The Various Forms of Fiction

*Originally published on 5/21/12


When it comes to writing prose, it generally comes in several forms. Of course, there's a wide array of genres, but in terms of format, you can boil it down to a handful of basic models. What differentiates one from the other is basically the length of the work. That's right, contrary to what Yoda may have said, size does matter.

The first format is the short story. As it is the backbone of many a creative writing class, this format is often what writers use to hone their craft.. While the length of what constitutes a short story varies, the general rule of thumb is that if the work is over a thousand words and under ten thousand, then it constitutes a short story. Works that fall below the thousand word mark are referred to as either "short short stories" or, more commonly, "flash fiction."

Once you cross the ten thousand word mark, you've entered into the realm of the novelette. Of course, this isn't a hard and fast barrier; it's more of a loose guideline than a hard and fast rule (which, admittedly, makes breaking down the various molds a bit trickier.) Heck, some say that the line between short story and novelette gets crossed back at 7,500 words, while others say that you need to, at least, be over 9000 (yes that was an intentional DBZ reference.) As said before, there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to this. It's all about approximations. The upper outlier for novelettes is generally said to be the 17,500 word mark.

Going past that, you enter the realm of the novella. Think of it like the novelette's big brother. Works that exceed 17,500 words, but fall under 40,000 are said to fall into this category. Said category, as well as its predecessor, is something of a worry for writers as these works tend to fall into a sort of "dead zone". It's too long for most literary magazines to publish it as a short story, yet at the same time, it doesn't make enough material for a book. Some magazines are more lenient and do publish novellas, but a common tactic that writers use is to release works of this length in collections. That gives the reader more content without worrying about whether or not the author should extend the work or try to cut it down to fit into a more acceptable category.

Finally, we come to the big cahuna, the novel. Despite being the most daunting task for a writer, this is the format that is most common. You see books all over the place, while short stories are harder to come by, not to mention novellas and novelettes. Going by the limits of the novella, it is safe to say that a work that exceeds 40,000 words constitutes a novel.

Each format has its own strengths and weaknesses, but each one has something to bring to the table when it comes to creative writing. While full novels may be the most wide spread, the shorter formats have their place in literature.