Short prose is a generic term for various kinds of very short fictional prose

Prose

Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

; short prose may or may not be narrative

Narrative

A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...

. Short prose pieces are considerably shorter than a short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

, i.e., usually less than c. 1,000 words. Because of their small size, short prose pieces can attain high levels of lexical density and may thereby resemble prose poems

Prose poetry

Prose poetry is poetry written in prose instead of using verse but preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery and emotional effects.-Characteristics:Prose poetry can be considered either primarily poetry or prose, or a separate genre altogether...

, but the focus in short prose is less on language itself (and thus on rhythm

Rhythm

Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

, metre, or other phonological effects) than on the rapid presentation of a situation.

A piece of short prose may contain drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

, but it normally differs from a vignette

Vignette (literature)

In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...

 in that it has no necessary associations with theatre or character. Because plot is peripheral to, or nonexistent in, short prose, a short prose piece differs from a sketch story

Sketch story

A sketch story, or sketch, is a piece of writing that is generally shorter than a short story, and contains very little, if any, plot. The term was most popularly-used in the late nineteenth century. As a literary work, it is also often referred to simply as the sketch.-Style:A sketch is mainly...

 in that it does not necessarily invite the reader to imagine what came before or what follows after. Finally, because a piece of short prose does not necessarily have characters, conflict, or resolution, it usually differs from the short short story, flash fiction

Flash fiction

Flash fiction is a style of fictional literature or fiction of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category...

 and microfiction as these are usually defined.

Writers who have favoured the use of short prose include Fyodor Sologub

Fyodor Sologub

Fyodor Sologub was a Russian Symbolist poet, novelist, playwright and essayist. He was the first writer to introduce the morbid, pessimistic elements characteristic of European fin de siècle literature and philosophy into Russian prose.-Early life:...

, Daniil Kharms

Daniil Kharms

Daniil Kharms was an early Soviet-era surrealist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist. One of his pseudonyms, which was signed in Latin alphabet, was Daniel Charms.- Life :...

 (Случаи), Dezső Kosztolányi

Dezso Kosztolányi

-Biography:Kosztolányi was born in Szabadka, Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1885, the town belongs today to Serbia. The city serves as a model for the fictional town of Sárszeg, in which he set his novella Skylark as well as The Golden Kite....

, István Örkény

István Örkény

István Örkény was a Hungarian writer. A typical feature of his plays and novels is satiric view and creation of grotesque situations.- Life :...

 (Egyperces novellák), Samuel Beckett (Fizzles

Fizzles

Samuel Beckett used the word "fizzles" to describe eight short prose pieces written between 1973-1975.Most fizzles are unnamed, and identified by their numbers or first few words:* Fizzle 1 [He is barehead]* Fizzle 2 [Horn came always]* Fizzle 3 Afar a Bird...

), Francis Ponge

Francis Ponge

Francis Jean Gaston Alfred Ponge was a French essayist and poet. In many ways, he combined the two — essay and poem — into a single art form.-Life:...

 (Le parti pris des choses

Le parti pris des choses

Le parti pris des choses is a collection of 32 short to medium-length prose poems by French poet and essayist Francis Ponge first published in 1942...

), David Eggers (Short Short Stories), Eduardo Berti

Eduardo Berti

Eduardo Berti is an Argentinian writer born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1964. He has lived in Paris since 1998. He also works as a cultural journalist....

 (La Vie Impossible).