Ian McEwan has defended his Booker Prize-nominated book, On Chesil Beach, insisting it is not too short to count as a novel.
The story, which is based around one evening as a couple embark on their honeymoon, is told in under 200 pages.
When asked at an event in New York whether it should have been entered, he said: "That's their problem, not mine."
McEwan, who is the favourite to win this year, won the Booker once before for Amsterdam in 1998.
Despite that he said: "I still feel I haven't written the novel that I really want to write."
The novelist insisted he could not have written the book any other way.
"You allow yourself the possibility of writing in real time, it could never be a long novel," he said.
The winner of the £50,000 prize will be named at London's Guildhall on 16 October.
The award is given for the best novel of the past year by an author from the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth.
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