how long

[bir]

i was just wondering what is the minimum and maximum # of words in a short story and a novel
also if there is a specific # of words u need to follow to submit a story here

[Erebus]

Hi Bir, and welcome to the forum.

For a short story submitted to our Story section, the length is up to you. However, long posts made in the forum threads are to be discouraged due to server limitations! So, if you have a story to submit, please do so through the Submit page at sffworld.com!

As to a length of a story or novel, basically, that will be as long as it takes to tell the story you have to tell! I'm not aware that there is anything set in stone for this. Authors like Jordan tell their tales with many words, while other writers can complete a tale in much less pages.

[This message has been edited by erebus (edited January 05, 2002).]

[bir]

tnx! i was just wondering how u differentiate a novel from a short story because some novels are short
ya ive read one of Jordans books
i wish he'd make the story shorter and end it LOL

[Spacejock]

http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000261.html

Part of this page says:

Vignette - under 2,000
Short story -- (500? 2,000?) up to 10,000
7,500-17,500 words is a novelette
Novella -- (10,000? 17,500?) up to 40,000
Novel: over 40,000 words


So there's some overlap, but 40,000 plus is a novel. Trouble is, 40,000 is a very THIN novel and there seems to be a lower limit of around 65,000 to 75,000 when you try and get published. (I've seen one SF publisher with 'min length 80,000 words' in their guidelines) Once they print the thing and stick the cover on, the costs of printing a 40,000 or 100,000 word novel aren't very different when compared to the possible retail price. But customers might expect to pay a lot less for a novel about as thick as their daily newspaper.

Cheers
Simon www.spacejock.com