How is it decided if a "written work" is a short stort or a novel?

Question

Is it by page number (if so, how many make what?) or by number of words (if so, how many make what) or what (please mention)?

* story, sry for the error

Answer 1

You will just know when it's done and the whole story has been told. However it winds up, that's what it is. Remember that if you manage to get through to a publisher you face an editor's red pen, which could significantly change the length. Too many people worry about number of pages and words. Your job is to tell a story that people will understand and enjoy. Les Miserables took over 1400 pages to tell the story - Catcher in the Rye took far less.

I always advise people to write a good outline that tells the complete story then write it and see where it goes. Sometimes what starts out as a short story cries out for a longer work because your character is so memorable and interesing that you want to say more about them.

Figure 250 words per page. A novel can be anywhere from about 80 thousand words up to 140 thousand and more. A story can be from two words on up. I have seen wonderful flash stories written in exactly 100 words. Sometimes it's a great exercise to try and write 100 word flash stories just to see how much information you can get in and how well you can self-edit. I use that exercise often with students. 100 words exactly - not 99 and not 101. A complete story - beginning middle and end.

The point here is just to write - not worry about how long it is. That's one less thing for you to worry about. Pax - C.

Answer 2

The rise of the novel flourished during the 18th century when literature changed from being mostly didactic, as in 'how to' books or news flash articles, to a reading that represented more complex structures of life, such as politics, societal issues and psychology. The early 'novellas' weren't necessarily long at all, however since the genre has grown and in a sense has become 'perfected', the length is significant. A short story usually only consists of aproximately 10,000 words and has very few characters which work to portray a unified point, as opposed to striving for complexity such as the novel does.

Answer 3

Determining what exactly separates a short story from longer fictional formats is problematic. A classic definition of a short story is that one should be able to read it in one sitting, a point most notably made in Edgar Allan Poe's essay "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846). Other definitions place the maximum word length at 7,500 words. In contemporary usage, the term short story most often refers to a work of fiction no longer than 20,000 words and no shorter than 1,000.

A novelette (or novelet) is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms, like a novella, is usually based upon word count. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula awards for science fiction define the novelette as having a word count between 7,500 and 17,500, or 45-85 pages, in length.

A novella is a narrative work of prose fiction longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. While there is some disagreement of what length defines a novella, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000 or 85 to 300 pages

A novel (from French nouvelle Italian "novella", "new") is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. Until the eighteenth century, the word referred specifically to short fictions of love and intrigue as opposed to romances, which were epic-length works about love and adventure. Novels are characterized by 60,000-200,000 words in length, or 300-1,300 pages, in length.

Answer 4

Number of words

(How to tell? A short story is under 7500 words, a novelette runs between 7500 and 17,500, a novella goes from 17,500 words to 40,000, and a novel is anything bigger than that.)

Answer 5

A short story is typically between 1000 and 20,000 words. A novel is much longer, between 80,000 and 120,000 words, typically. A novella comes in between, in case you were wondering

Answer 6

i have heard 400 pages