How to Go to Great Lengths...Or Not:

Choosing the Right Length for Your Story

If there's nothing more daunting for a writer than facing a blank piece of paper or computer screen, it's thinking how long she has to go before reaching the last sheet or the end of the file. This can be even more terrifying if you don't know how many pages that will take, or worse, if the story turns out to be much longer or shorter than you planned. It can also be frustrating if you feel you have to write to a certain length which doesn't work for you or the story. In this essay, I'll identify the various story lengths, discuss what can be done effectively with each length and what markets exist for it, and offer a few examples from my own experience on what it's like writing stories of various lengths.

First, let's define the various story lengths. Story lengths are generally measured in words, since the number of pages a story takes up depends on how it's formatted. The page numbers I list below are just examples and are based on the most common format used to submit works to a publisher, double-spaced 12-point Courier. This averaged out to 229 words per page for two of my own novels.

A few more points to keep in mind: different publishers may vary somewhat on the exact word lengths they consider a short story or novelette to have, but they should be close to what I've listed here. Also, word counts are rounded to the nearest hundred for short works and to the nearest thousand for longer ones. Most word processing programs I'm familiar with can automatically count the number of words in a file, though there are ways to estimate word counts by averaging the number of words on a page and then multiplying by the number of pages.

So, what kind of stories can be told effectively at each length? I'll confess I've only written two short-short or short stories: most of my work is novelette length or longer. (I'll discuss why that's so later.) For discussion purposes, therefore, I'll lump vignettes, short-shorts, and short stories together. Types of stories that work effectively at these lengths include extended jokes or "slice-of-life" stories detailing a real incident. Short stories can also be more experimental than longer works; I've read short stories (published, no less!) done entirely as footnotes or written so that the story is literally told in reverse chronological order. Traditional stories can of course be told at these lengths, but they have to be compressed. They tend to have a smaller cast of characters and generally don't have subplots. Because these stories are so short, each incident, phrase, and word is more significant than it would be as part of a longer work, which means it's more vital to make each one fit the overall story. Beginning writers, however, are typically encouraged to write many short stories to practice their craft and to make it "easier" to finish and sell a story. There are about half-a-dozen major science fiction/fantasy magazines that publish stories of these lengths, and there are smaller, specialized markets in other magazines, anthologies, and online. I unfortunately can't list all the possible markets here, but there are other resources that do list markets.

I personally don't see much difference between novelettes and novellas, except for the obvious one of length. A novella, however, can have more subplots than a novelette, and it has enough space to develop an imaginary world effectively. In fact, novellas have been called the ideal length for science fiction stories -- and for screenplays. They are, however, more difficult to market than shorter works, since there are fewer magazines and anthologies that accept them. 

Novels offer the most space to develop a world and the characters that live in it. They can also support more subplots, have more characters, and cover larger areas and time scales than shorter works can. For professional writers, they offer the most return for their efforts; it's much easier making a living from writing novels than from writing short stories. (A typical writer may therefore start out writing short stories and then switch to novels.) This means, however, that there's a greater pressure to make novels more marketable, which may limit what you can do with your story. Markets for novels are obviously limited to book publishers, but this includes small presses and electronic publishers as well as the major publishing houses.

I mentioned earlier that I would discuss my own experiences with writing stories at different lengths. On this site, I have two novelettes ("Demon's Diamond" and "Jealous Girl,") a novella ("Move Over Ms. L."), and two novels (To Thine Own Self Be True and Catalyst in the Crucible.) I've also written two novels of my Season Lords trilogy and have two short stories in the draft stage. It may sound strange, but I find it easier to write novels than short stories. For me, a large part of what motivates me to write is developing the story, and I feel it's easier to do that as I write with a novel than with a short story. (This is also why I write sequels; I find that even after I finish a story, it gives birth to additional ideas.) If I'm trying to keep a story within short story length, I feel that I have to compress it to the point where the story has no opportunity to "breathe" as I'm writing it; everything has to be plotted out in advance, with little or no opportunity to explore new ideas. In fact, when I brought one of my short stories to a workshop, I got comments that the story sounded like it needed to be expanded. On the other hand, I've read about writers who start out writing short stories and then have a hard time "uncompressing" the plot when they try writing novels. Some writers can switch between different story lengths easily, while others are better at one type or another. Although I've been trying to teach myself how to write a short story, I find that they don't interest me as much as novels.

So, how can you use all of this in your own writing? First of all, you need to have a sense of what type of story you prefer; the answer may be as simple as figuring out which length of story you like to read. If you only read novels but want to try writing short stories, you need to seek out examples of short stories to learn about pacing, plot, and other conventions of the length. You also need to determine how much you need to know about your characters and your settings. Novels will require more research than short stories. If you find that you prefer writing one length over another, you shouldn't let others try to persuade you to switch. And once you've finished your story, you need to consider its length when you decide what markets to submit it to.

Each story length has its advantages and disadvantages; the key is knowing them before you start writing at a particular length. That way, if as you write, you feel that the short story you were working on should really be a novel, you can let yourself expand it without worrying about what you're getting into. And if you need to shorten it, you can figure out which parts of the story are essential and which can be cut. And that's the long and the short of it.

Copyright 2002 Sandra M. Ulbrich

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