Short fiction is a complete story told in a short form, often less than 10,000 words. It became a literary genre in the 19th century and has aesthetic standards set by early writers. Many great writers have produced short stories, including Anton Chekhov, John Cheever, and Raymond Carver. The actual length of short fiction varies, with most sources offering a limit of between 7,000 and 9,000 words. Stories shorter than 1,000 words are called flash fiction.
Short fiction, sometimes called a short story, is a popular form of written literature. Short stories must tell a complete story, including setting, conflict, and resolution, in a short form, often less than 10,000 words. In the mid-20th century, short fiction was one of the most popular forms of written entertainment. Many great writers have produced short stories in addition to or instead of longer works. Other forms of short fiction are found in media such as audio dramas and comic books.
Short fiction did not establish itself as a literary genre until the 19th century. Before that, short stories appeared in the form of fairy tales, songs and poems. In the 19th, magazines that published chapters from ongoing serial novels also included standalone stories, and writers began creating works to fill their pages. Early masters of the short story included Russian writer Nikolai Gogol and American authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. Poe also wrote an 1800 essay, “The Philosophy of Composition,” which discussed his approach to storytelling.
Short fiction is not just about length. There are certain aesthetic standards set by these early writers that apply to most short stories. The writer must be able to establish characters, moods and setting in no more than a few paragraphs. These first few paragraphs, and especially the first line, need to grab and hold the reader’s attention. With limited space, the writer must ensure that every single word advances the story, or is otherwise essential; this requires a certain mastery of literary technique.
The masters of the short story include the Russian writer Anton Chekhov and the Americans John Cheever and Raymond Carver. Other writers were skilled in both short and long works, including Ernest Hemingway, Flannery O’Connor and James Joyce. In the years following World War II, short fiction thrived in magazines like The New Yorker and The Saturday Evening Post. Meanwhile, other magazines published short stories in popular genres such as mystery and science fiction. These latter magazines included early short stories by highly regarded writers such as Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison and Stephen King.
The actual length of short fiction is not established and is often determined by the publisher of a particular publication. Most sources offer a limit of between 7,000 and 9,000 words. Others will accept anything up to 20,000 words, after which the story is considered a novella or novella. Stories shorter than 1,000 words, sometimes much shorter, have developed a form of their own, the short story, sometimes called flash fiction. Masters of this form can craft characters, story, and satisfying resolution in a space shorter than this page.
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