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

“I’m invisible. At least, I used to be. Strange.” I look at where Andrew fell. Did he recreate me by dying? It seems so, but I doubt he intended it.


The detective looks at the wedding picture. “You haven’t changed much. Why did you kill him?”


“I didn’t mean to,” I say. “It was an experiment. I was trying to make him see me.”


She gives me a look, half disgusted, half fascinated. “We searched the house. Where were you?”


I smile. “I’ve been here all along. Right beside you.”


“Yeahhhh…” she says, rolling her eyes. “What a nutcase.”


She calls the uniforms. They handcuff me, put me in a squad car. But I’ve learned from Andrew. I bend my head and focus my mind. One by one they will all wink out of existence. It’s easy; if you don’t give control to someone else, you can create your own reality. Invisible or not. (494 words)


Chapter 8