Homework Help
Good students ask more questions. eNotes educators are standing by.
Topic: Guide to Literary Terms
What is a difference between a novel and a short story?
Share this question:
7 Answers | add yours
Teacher
High School - 11th Grade
Educator Emeritus, Expert, Scribe, Whitman, Poe, Dickens, The Bard
Novels are long, usually with multiple chapters. Short stories are just that--short. They can be anywhere from 54 words, to 20 pages, to longer, but a novel is significantly longer. ...
(The entire answer is 75 words.)
This is an expert answer, written by an eNotes educator. To read the entire answer, please join eNotes.
A novel will often follow one character's journey. Other novels have intersecting stories, such as Colum McCann's "Let the Great World Spin", or Amy Tan's "Joy Luck Club". The novel uses length...
(The entire answer is 180 words.)
This is an expert answer, written by an eNotes educator. To read the entire answer, please join eNotes.
The difference between a novel and a short story has to do with length. A short story is obviously shorter in length, but it also may begin later in the plot triangle. Because a novel has more...
(The entire answer is 83 words.)
This is an expert answer, written by an eNotes educator. To read the entire answer, please join eNotes.
The length is the biggest difference! In a novel, the author is able to give you an in depth look at what the characters are like and how they feel and how they affect others in the story. The setting and the plot are much more explicit. There is much more detail in a novel that there is a short story. A short story is just a glimpse. In "Exploring the Titanic," a non-fiction short story by Robert Ballard, the action is selective. We are only introduced to some of the characters and detail of the story, as to compared to the myriad of novels that have been printed about the tragedy.
Short stories focus upon one or two important events to drive their plot. Novels, on the other hand, may have many different sub-plots, twists, and turns to reach the climax and resolution of...
(The entire answer is 111 words.)
This is an expert answer, written by an eNotes educator. To read the entire answer, please join eNotes.
a novel is far much longer than a SHORT-story and the plot is much more developed
A short story is a short invented prose narrative usually dealing with a few characters and aiming at unity effect. Novel is a long invented prose narrative dealing with human experience through a connected sequence of events.
Join to answer this question
Join a community of thousands of dedicated teachers and students.
Recommended Questions
- Define 'Novel'. Mention some of its common features.
- What makes a reader active or passive when reading a literary text?
- What is a parable?
- How do we classify dialogues, monologues, and interior monologues (technically) in narratives - are they narration modes or genres?
- What does "metaphysical features" mean when discussing literature?
- What is a paradigm in the context of Literature?
- How do the literary concepts of 'intertextuality' and 'dialogism' contrast or compare to each other?
- What is the difference between juxtaposition and paradox?
- Brief me on dark comedy.
- What is the difference between cynicism and sarcasm in literature?
