What is a story?

A story leaves you speechless for a few moments or a few hours, because there aren't any few words that sum up in your mind what you just read. And that's exactly it: a story is an emotion that takes exactly the number of words in the story to convey what it is.

It can be very long or very short. A story can be six words. In fact, here are dozens of six-word stories:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html

These stories are also a lesson in trusting your reader to fill in the blanks. Some examples from Wired, Issue 14.11:

I’m your future, child. Don’t cry.
- Stephen Baxter

I’m dead. I’ve missed you. Kiss … ?
- Neil Gaiman

Easy. Just touch the match to
- Ursula K. Le Guin

...and Ernest Hemingway's famous one:

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