What is a Short Story?

Stephen Vincent Benet once said that a short story was one that could “be read in an hour and remembered for a lifetime.”  Here are some guidelines for getting you started on your journey of creating a memorable short story.
 
According to writing professor Shariann Lewitt of MIT, all short stories should possess three key elements-- unity of time, singularity of point of view, and unity of place. In addition to these important attributes, Lewitt says the short story should "capture a moment of understanding change." She calls this moment of understanding the “now moment." She also says you can think of the now moment as the most central issue in the story. This central issue could also be called the theme.

In the words of Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D, English professor at Farmingdale State University in New York, theme is “the main idea of a literary work, its general statement about life.” The theme may be plainly stated or it may be revealed slowly through plot, characters, or setting.

Dr. Rozakis also gives a list of characteristics that most short stories share. She says, "a short story

• Is a prose narrative (this means it's not poetry).
  
• Has fewer than 10,000 words. On average, a short story tends to run between 2,000 and 7,000 words.
  
• Describes one main event that tells a story.
  
• Features a small cast of characters, usually no more that one or two main characters.
  
• Takes place during a limited time frame. The action might take place in a day, a week, or a month, for example. There are some exceptions, but usually the action doesn't last for years.
  
• Often shows a character undergoing an event that changes him or her. This event reveals one facet of human nature."
  

Unlike a novel, a short story does not have the complexity of multiple layers. It focuses on one central point. So when writing your short story, focus on that one issue, truth, opinion, or observation and build a convincing narrative around it. 

Shariann Lewitt. 21W.755 Writing and Reading Short Stories, Spring 2012. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed 24 May, 2016). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 

Laurie E.Rozakis, Ph.D. An Idiot's Guide to Creative Writing. New York, NY: Alpha Books, 2004.