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

She goes up the stairs and rings the bell. A well-dressed woman opens the door. “Yes?” Then, after no response, “May I help you?”


Meeda returns the woman’s smile, takes a deep breath, and then holds up the newspaper, the words, Full-time Nanny, circled in red. “I’ve come about your ad.” (492 words)


She Never Went into the Cityby Paul Alan Fahey


Jennie takes a break from rowing and turns in the dinghy to see her home dip and sway then disappear the closer she gets to the mainland. She’s better today, remembers what Dr. Edwards told her. “You start with little steps then make them bigger.” The first step, getting into the boat, was the hardest. Sweating palms and a lot of hyperventilating until she got it under control. But with a shaky hand on each oar, she’d made it halfway to the buoy, turned the boat around, and safely headed back to the dock. Baby steps. Yes.


Chapter 50