers can do this well, but it can be done, and is a good quick read, when written well.

Before Flash Fiction came to be, there were these tiny and popular often, murder mysteries. These super short shorts are less than 750 words, can be read in a minute or less, and can be seen in such magazines as Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen. Like Extreme Shorts, it is very difficult to write a high quality story with full plot and characters with so few words. Not many writers can do this well, but it can be done, and is a good quick read, when written well.

Anything under 5,000 words, but usual between 1,000 - 2,500 words long. Often published in small literary magazines run by a high school or college. Sometimes published in mass produced magazines, but rarely. Most commonly self published by the author in a book that compiles several short stories of a similar topic.

Usually used to describe any story less than 7,500 words, but all stories under 15,000 words are considered to be "short". Short stories often have a full cast of characters, plot twists, and are sometime "serialized".

Often published in small literary magazines run by a high school or college. Sometimes published in mass produced magazines, but rarely. Most commonly self published by the author in a book that compiles several short stories of a similar topic.

A short story that is between 7,500 words to 17,500 words.

Often published in small literary magazines run by a high school or college. Sometimes published in mass produced magazines, but rarely. Most commonly self published by the author in a book that compiles several short stories of a similar topic.

A set of short stories, each with the same characters and basic setting, but with a totally different plot and story. Often published at a rate of one per month, they continue to tell the story of the life of a certain character. Some serials continue one into the next in chronological order, while others are random stories about a single character, with no real timeline. If the serial becomes popular enough, the short stories are often gathered up and reprinted in chronological order as a single book/novel. Sherlock Holmes is probably the most famous serial ever written.

A novella is too long to be considered a truly short story, but it is still not long enough to be called a novel. Most are between 17,500 words to 40,000 words, often published as mini-books known as chapbooks. Some publishers call everything under 75,000 a novella. As a general rule a novella is any story too long to be published in a magazine but not long enough to be published as a full length novel.

A long story 40,000 words or more, with no limits, most are 90,000 to 160,000. Big novels such as Harry Potter and books by Stephen King have 200,000 to 400,000 words per volume.

When most people think writer, they think of a person who writes "books", i.e. one who writes novels. A novel is a complex story filled with characters, villains, sub-characters, plots, twists, turns, detailed descriptions of characters and landscapes, and an ever-moving flow of action. Novels are too long to read in one sitting, often taking several days, even weeks to read.

Rarely seen in magazines as a full story, excerpts of 2,000 to 40,000 words long are sometimes published in literary magazines to promote the book release.

Part 2 of the story, that is really part 1 of the story you already told. A prequel is the continuation of the first story, only a prequel tells of the events that took place before the beginning of the last story.

A prequel usually tells the story of the early life of the main character from the first book, however, it may instead tell the story of the previous main character's parents or some ancestor from hundreds of years before the main character's birth. The previous book's main character may or may not be in the prequel.

Part 2 of the story. A continuation of the first story, that tells of the events that took place after the ending of the last story.

A sequel is the opposite of a prequel. While a prequel comes before volume one, a sequel comes after the first book in time. The sequel may be about the later life of the previous book's main character or it may be about the life of a different character from the first book, usually a friend of the main character, or it may be about the life of the children or grandchildren of the first book's main character. The original main character may or may not be in the sequel.

A trilogy is single story so long that it had to be published in three separate volumes. In spite of it being published in 3 separate volumes, it is however one story and should be read straight through from volume 1 through volume 3, as volume one makes up the beginning of the story, volume two is the middle of the story and volume three is the end of the story.

Often a trilogy will consist of a book and it's prequel and sequel, or the original book and it's sequel, and the sequel's sequel.

Usually more than 150,000 words per volume, the entire set may have as many as 750,000 words or more.

A trilogy is always three volumes, except for on instance when author Douglas Adams wrote a comedy trilogy and published in five volumes. It is common practice among fans of the Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy to say: "I read the Hitchicker's Trilogy all five volumes of it."

A set of stories with more than 3 volumes, usually paperback novels, each with the same characters and basic setting, but with a totally different plot and story in each book.

Often published at a rate of one or two per year, they continue to tell the story of the life of a certain character. Some serials continue one into the next in chronological order, while others are random stories about a single character, with no real time-line. If the serial becomes popular enough, the short stories are often gathered up and reprinted in chronological order as a single book/novel.

Nancy Drew Mysteries are probably the most famous series of books ever written, spanning over 300 volumes and more than 60 years of writing. Started in the 1930's the Nancy Drew series continued to see new storied added to it until Carolyn Keene's death in the 1990's. Sadly due to her 1930's contract she never received royalties, was paid less than $800 per novel, and was not allowed to keep the copyright to her creation. A lesson here: read your contract VERY, VERY carefully BEFORE you sign it.

Chapbooks are in the 20 - 75 page range, these are usually novelettes, or novelas, too long to be a short story, not long enough to be a novel.

Chapbooks used to be quite popular in the 50's, 60s, and 70s, esp with sci-fi stories, but there is a trend in longer books these days.

Check out the Retief series by Keith Laumer (I provided links to info on both the author and the series below), most of his sci-fi stories were in the 25-50 page range.

In recent year Chapbooks have become popular again, esp among college students. Modern chapbooks are usually self-published books of poetry. As a general rule all poetry books are called chapbooks now.