Short Stories

What are short stories?

Short stories have become more popular during the past century. Short stories are narratives which deal with a few characters, a limited setting, and a limited plot. As with poetry, words, phrases, and literary devices are carefully selected to reduce the amount of language used, while effectively communicating the characteristics of the characters, setting, or plot.

Early forms of short stories include fables, myths, and legends. Tall tales and modern short stories have become a more common form of the short story. Short stories have been used to tell stories to entertain, to pass on information, history, or traditions, or to provide moral lessons.

Each type of short story is unique. Common forms of modern short stories include ghost stories, romance, science fiction, historical, and social or psychological. Compared to novels, modern short stories are limited to a single unified plot with few characters and limited description of the setting. Most short stories are less than 15,000 words in length.