The Short and Long of It

Paul Alan Fahey

• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Year: 2016
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Print ISBN:
  9781532832857
• Subtopic: Creative Writing
• eBook ISBN:
  9781634861267
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

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!

Part 1: The Short Forms

Your original idea starts your creative process.

—Bob Mayer

There’s an old Ethiopian proverb that goes something like this: “Little by little the egg will walk.” If you think about it a moment, the saying makes quite a bit of sense. Take one step at a time and you’ll reach your goal. So that’s what we’ll do in this book. We’ll begin slowly and work our way up to writing longer, fuller, and more satisfying work.

The chapters in this section present examples of the short fiction forms beginning with 55 Fiction, or 55ers, and moving through flash fiction to short-shorts and short stories. I’ll provide some examples of exemplary pieces from my colleagues for you to analyze, and add a few stories of my own. I’ll also share some writing wisdom, invaluable tips, and words of encouragement gleaned from my workshop notes at the Central Coast Writer’s Conference. There will also be plenty of exercises at the end of the chapters to help you bridge the gap between the short and the long forms.

So like the egg, little by little, let’s begin our walk.

Chapter 1: 55 Fiction

How short can a story be and still be considered a story?

Steve Moss, editor and co-publisher of New Times in San Luis Obispo, posed this question in his introduction to The World’s Shortest Stories, and it wasn’t long before these very short pieces of 55 words became a local, national, and international phenomenon. Each year New Times holds a 55 Fiction contest. I fell in love with the genre and over the years I’ve been fortunate to have several of my 55ers featured among the winners. For a fiction writer these very tiny pieces can be a huge challenge, but I guarantee you’ll have tons of fun creating them, and in the process learn to shape and hone your writing skills for much longer work. Did anyone say warm-up exercises?

Let’s take a look at some excellent examples of 55 Fiction.

* * * *

December 8, 1980, 5:59 P.M. by David Congalton

She closed the history book and sighed. “That General Custer. He should never have left the safety of the Dakota territory.”

He was in too much of a hurry to listen. He picked up his guitar and headed for the door. “Bloody hell, Yoko. Let’s go. We’re going to be late.” (51 words)

* * * *

Did you have almost a visceral reaction to reading this piece? I sure did. Like most horrendous events in history—the assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy—we remember where we were, often even what we were doing at the time. John Lennon’s assassination is no exception. My partner, Bob, now my husband, and I were sitting in our living room reading the evening paper when our next door neighbor burst in with the news.

Mr. Congalton’s 55er has a sense of reality, immediacy, terror, and surprise; it’s economical in its brevity, but it has depth and great power and the satisfying feel of a full story. Not bad for just fifty-one words, eh? (Yep, pieces less than fifty-five words are allowed in the contest.)

* * * *

The More Things Change by Christine M. Ahern

When they met, her hair was wild, her name was Peace.

His hair was long, his name was Sam. He played guitar for her.

Sam traded his guitar for golf clubs. She’s long since cut her hair.

He calls her Judy. But sometimes, under a full moon’s light, he sees Peace and kisses her anew. (55 words)

* * * *

In The More Things Change, Ms. Ahern does a beautiful job of charting the trajectory of a relationship: how two people meet, change with the years, and come full circle at the end. She lets the reader fill in the blanks. One of the most striking aspects of this piece is its three-part structure. Can you identify and separate Ms. Ahern’s story into those divisions? The nostalgic afterglow is a wonderful bonus. How can anyone not love it?

* * * *

Grapplemeyer by Shirley Powell

“Old Grapplemeyer died broke. The reading of this will is over.”

“That old fraud,” sobbed Lydia, Grapplemeyer’s mistress of thirty years. “I’ve wasted my life.”

“You?” shouted David. “I was his secretary, valet, and more!”

“I was only the cook, but I’ll miss dear Mr. Grapplemeyer,” said Rosemary, fingering a huge diamond ring. (53 words)

* * * *

Can you see Ms. Powell winking at you as you read the last line of this humorous piece? It’s short—clocks in at 53 words—sweet, and reads like a dream. Talk about curling up at the end. No reading between the lines here. It’s all there and beautifully written.

* * * *

Your Turn Now

Before we begin this section of writing exercises, a few caveats.

Don’t worry if you go over the fifty-five-word limit during the first draft. Let the creative juices flow. Let your imagination run rampant and make your story curl right up to its inevitable and surprising end. If you want to set a timer, feel free. Set the timer for whatever time limit you’re comfortable with, but like Goldilocks, not too long and not too short. You want to get your thoughts down as quickly as you can. I usually write these short pieces by hand on legal tablets as I find the words flow better for me this way than on a computer. But that’s up to you.

We’ll talk about revising your drafts to fit the fifty-five-word restriction at the end of this section. Write as many 55ers as you like. Just remember to have fun.

In her book, Fast Fiction: Creating Fiction in Five Minutes, Roberta Allen calls these types of writing exercises “playing with possibilities.” I’ve adapted a few of her exercises for this book. If you like, try combining two or three prompts into one and write that story; for example, write a story about a myth, a victory, and growing old.

1. Write a 55er that’s a parody of one of your favorite novels, movies, or TV shows.
2. Write a tale with erotic overtones.
3. Write a parody of a myth or fable.
4. Write a 55er using only dialogue.
5. Write about growing old.
6. Write about a close call.
7. Write about a place or time that feels nostalgic.
8. Write a 55er that’s pure narrative. (No dialogue allowed.)
9. Write about a crisis.
10. Write about a victory.

* * * *

After the Exercise

1. Review the rules for writing 55 Fiction (Appendix A).
2. Does your story have an arc? A distinct beginning, middle, and end?
3. Count the words in each line and write the line total off to the side.
4. Add the line totals. Did you go over the 55-word limit? My guess is you did. I usually do.
5. Review your draft and eliminate as many “weasel” words as you can—words that add nothing to your story.
6. Replace weasels, usually adjectives and adverbs, with stronger nouns and verbs.
7. If your story is close to fifty-five words, not to worry. Just don’t go over the limit. As Stephen King said, “Kill your darlings.” Don’t be afraid to lose a word here and there. As you become more proficient at writing in this form, your work will become tighter. This is a skill worth its weight in gold when you face more challenging and longer writing projects.
8. Does your story have a theme? If so, write it down. It will come in handy if and when you expand your 55er into a piece of flash or a short story. Or even into something longer. I know you can do it.

As an example, here’s one of my drafts I revised from 132 to 55 words.

* * * *

A Tale of One Alley by Paul Alan Fahey

(A parody on Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities)

It was a lovely day, it was a rotten day, it was a full moon, it was a total eclipse, it was Grenada, it was Asbury Park, it was the fog mixing in with the hue from the street lamp, creeping around corners on teeny, tiny ...

Table of contents

• Table of Contents:
• Part 1: The Short Forms
• Chapter 1: 55 Fiction
• Chapter 2: Flash Fiction
• Chapter 3: Loglines, Themes, and Three-Act Structure
• Part 2: Expanding and Adapting Short Fiction
• Chapter 4: Flash Fiction to Short Plays
• Chapter 5: Flash Fiction to Short Stories
• Chapter 6: Flash Memoir to Personal Essays
• Chapter 7: Short Stories to Novellas
• Chapter 8: Flash Fiction for Character Development and Backstory
• Chapter 9: A Very Short Conclusion
• Part 3: Appendices