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

William ate the last of his French fries, wiped his ketchup-stained fingers on the pale blue napkin, and then poured himself another glass of wine.


Red wine with fish! My God, what had she done? Should she have waited longer, thought harder before marrying William? Dora glanced over at the brook and wanted to travel with it, over the slippery, moss-covered rocks winding its way down the mountains to an aquamarine sea.


“I’m fine,” Dora said, but she didn’t mean it.


Later, William paid for the meal while Dora went in search of the ladies’ room, or so she said.


Dora’s mind turned the phrase over and over. The blue door inn, the blue door inn. Like a cobalt blue mantra, the beginning notes to a sky blue symphony. Could there be such a thing as blue magic? Black magic was wicked, satanic. Maybe blue magic was the other kind. Benevolent, merciful, and compassionate.


Chapter 40