In the world of creative writing, the options for fiction writers are numerous. While many readers and writers alike may most commonly be familiar with novels, there is another form of popular fiction: short stories.
Found in numerous civilizations dating back to antiquity, short stories appear in the form of legends, mythology, folklore, and fables. Usually, these tales were passed through generations by oral tradition, though some were written down along the way. One of the oldest, most well-known collections of short stories is One Thousand and One Nights, also known as Arabian Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales penned by multiple individuals. In high school, you may have read Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a fourteenth-century collection of stories fictionally told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury Cathedral as a way to pass the time in some friendly competition. One Thousand and One Nights and the Canterbury Tales are the exception, however—it wasn’t until five centuries later that short stories appeared more commonly in print. Many people are familiar with Aesop’s Fables and fairytales by the Brothers Grimm, as well as the Gothic fiction of Edgar Allen Poe. In the latter decades of the eighteenth century, Anton Chekhov began writing; his work is oftentimes used to mark the beginning of modern short storytelling.
Historically, short stories were often meant to convey a specific universal truth, whereas today’s short stories generally favor ambiguity, leaving the end for the reader’s interpretation. Due to the brevity of short stories and the simplicity of the characters and linear plots, this genre allows writers to explore multiple literary devices. As an example, while it might be tricky to write a full novel from a pet cat’s point of view, a short story from this point of view may prove enjoyable to write as well as entertaining to read. Additionally, as demonstrated by Charlotte Perkins Gillman in her esteemed short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” even a complex storyline can be conveyed and leave readers talking for generations with just a few pages.
But what exactly is a short story?
A short story is a work of fiction that ranges anywhere from 1,500 to 15,000 words, though some may stretch closer to 30,000 words. As we addressed in a post about word count, manuscripts longer than 30,000 words enter novella or novel territory. Similarly, works for fiction shorter than 1,500 words are a type of short story known as a “short, short story” or “flash fiction,” while anything less than 500 words is referred to as microfiction. Short stories have the power to satisfy readers with vivid characters, enticing plot lines, and descriptive language associated with works of fiction, but in a condensed form.
This means that each word in the work must contribute to the narrative somehow. For example, the setting of a short story is often relegated to a single event or location, and the cast of characters is usually limited to one or two individuals facing a singular obstacle or seeking a sole accomplishment. As a result, the character(s) will embark upon a single plot—as opposed to multiple subplots, like a novel may include—and will do so without much of their backstory being presented to the reader. In previous generations of writing, short stories would follow the traditional arc of Freytag’s Pyramid; however, modern short fiction tends to forgo the rising action and instead drop the reader directly into the action, or climax, of the story.
Short stories can be written in a variety of genres: action, comedy, crime/detective, drama, fantasy, horror, romance, science fiction, thriller, tragedy, and more. Within each of these genres, distinct types of short stories can be written, such as fable, vignette, modernism, minimalism, mini-saga, postmodernism, and magical realism.
Although short stories may not be discussed with the same regularity in broader reading circles as novels, their literary niche is nonetheless noteworthy and one of the oldest traditions of storytelling. It is a type of fiction that has evolved alongside humanity, growing to embrace more styles and genres, offering readers and writers alike a way to briefly enjoy the wonders creativity and imagination have to offer, always leaving them wanting more.
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