short story how long or short?

A story is as long as it needs to be. Short stories don't necessarily have to be short, but they do have to have a clear beginning, middle and end.

Kittyrog is wrong about women's mags are no longer publishing fiction. Take A Break does a monthly fiction magazine, full of short stories and so does the People's Friend. Some magazines like Womens Own and Women have the occasional reader's short story.

And a short story can be as short as a page or as long as an essay, 5000 - 8000. What needed is to work out which publication is taking what, before submitting your creation.

A short story is typically between 1200 and 2000 words long. However, the stories I have written range from that length to about 5000 or more.

The length (number of words) of a short story depends on the market you are aiming at. Market Research is the right way to go.

Short stories can be about 1000 to 10,000 words after that it is considered a novella

It could be seriously short (250 words) and you can call it flash fiction or if you just keep going it could be a novella. The label isn't important, the content is.

Nothing wrong with a medium length story!!!

There is no specific number of words for limit, its just as far as your plot goes.

There isn't an average.

look in a womens mag and see how long they are