Short Story

Short story
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For the Gershwin piano and violin music, see Short Story (music).

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Literature
Major forms
Novel · Poem · Drama
Short story · Novella

Genres
Epic · Lyric · Drama
Romance · Satire
Tragedy · Comedy
Tragicomedy

Media
Performance (play) · Book

Techniques
Prose · Verse

History and lists
Outline of literature
Index of terms
History · Modern history
Books · Writers
Literary awards · Poetry awards

Discussion
Criticism · Theory · Magazines

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2010)
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas (in the 20th and 21st century sense) and novels. Short story definitions based upon length differ somewhat even among professional writers, due somewhat in part to the fragmentation of the medium into genres. Since the short story format includes a wide range of genres and styles, the actual length is determined by the individual author's preference (or the story's actual needs in terms of creative trajectory or story arc) and the submission guidelines relevant to the story's actual market. Guidelines vary greatly among publishers.
Many short story writers define their work through a combination of creative, personal expression and artistic integrity. As a result, many attempt to resist categorization by genre as well as definition by numbers, finding such approaches limiting and counter-intuitive to artistic form and reasoning. As a result, definitions of the short story based upon length splinter even more... [continues]

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