Unlike novels, short stories have a finite amount of time to tell a tale, introduce characters and themes, and tie it all together in a neat proverbial bow. While novels are 200-400 pages on average, short stories tell a complete story in 10,000 words or less. They also cut to the chase and establish and resolve conflict.
When you think of short stories, you might think of children’s books. However, short stories are designed for all ages. Adult short stories deal with all the topics that full-length adult novels do, just in an abbreviated and easily digestible way.