Do you write short fiction but long to s-t-r-e-t-c-h those tight little 55ers, flash pieces, and short stories into longer, publishable work? Do you have binders full of short pieces with characters you’d love to flesh out? Are you dying to tell the rest of these stories? If so,The Short and Long of Itis for you! Award-winning short fiction writer Paul Alan Fahey shows you how to expand and adapt your brief creations into longer, more satisfying stories, plays, novellas, and novels pitch perfect for publication in the e-age. This book will help you practice expanding your short fiction. Through detailed examples and hands-on exercises, you’ll learn how to: Adapt 55 fiction into flash fiction;Adapt flash fiction into short stories and plays;Adapt flash memoir into personal essays;Write a tight logline;Develop a story theme;Build three-act structure; andDevelop characters and enhance backstory.So grab a copy today and start writing longer stories tomorrow!

The Short and Long of It

As a bridge to the next  on flash fiction, pick a favorite 55er from one of your exercises in this section and expand it to a 100-word summary or outline. Don’t worry if you go over the word limit or if the outline feels incomplete and sketchy. No one will ever see it. Think of this exercise as a blueprint for something much longer, a three-minute trailer to a two-hour movie.


Here are some ideas to think about as you write your summary:


If your 55er suggests an overall theme, go with it.


Add events to your summary that reflect this theme and help move the story forward.


Envision your story in three acts with a beginning, middle, and end. Where are these divisions?


Add detail to the setting. 2: Flash Fiction


Like all fiction that matters, their success depends not


on their length, but on their depth, their clarity of vision,


Chapter 5