Have you ever wondered what makes something a novel versus a novella? How short does a story have to be to be considered a short story? Below are some general rules for categorizing fiction by word length. While these rules aren’t hard and fast, they are a helpful guide to figuring out how a story might be categorized.
Novel Word Count: Typically over 40,000 words for an adult novel
The average word count of a novel or book varies based on genre and audience. Novels can range from the shorter side—such as The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald at 47,094 words—to much longer—such as War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy at 587,287 words.
Looking for the length of a certain novel? Check out websites such as Word Counters or Reading Length to look up the word count of a specific book. Or view this infographic from Electric Lit to see word counts of famous novels and series.
Novella Word Count: 20,000 to 50,000 words
Novellas fill an odd space in the reading world—somewhere between a really long short story and a short novel. As you can see, the typical word count will even overlap between a short novel and a novella. For readers, if you’re reading a standalone book that is over 40,000 words, you’ll probably think of it as a novel rather than a novella. You might encounter novellas more frequently on digital reading platforms, as they are very popular formats for genre ebooks. Or you might spot a novella in an anthology with other stories either by the same author or of the same genre.
Short Story Word Count: Typically 1,000 to 10,000 words
Short stories often come in collections, obscuring just how long or short they are. Typically, magazines or short story contests look for short stories that are under 10,000 words. Here on Penny Magic, we publish short stories that range from about 1,500 to 7,500 words. We love to publish short stories around 5,000 words because those will take the average reader about 20 minutes to read—a perfect length of time to add some fiction to your day.
Flash Fiction Word Count: Under 1,000 words
Flash fiction stories are typically stories told in under 1,000 words. This length of story has become increasingly popular as the internet makes it easy to share very short stories via blogs or social media. There are a ton of places online to read flash fiction such as Flash Fiction Online or The New Yorker.
Microfiction or Mini Story Word Count: Various measurements, often under 100 words or under 280 characters
If flash fiction is growing in popularity because of the internet, this length of story probably owes its life to it. While 100-word stories have been around for a long time, online platforms have made sharing these ultra-short stories easier than ever. Twitter in particular offers a unique platform for telling 280-character stories, the maximum length of a tweet. Many writers participate in writing a daily story this way using the hashtag #vss365. Follow the hashtag for a daily dose of microfiction, or follow us on our Penny Magic Instagram or Twitter to read our mini stories, all under 280 characters.