McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Length
Aakaakaak:
This has been quite educational.
So
100k+ words = Novel
50k+ words = NaNo (Is NaNo basically a Novella? I'm new to that term.)
Did I miss one?
Enjorous:
Vingette < 1000 words
Short Story 1,000-7,500 words
Novelette 7,500-20,000 words
Novella 20,000-50,000 words
Novel >50,000
That's how I've always heard it. But I wouldn't say any of those are quote typical unquote lengths.
NaNo is the abbreviation of National Novel Writing Month.
trboturtle:
Stories will write themselves to some extent....
What I mean that some stories can't be filled out to a novel and others need to taken into a 100K word territory to be fully told. Good writers know when a story is told and when it needs to be fleshed out.
Short stories are generally strightforward plots, where everything in the story relates back to that idea. Novels allow for subplots, but even they are tied into to the main plot. Characters in short stories have to established quickly, while novels can take time to add layers to their characters.
Sometimes, it is hard to get a handle on a story -- short stories ideas cannot be streched into a Novels and Novel ideas can't be stuffed into s short story. Knowing what a story will fit is a matter of experence and feel....
Craig
Starbeam:
--- Quote from: Enjorous on May 26, 2010, 08:17:31 PM ---Vingette < 1000 words
Short Story 1,000-7,500 words
Novelette 7,500-20,000 words
Novella 20,000-50,000 words
Novel >50,000
That's how I've always heard it. But I wouldn't say any of those are quote typical unquote lengths.
NaNo is the abbreviation of National Novel Writing Month.
--- End quote ---
I would say that a short story could be up to 10,000. A lot of magazines will take short story submissions up to, but not over, that length. Well, at least most of the magazines I've looked at, which were all speculative fiction.
Enjorous:
See like I said those are what I've heard, but I've seen other variations like novels being over 60,000 instead of 50. I'm trying to remember where I found it so I can make sure I'm not misquoting that.
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