I have just started what I thought was going to be a short story but it's running away with me! So far I am at nearly eight thousand words and still going strong. So what is the maximum number of words that keep it in the realms of a short story and not bordering on a novella?
I have had some stories published, and most of them were 3,000 words or thereabouts. Then of course there's flash fiction, often 1,000 words or less. Definitely not for the fainthearted!
According to all the things I have read about this less than ten thousand is usually considered a short story, anything above that it becomes a novella.