I love short stories. Obviously they are different than novels which can be hundreds and thousands of pages long. In the short story, the writer has to be very sparing in what he writes so as to get the information across and yet not be any longer than the publication he’s writing for requires.
Sometimes, a writer will have 5000 words or so to get the information out. But, in most cases 5000 words is almost a novelette, which usually has at least 7500 words. Then on the other end of the spectrum, you have flash fiction which is usually less than 1000 words.
But if you really want fiction as short as it can get and yet still tell at least something of a story, then one might turn to what’s called a six-word story. The most famous of these, is without a doubt the six word story attributed to Ernest Hemingway. For those who have never read or heard of it, I can repeated here very quickly. The story went like this: For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn. In those six words all types of images can come to a person’s mind.
So short stories in a nutshell can be just about any number of words, about anything or anybody, etc. etc. etc. I hope these short stories I put here make you possibly think about some things. And I hope you enjoy them as much as I did writing them.
Best wishes, Dan