Short story about dry lake (6)
I believe the answer is:
little
'short' is the definition.
('little' can be similar in meaning to 'short')
'story about dry lake' is the wordplay.
'story' becomes 'lie' (I've seen this before).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'dry' becomes 'tt' (abbreviation for teetotal).
'lake' becomes 'l'.
'tt'+'l'='ttl'
'lie' enclosing 'ttl' is 'LITTLE'.
(Other definitions for little that I've seen before include "younger" , "Small or minute" , "Not big, much or important" , "Book by Dickens" , "Small in quantity or degree" .)