How long is short?
Pad, cut or write to order? A former journalist wonders how long his short stories should be, with Jane Wenham-Jones
TALK IT OVER
Jane Wenham-Jones
After many years as a professional writer – mostly writing articles for trade magazines and providing technical copy for websites and brochures – I have retired from paid work and have turned my hand to short stories. I am writing these for pleasure at the moment, at the rate of two or three a week, but when I have honed my craft, I would like to enter some competitions and try my hand at the women’s magazine market. (My wife seems to read all of them so I have plenty of research material at hand!) I understand submissions are accepted from both genders but I have one fatal problem. I can see these stories are either around 1,000 or 2,000 words. Yet every story I write comes out at almost exactly 1,500. If I shorten, I find I have lost too much plot-wise and if I pad them out, I fear it shows. I have also been told that 1,500 is rather short for a “literary” tale that would go down well in a competition. Any thoughts?