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

Roger reaches out and grips her hand tightly. “But it won’t happen, Mom, promise?”


Felicia pulls him close, brushes his cheek with her lips. “No, honey, it won’t happen. Not ever.”


The rotation stops as a woman and a boy, about Roger’s age, take a seat on the wheel. Felicia looks down and considers a mother and son, perhaps like them, together on a Sunday outing.


In the distance, the lights filter through a veil of evening fog. Soon, they will be home, and after her son’s bedtime, she will find her sewing kit and finish the blue shirt. If she has to work all night. Whatever it takes. (1,873 words)Appendix E: Character Development and BackstoryThe Broochby Paul Alan Fahey


Chapter 45