| Information about Fiction, short fiction and essays.
Fictional narrative prose (generally):
- Novel - 41,000 to 200,000 words, or 200 to 1,300
pages
- Novella - 17,501 to 40,000 words, or 85 to 200
pages.
- Novelette - 7,500 to 17,500 words, or 45 to 85
pages
- Short Story - no more than 7,500 words or 38
pages
- Short, Short Story - 1,001 to 2,000 words, or 5
to 10 pages
- Flash - 500 to 1,000 words, or 2 1/2 to 5 pages
(also called Sudden Fiction)
- Micro - 300 words
However!
This is not a new genre in fiction writing, it is the wider
recognition of it that is new. That puts giving it
a name into a state of flux.
Hemingway's famous work of 6 words
"For sale:
Baby shoes. Never worn."
is a piece of writing
one could write a novel behind. A reader could
ponder it for hours. While the same could be said
of a 1,000 word Flash fiction piece, it would certainly
be less remarkable.
It has been suggested that everything under 2,000 words be called
Flash Fiction. There are those (this writer
included) who like the definitions above, which
recognizes the differences between a narrative of only
300 words and that of one that is 1,000 words, and
furthermore, a work of 2,000 words.
Getting a full story in 2,000 words is remarkable, but getting one
in under 300 words, well, that is a different thing all
together.
Opinion of Joe De Matteo
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