Why Short-Form Fiction is Great for Writers at JamiFairleigh.com

Short-form fiction is perfect for today’s digital consumer. Not only do short works require less of a time investment, they are concise, fast-paced, and many times incorporate a fun twist. These stories are often meant to be read in one sitting, and demand the reader’s participation.

Short works require little reader stamina, so readers can explore genres and try out new or unfamiliar authors.

Types of Short-Form Fiction

As a writer, I’ve found there is a lot of confusion about what the difference between each type of short-form fiction is.

One thing that makes the world of short-form fiction confusing is there is no one source to define the word counts for each type. Worse, many of the average word count ranges overlap.

I’ve attempted to corral each type of short-form fiction into categories, not only by word count, but also by the purpose of each format.

Short Stories

Typical short stories range from 1,000-10,000 words, depending on the publisher. (Stories shorter than 1,00 words are discussed below).

Short stories typically focus on a single theme, and are written to produce a specific effect in the reader. They have few characters and no subplots. Many incorporate a twist, and the “expect the unexpected” nature of them gives them a delicious tension. They typically deliver a hook, a conflict, and an ending, but the endings are often ambiguous or present a twist.

For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

—Commonly attributed to Ernest Hemingway (authorship in dispute)

Short stories deliver their content with a punch. Because there’s no room for a complex plot, the narrative must be concise. Often, the author can only hint at the world or setting, so the reader must fill in the details for themselves. The shorter the story, the more the author leans on the reader’s imagination.

Short stories incorporating multiple scenes will be longer than stories based on a single scene. Each additional character, setting, or event will also increase word count. Thus the easiest way to shorten a story is to remove unneeded characters, locations, or scenes.

Flash Fiction

Flash fiction is a subset of short stories. Publishers typically limit flash fiction to 1,000 words, but a few accept stories up to 1,500 words and call it flash.

The limited word count of flash fiction forces the writer to choose the purpose of the story. These stories can focus on a character, event, setting, or question, but rarely incorporates more than one of these aspects.

Microfiction

Micro fiction is the smallest subset of short stories and typically has a word count of less than 250 words. Within the realm of micro fiction, you’ll find calls for Dribbles (max word count of 50 words) and Drabbles (max word count of 100 words) among others.

The shortest story I’ve written for publication (and had accepted!) is 42 words long.

When writing micro fiction, you have few words to spare. Writers will rarely spend their limited words on naming the character or describing the setting.

My goal when writing micro fiction is to evoke an emotion.

Novelette

Writers often describe novelettes as longer than a short story and shorter than a novella.

Like all short-form fiction, a wide range of word counts is used to define the novelette. The widest range I’ve seen is 7,500 to 20,000 words. However, many literary organizations (and contests like the Nebula and Hugo) define novelettes as having word counts of between 7,500 and 17,500 words.

Writing programs sometimes describe novelettes as a “completed” short story. This is because the longer word count allows the author more room to develop the story’s character and setting. Where a short story may contain a single scene, a novelette’s greater word count allows for a more developed world, character backstory, and a resolution after the story’s climax. However, the word count still limits the scope of the story, requiring succinct, concise writing.

Here are examples of famous novelettes.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Novella

The novella is the longest of the short-form fiction categories. Depending on the source, word counts can range from 10,000-50,000 words. Most literary organizations (and contests like the Nebula and Hugo) define novellas as between 17,500 – 40,000 words.

Even though a novella can exceed a short novel’s word count, the intention of a novella is different. Like the rest of short fiction, novellas are intended to be read in one sitting. The longer word count allows the author to explore a theme or character. But because the focus is deep, most novellas concentrate on a single point of view, and the fundamental conflict stands alone. Few incorporate subplots, but this doesn’t mean novellas convey simple stories.

Here are examples of famous novellas.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Are novellas ‘books’?

Novellas went out of vogue as mass-market paperbacks rose in popularity. This was in part because novella spines were too narrow for the titles in early paperback printing techniques. It was also a business decision; the cost of producing a novella was nearly equal to a novel for publishers, but book sellers could sell a novel at a higher price. However, the rise of digital content has revived reader interest in novellas. Some print-on-demand book producers can print paperback books, with spine text, on novellas with as few as 24 pages.

In my opinion, a novella long enough to be printed in paperback or hardcover editions is a book.

Time

Another way to classify or categorize short fiction is by the average time each story takes to read. For example, most publishers consider flash fiction a five-minute read. Similarly, publishers often classify novellas as 1-2 hour reads.

I searched for “10 minute read” on multiple digital retailers and found content on all of them. Amazon even offers time-based categories in their store! You’ll find short-form fiction grouped by time in their Kindle Short Reads catalog.

Why Write Short-Form Fiction?

Creating short-form fiction is a terrific exercise for writers. It’s a great way to hone your craft. If you’re new to writing, getting your short fiction published can help you gain exposure and build a fan base. Short stories also provide a way for writers to delve into unfamiliar genres without committing to a more time-intensive work.

If you typically focus on novels, you can use short fiction to develop characters or test out a world. Short-form fiction is also a splendid vehicle for writing spin-off stories or side-quests.

For slow writers, short fiction can keep fans interested in your world. You can also use shorter works as giveaways to build your newsletter, or as rewards for newsletter subscribers.

You can also sell your short fiction. Many of the ebook retail platforms allow us to independently publish short-form fiction. We can also sell short fiction to periodicals and anthologies. Some writers deliver short fiction to supporters on platforms like Patreon or Ko-fi. Others bundle their stories and publish them together as a collection.

Last, all short-form fiction can be serialized. The rise of platforms like Radish, Wattpad, and Kindle Vella provide more avenues for revenue and to connect with our readers.

I enjoy writing short-form fiction, and post links to my stuff here. Have you written a short story, novelette, or novella?

Header Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

Why Short-Form Fiction is Great for Writers