First of all - sorry if this is somewhere else.

So, I know that there is no official word count or whatever due to classifying novels, novellas, epic novels, etc.

However, I just wanted to see what you guys considered to be novellas, novelettes, and etc.

Here's a few links to word count amounts:

http://askville.amazon.com/Word-count-l ... Id=6153729
http://storytime.booklamp.org/2012/03/1 ... iting-faq/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_count

NotThatShort Mimetes provided me with this estimate: If it's wrong, sorry. I'll correct myself

Novella: 20k-30k
Novelette: 30k-50k
Novel: 50k-200k
Epic novel: 300k+ (if not broken into separate books).

So what do you guys think?

According to those links it definitely sounds like it varies. I like the estimates you posted.

Thanks - though credit for that particular estimate goes to NTS.

I have no idea what differentiates a novella from a novellate, but I agree with those word count estimates..

Hm...I had never even heard of Novellete. Everything around and under the 50,000 range was a novella, as far as I knew.

I understand calling a long work an 'epic novel', however I wish there was a better term, cause epic means other things too, which aren't necessarily present in a long novel. (One of George MacDonald's longer novels was called 'Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood'. ) But whatever it's called, I think that's probably a good wordcount for that category.

Hmm. Novelette is usually shorter than a Novella so you may want to adjust your numbers.

I usually call novels 300k+ deforesters and door stoppers...but that may just be me.

For the most part I stand by the Nebula Award's word count standards for novel, short story, novella, and novelette.

The standards I think are best are:

Novella - 20K to 50K
Novel - 50K to 120K
Super-novel - 120K+

I got these from a publisher, I believe, or someone official. Most publishers want novels no longer than 120K, at least for a first book, and no less than 50K. Anything longer than 120K is considered very long. Eragon, for example, isn't really huge for a fantasy book but it is over 150K.

Anything less than 50K and longer than a short story can be called a novella. Short stories are up to 10K (some say 7,500), and long stories are 10K (or 7,500) to 20K. I sometimes call the long stories novelettes. Novelette and novella are synonymous terms, so whether you use them for the higher end of the novella range or the lower, it doesn't really matter.

What about short stories? I think I would use something like this:

Short Story: 100 words-10k

Does 10k feel too much or too little to you guys?

I think 10K is a good ceiling for short stories.

And anything under 1,000 words is flash fiction, not a short story. Forgot to mention that.

Okay, thanks. So this is what I've come up with so far - do the figures seem accurate? I mean, as I said before, I know that there is no solid 'how-long-these-things-are' thing, but...

Flash fiction: 1-1k
Short Story: 1k-10k
Novelette: 20k-30k
Novella: 30k-50k
Novel: 50k-120k
Super-novel: 120k-300k
Epic novel: 300k+

This is just nitpicking, but I'd advise changing the flash fiction to "up to 1k" -- I've never heard of a 1 word story.

Long story/Novelette: 10K - 20K
Novella: 20K - 50K

Yes, I know - I caught that yesterday.

Okay, well, thanks everyone!

I was under the impression that anything above 200k was considered epic, but that could be wrong.

Epic literature is a genre, not a length.