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

If you’ve got a copy of The World’s Shortest Stories, you’ll know what we mean.


Surprise endings are often found in 55 Fiction, but they’re not a prerequisite for success. They probably turn up a lot because they’re easy to work with and because many writers instinctively aim for the impact of a twist at the end. H. H. Munro had similar instincts in his finely crafted mini-stories. So did Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock in their famous half-hour TV programs. Pretty good storytellers to emulate.


A few other important points to keep in mind:


You can write about anything you like, but you can’t use more than 55 words. Yes, you can use fewer if you’d like to, but we don’t know why anyone would…don’t short change yourself even more than we already have. And what, exactly, is a word? Simple. If it’s in the dictionary, it’s a word.


Chapter 34