A short story is a work of fiction not usually considered long enough to be an independent publication. Typically they are published in magazines or in collections. The limit to the length of the story is not fixed. The Hugo Awards define a short story as one of under 7,500 words. Some may be very much shorter.
Many essays are in effect short stories, written before the term came to be used.
It is fairly common for short stories to be linked, either through their settings or through use of the same characters.
Among the notable writers of short stories are: