“The Short and the Long of It: Turning a Short Story into a Novel” by Maria Alexander
But how do you take a small idea
and turn it into a big one? One that transforms a few hundred or thousand words
into a book-length page-turner? In both stories, the protagonist was fairly
isolated, dealing with a major problem on his or her own. To create a
book-length idea, I had to involve other people in the drama and give them
stakes in what happens.
For example, in the short story
“Mr. Wicker,” Alicia Baum commits suicide and discovers a place beyond death called
The Library of Lost Childhood Memories where she learns she’s missing a
childhood memory. After paramedics revive her, she soon goes home and returns
to the Library twice by supernatural means. Although tempted to stay with the
Librarian, Mr. Wicker, she instead collects the memory and brings it back to
our world to her therapist.
The novel Mr. Wicker brings in more characters. Like in the short story, Alicia
encounters the Librarian in Chapter One after her suicide. However, she then wakes
up in a hospital where she meets Dr. Farron, a child psychiatrist who’s
investigating a psychological phenomenon called “Mr. Wicker.” Now we have two people who are motivated to find out
who Mr. Wicker is, as well as the missing memory. But not everyone wants the
memory found, including Mr. Wicker himself. The missing memory also changed. It’s
much bigger than the one in the story. It involves more people and its
discovery is far more dangerous.
In Snowed, the transformation is more profound because “Coming Home” is
a twelve hundred-word, first-person flash piece. In an O. Henry twist at the
end, we realize who the protagonist really is talking about when his worst
fears come true. (People often re-read the story to see how they were fooled
the first time around.) But when I wrote Snowed,
a “twist” ending just wasn’t enough. Instead, I created a series of twists that
throw the reader on a roller coaster ride landing on the last page
To that end, I took the protagonist
of the short story and made him a secondary character to preserve the mystery
of his identity as long as possible. And just like in Mr. Wicker, I changed the secret. I made sure this new secret would
not only threaten the life of our new protagonist, 16-year-old Charity Jones,
but also her friends and love interest.
Adding relationships and increasing
the stakes are key to turning a small idea into a big one. The real challenge
is when the story has been published and widely read, like “Coming Home.” I
hope those who haven’t read the short story will give the book a shot first. If
you like being fooled, you’ll love being Snowed.
Maria Alexander is an
award-winning author and samurai-in-training who lives in Los Angeles. Snowed
is coming to shred teen Xmas stockings on
November 2, 2016 from Raw Dog Screaming Press. You can learn more about her at www.mariaalexander.net.
Comments
But... you gave us courage to maybe attempt it.
I currently posted a blog on TheWritersInResidence.com about Turning Experiences Into Stories. A couple people have asked me, "Why don't you turn those stories into a book?" Now with this post on Marilyn's blog, you have given me more to ponder....
Jackie Houchin