Short stories are a form of fiction, usually written in prose and narrative format, that focus on a single incident within a confined time and space. They emerged as their own genre in the 19th century alongside the growth of magazines that published short fiction. While short stories may follow some dramatic story elements like other fiction, their brevity means they do not always include exposition, rising action, or other patterns. There is no universally agreed upon definition for what qualifies as a short story in terms of word count, though most are considered no longer than 20,000 words and no shorter than 1,000.