Introduction
It is my conviction that reading good models of short stories is more instructive than reading instructions on how to write a good story and my approach, therefor is to refer to such models to highlight best practice. I refer also to some longer works to illustrate particular techniques.
So, how long is a short story anyway? There is no definitive length for a short story but there is a rule of thumb that it is a story intended to be read in one sitting. There are generally accepted ranges of word counts: Short stories: 1,000 to 10,000 words. Short story competitions typically have word limits of 1,500, 3,000, 5,000, 6,000.
A novel may be a story above 40,000 words, but more commonly above 60,000. In between the short story and the novel is the novella: 10,000 to 40,000 words. Short short stories: flash fiction: 500 to 1,000 words. And shorter than 500: micro fiction. There is an oft-quoted six-word story attributed to Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.”
A prime characteristic of short stories, obviously, is their brevity. The writing is compact and economical. There is no latitude for lengthy descriptions of settings and characters, as in novels, or for expansive exposition or editorial comment. In the most extreme expression of this concept, every word contributes to the overall effect. Authors of short stories typically write multiple drafts with the aim of achieving maximum effect with the minimum of words and getting every word exactly right. They also commonly advise reviewing a story after a period of time, preferably after it is nearly forgotten, to reread it with fresh eyes.
Witi Ihimaera published the first work of fiction by a Māori writer in 1972: a collection of short stories entitled Pounamu Pounamau. It was republished in 2012 as a fortieth anniversary edition. Ihimaera had revised and improved the stories with the addition of new ideas.
The same story may be assiduously reworked through multiple drafts to finally achieve the impression that it was written spontaneously, almost by accident, as John Wareham would have it.