What is a short story

In a recent class l was asked what is a short story? The first answer is that it is sth that could be read in one sitting and brought an illumination to reader. But my opinion is that short story was closer to poetry than to the novel

Not all my students were convinced. And we ask some other questions too. Like: when is a short story too long still be a short story? Is there an official point where a short story becomes a novella and a novella becomes a novel? Let's set an arbitrary limit of words. We all agree that stories up 10,000 words in length are short stories

I'm not trying to be definitive here, so let's look at some definitions of short story. My favorite is Benet's. It's a story that you can read it in one hour and remembered for a lifetime

The short story is an example of one facet of human nature. Short stories usually say sth or a small sth, but sometimes delivered with such precision that the effect is exquisite, even a life changing moment for some readers and sometimes reading a short story is similar to witnessing a never to be repeated scene in nature

The perfect short story is written with a poet's sensitivity for language and the shape and sound of words are more commonly part of the effect than they usually are in novel.The sound of words do things

We say that 10,000 words is at end of short stories. But how short? Great writers can write stories with 600 words and a solid writer can do it with 1,100. Maybe at 500 words, the confinement begins to create a new form, often very interesting

In the United kingdom, there is a competition for stories, complete in exactly 50 words. Here is a example: Frank believed in his luck. Frank smoke a lot but he knew he'd never die of heart attack or lung cancer. One day there was a gas leak in Frank's kitchen. He didn't die of heart attack or cancer

It's fun and sort of complete and technically it's a story, and short it definitely is, but it's not a short story

Savory chocolate....