Ever hear the saying "Less is more" and think that it's just relativistic digested cow food? Well, 88% of the time you'd be right. But there's always that pesky 12% of the time when you're wrong. Word counts for short stories fall into that murky 12%, where anything is possible, and where less is more...important.

Short stories are, by definition, short. Or at least shorter than novellas, novels, and epics. Flash fiction is even shorter than short stories, but that's a tale for another day (SPOILERS: Next week). I generally consider short stories to be of a length between 5,000 to 20,000 words, give or take a sentence.

That literary limitation makes for awkward times if your story is, say 25,000 words. Then it could be considered a novella or just a really fat short story, depending on who's looking at it and what their opinion may happen to be at the moment. Also the alignment of Mars in relation to Betelgeuse and Hoth have to be just right, otherwise your story will spontaneously morph into a confused-looking iguana. I've seen it before, it's not a pretty sight.

But, like I was saying, the number of words matters to the publishing world. The number of words factors into how many pages, which in turn factors into the size and width of the finished product. Or, in the case of ebooks, the file size of a book. (May the Elder Gods help you if your book is one KB over the size limit. Cthulhu may end up eating the whole thing, and half a dimension while he's at it, because of your oversized story. Do you want that on your conscience? I thought not.)

All threats of insanity aside, being able to control your word count is a sign of a competent writer. Knowing when to cut and when to trim involves understanding the weak points of your story and eliminating them. (And yes, every story has a weak point. Even bestselling books have weak plot points. Actually, some of the bestselling books have the biggest plot holes...don't try to emulate that.)

Skimming off extraneous plot, dialogue, and description also leaves more to the reader's imagination. This can work for you, as not ever reader wants a complete description down to the sparkly DNA code for each character within the story. On the flipside *flips* you should give a few identifying marks to characters, even if it's that they have no real personality - that makes them stand out from those who do. (*coughTwilightcough*)

Sometimes experimentation with trimming plot bits is necessary. Some are easier to lop off than others. If it doesn't further the plot, chop it. If it doesn't expand on your characters or their actions, chop it. If it is a code for imploding the universe...gently take it out and stuff it away somewhere safe. If you're not sure a plot bit should be chopped, chop it and read the story. Does it work? Or do you need to use some superglue to smush it back in? Won't know unless you try.