While there are many different short story styles, here we will consider three popular short story types: lyrical, flash fiction, and vignette.
Short stories have traditionally been considered a fiction genre. They can be about anything as long as they are about one thing — and they're short.
Pop is the most popular music genre in the world.
What is the easiest genre to get published as a new author? Hands down, romance. Romance readers are voracious, and romance publishers are always looking for new material and authors. Furthermore, some genre romances are shorter (about 50,000 words), so they're not as involved as novels double that size.
The three main things that make a good story are the hook, characters, and the voice. Hook – start your story in a way that will hook your readers and keep them interested. Characters – make sure they are interesting and that (although most probably flawed) your readers will root for them until the end.
Most short stories seem to be between 1,500 words and 7,500 words long so about 3- 30 pages long (a typical printed page is somewhere between 250 and 450 words) depending on font and print formatting. Also, pages of dialogue may have fewer words, which affects length too.
At around 10 to 25 pages, that makes short stories much shorter than novels, with only a few approaching novella length. A piece of fiction shorter than 1,000 words is considered a “short short story” or “flash fiction,” and anything less than 300 words is rightfully called “microfiction.”
Between 40,000 and 50,000 words, some experts use the term “short novel.” It's also worth noting that most writers shouldn't write books longer than 120,000 words — especially not as a first novel.
Comedy. Comedy is generally considered the hardest of all the genres to write. The problem is that it's so subjective. Just because you say funny things to your mates down the pub, doesn't mean you can write funny things down and they'll still be funny on paper.
Romance. Romance books are easily the most profitable genre, with no sign of slowing down. The most recent data confirms that this genre pulled in $1.44 billion in sales in 2021. This genre is easy to write because romance books usually follow a pretty simple formula.
But you can, and likely should, still write your short story in a single sitting. Of course, it depends how long your short story is, how long you can remain sitting, and whether the passion with which your short narrative whips you up can carry you from beginning to end at hurtling locomotive speed.
Short stories can range in length, but typically they are between 1,000 to 7,500 words long. That is roughly the equivalent of anywhere between three to twenty-five pages.
However, the word “short” can mean different things, but generally speaking, a short story can be anywhere from 1,000–15,000 words, but most publications only publish short stories between 3000–5,000 words. Anything less than 1000 words is categorized either as a flash fiction or a micro-fiction.
For many writers, short stories are a less daunting way to dive into creative writing than attempting to write a novel. This doesn't mean writing short fiction is easy—it, like every other kind of writing, comes with its own unique challenges.
Focus on One Scene
Of course, you want the story to be its own self-contained story, but you won't be able to flesh out a complex story world, a cast of characters, and a significant backstory in 1,000 words. Instead, your flash fiction story should focus on one scene, one moment in the life of your character.
It just so happens that romance is the most profitable book genre! But if romance isn't your jam, here is a list of other genres below!
Again, rock was the genre that showed the most growth in 2022 over 2021: at 19.37%, it outpaced R&B/hip-hop (17.13%) and Latin (16.38%) for the biggest share of growth year over year.