Short stories have the same genres as novels, including literary fiction, romance, horror, and science fiction. Short story genres are also defined by form, such as micro-fiction and flash fiction, and by theme, such as horror and psychological. Short stories can take many forms, including monologues and letters. Online platforms have expanded genre-specific publications.
The genres of the short stories are the same as those of the novel. These include literary fiction, romance, horror and science fiction. Many smaller genres have found a larger market in the shorter form, including pulp fiction, anthologies, and online magazines. In addition to this there are a number of short story forms, which do not affect the theme of the story, but do affect the way it is told. They range from short stories to micro and tweet-fiction.
The Random House dictionary defines genre as “a class or category of artistic activity having a form, content, technique, or the like.” Short stories are often subdivided not only by their thematic genre, but also by their form genre. For example, from the evolution of the status update to Twitter online, micro-fiction has developed to include short stories and poems of the same length as a tweet. This became the definitive genre for the brief and something authors like James Joyce would find impossible.
Micro fiction or flash fiction are short story genres defined by the number of words set as a limit. Publishers are often strict on a minimum and maximum word limit for such stories. Micro fiction can range from 50 to 250 words. There are also 500-, 1,000-, and 1,500-word flash fiction niches for stories in magazines and mass anthologies.
The traditional short story, is there such a thing, tends to range from 1,500 to 15,000 words. Most magazines and publishers tend to require stories of around 5,000-10,000 words. Most contests, especially those run by writing magazines, limit short stories to 2,500 words and have become a genre unto themselves.
Short story genres are also defined by theme. Like their novel counterparts, short story genres are based on traditions and conventions or on the deliberate twisting and breaking of said conventions and traditions. Edgar Allen Poe believed that there are only two kinds of short stories: the rational, like the detective story, and the emotional. Anton Chekhov would disagree, preferring the psychological one, while many others see the tale as their M. Night Shyamalan moment so they can provide a deceptive ending.
Penny dreadfuls and pulp stories provided a platform for many genres. These include horror, action, mystery and science fiction stories. Such stories helped launch the careers of writers like Stephen King. There are also platforms for erotic/adult, romance, sports and other stories. This is especially true online where genre-specific publications have multiplied.
In addition to length and subject matter, short story genres can take many forms. Stories can be written in first, second and third person. They also offer a rare opportunity to write a story as a monologue, something that’s too difficult to pull off as a novel; an example of this is “Notes from Underground” by Fyodor Dostoevsky. They can also be written as letters, journal entries, and many other formats.
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