Tag Archive for: Neil Gaiman

Short Story Terminology

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by Paula Gail Benson

With the start of a new year, some writers may be looking to experiment with a new fictional form. Why not try short stories?

If you haven’t already dabbled in this genre, here is some terminology you may wish to use to guide you. Short stories are defined by their brevity. Their word count determines how they are categorized.

Drabble—is a story of exactly 100 words (not including the title or author attribution)

Flash Fiction—are stories of 1,000 or fewer words. Some sources say up to 1,500 or 2,000 words.

Brief fictional forms in addition to drabble and flash fiction include:

(1) “the six-word story” exemplified by one attributed to Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

(2) the 280-character story or “twitterature” (based on the maximum number of characters allowed by X as a tweet or twitter). Philip Pullman and Neil Gaiman are practitioners.

(3) the “dribble” or “minisaga,” which is exactly 50 words (here are some examples).

(4) “micro-fiction” or “nano-fiction” is less than 300 words.

(5) “postcard fiction” is up to 500 words.

(6) “sudden fiction,” which can go up to 750 words.

(7) the “microstory.”

Novelette may be 7,500 to 19,000 words.

Novella may be 17,500 to 40,000 words.

A novel can be 40,000 words. Most mystery novels are around 80,000 words. Science fiction and fantasy novels may be as long as 120,000 words.

In addition, short stories are defined by where they are located. Many are found in magazines or online sources. A book of short stories is categorized by the number of authors whose work is contained in it.

Collection—consists of stories all written by the same author, such as John M. Floyd’s River Road and Other Mystery Stories or Barb Goffman’s Don’t Get Mad, Get Even: 15 Tales of Revenge and More

Anthology—contains the work of more than one author and may be organized by theme, for example the Malice Domestic anthologies: Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Diabolical, Malice Domestic 18: Mystery Most Devious, and Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous.

FORGET TECHNOLOGY, ENGAGE IN REAL CONVERSATIONS

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By AB Plum

Sorry, Facebook. Despite your recent pronouncements that longer posts engage people at a deeper level, nothing beats face-to-face conversations. Sorry, Twitter. Good conversation requires more than 280 characters.



These heresies lead me to think about people I’d like to talk to at a dinner party. Politicians, celebrities, and sports figures don’t get invites. Instead, I prefer eight authors. 

In no order, here are the “giants” I would ask for an evening of food for thought. 
Overlook the minor point that many of my would-be guests are deceased.

Louisa May Alcott, how much did you tone down Jo to get Little Women published?

Henry James, was the governess sexually repressed or was her imagination overly active from being isolated with two precocious kids?

E.A. Poe, which is your favorite short story and what influenced you to write it?

Marion Zimmer Bradley, what influenced your decision in The Mists of Avalon to tell the story of Arthur from five different female viewpoints?

Neil Gaiman, how many versions of the first line of The Graveyard Book did you write?

Harper Lee, how much of Huckleberry Finn is in Atticus Finch?

Rick Riordan, when do you plan to publish another Tres Navarre novel?

Charlaine Harris, what is it fans missed in your conclusion of Dead Ever After?

Obviously, I’ll have to host another dinner party with more authors. I’m thinking at least 1,000 more magicians with words and ideas and stories that have stayed with me for years. While I’m working on my list, whom would you invite?

*****

AB will have to postpone her dinner party for a few months until she publishes The Broken-Hearted Many, Book 6 in The MisFit Series. Release date is February 23. Then comes the final installment in the series, The Whole Truth, due in late April.