Choosing what to write, Novel, Novella, Single, Short Story, Micro Fiction

Nowadays, there are numerous types of stories that exist, and they are categorized in many different ways. If based on length, a story can be classified as a novel, a single, a short story, a novella, a novelette and if the story is fiction, add to that flash fiction, nanoism (Twitter-based fiction) or micro fiction. Online, there are fiction sub-genre types that include steampunk, post-apocalyptic, and space opera. Because it’s so easy to have your work published on the Internet, a multitude of different writing styles and genres have emerged.

In publishing, the more standardized way of measuring things is applied, which is using word count to categorize stories. The length or the number of words used in completing a story or a piece of work is used to classify. Traditionally, short stories are generally composed of between a thousand and 7,500 words.  Or for example, you would be able to distinguish if a story is a novelette if it consists of 7,500 to 20,000 words, while novellas are between 20,000 and 50,000 words. Any story that has more words than the novella can be considered a novel.  The single category is different because it’s based on number of pages usually 30 to 90 and can be a story or 10 short reports, each being approximately 10 pages in length or 20 500-700 word articles that are written around a main idea.

Flash fiction is another type of story, usually online, that consists between 100 and 1000 words. This type of fiction has paved the way for more brief story-telling.  Micro-fiction is the category that covers all stories that are less than 100 words. Twitter even allows stories that are so short they only contain 140 characters which is nanoism, go figure!

Despite all these new types, the traditional ones are the most popular.  People are still awed by fiction mystery stories that are filled with suspense and puzzles. Whatever the length of your story is, you can make it interesting and worthwhile to read by following the styles of great fiction writers. Whether it is a short story, a single, a novel, or a micro-fiction, you have the power to entertain readers and make them feel excited again.