When Your Story is Too Short: Tips for Expansion

Do you remember when I first started writing The Brightest Thread back in 2015? The first draft was a somewhat flabby novella that I ended up shortening from almost 30,000 words to 20,000 words in order to follow the Five Magic Spindles contest guidelines.


Fast forward to 2017, and I'm taking that story I worked so hard to condense and expanding it into a full novel! Back when I was cutting words and soaking my keyboard in tears (slight exaggeration), I ached with the knowing that there was so much more story to explore, but no room to do it. I felt I could easily make it three times as long.


Well, now that I am actually trying to triple its size, it's a lot harder than it looks! See, my stories have always had the bad habit of exploding on me. Subplots crop up, character arcs get deeper or more complicated, and connections start springing up like dandelions in May. (Seriously, I look out my window and there's a sea of yellow.)


So things get . . . long. Short stories become novellas, novellas try to become novels, and standalones turn into series.  That's just how I roll, I guess.


But I know lots of young writers have the exact opposite problem. Their stories are too short. By the time they type "The End" their supposed "epic YA fantasy novel" is only 50k, more like middle grade than YA. If that's you, I can sympathize with you for the first time!

photo via Pinterest // graphic mine

So today we're going to be looking at ways you can lengthen your stories--and not just padding them with fluff, but adding meaningful length.

And we'll do it by re-examining the condensing tips I shared in Unraveling a Mess of Threads to see if any of them can be reverse-engineered. Perhaps the opposite principles will be helpful.


(And there will be random gifs, because why not?)

1. Streamline.

Nope, you don't want to reverse this one! Every scene still needs to carry its weight. Don't wander for the sake of extra words. That's when the reader starts yawning--or worse, decides to put the book down.

2. Cut dialogue.

Brevity is still the soul of wit, even if you're looking to expand a story, but you don't have to be quite so ruthless with your dialogue now. A lot can be revealed in a conversation: personality, motives, conflicts, plot, etc. Characters are crucial to any story, and quite often, so are their interactions. So when they start talking to each other, don't be afraid to dig a little deeper, and look for ways to add tension or conflict.

It doesn't always have to be conflict between the characters, either. A tense conversation can be about the imminent war or the urgent need for supplies . . . or it can just as easily be about smaller conflicts, like the fact their local diner stopped selling chocolate milkshakes and they're both upset about it.


The point is, add dialogue that does something. Treat conversations like mini stories: figure out what each person wants and what stands in their way.

3. Cut descriptions.

Now you'll want to add description! But no purple prose, please--your reader proooobably doesn't want to spend three pages watching a sunset unfold. Nor do they need to spend an agonizing amount of time listening to your protagonist navel-gazing.


However, if your story is running too short, there are probably lots of places you can beef up your descriptions. Use them to ground each scene. Intersperse them with action and movement. Engage all five senses. Strive to immerse your reader wholly within the world you've created! That world may never come out on the page 100% the way you imagine it in your mind, but get as close as possible.


If you're struggling to find a place to add description in a scene, stop and consider what's out of the ordinary about where that scene takes place. Yes, it might be in your protagonist's average little kitchen and not in some wildly exotic fantasy locale, but try to find something relevant and interesting about your setting. Maybe the dishes have piled higher than normal because the character's mom has been sick, and the plates are crusted in yesterday's lasagna. Maybe the little brother left a note on the fridge saying he left to search for his missing puppy, but the brother is only six years old and your protagonist starts freaking out about him wandering the streets alone.


But do take note: we don't need to know about the plates or the note if they don't a) further the plot, or b) develop the characters. Yes, you want to add words, but you want to add words that matter!

4. Make a list of scenes.

In the original post, I suggested doing this for the purpose of getting a birds-eye view of your story. That way, it's easier to spot which scenes aren't pulling their weight and need to be cut out. But this is also a great strategy for finding places to expand! Did the story jump from the hero departing home to his arrival at a tavern on the way to his goal? Well, perhaps the journey in between can offer some conflict. Take that boring walk you skipped over and throw some obstacles at him. Ogres attack! The bridge is broken! Bandits steal his food! He stops to help a wounded peasant who will later betray him to the villain! He injures himself climbing a precipitous road! The sky's the limit, folks. It may take extra work later on when editing to make sure your new scenes fit into the story's flow, but it can be done.

5. Cut minor characters.

When every single word is measured, you keep your cast to the bare minimum. But when you're expanding, adding a few more minor characters can provide more conflict, more dialogue, more revealing of main characters, and more subplots--in essence, more words. Who could you add to your story to further complicate events? This leads into the next tip . . .

6. Cut subplots.

This goes further than just adding scenes and characters. This means tying those extra things into your existing storyline, which can be easier said than done. Right now, with every new element I introduce to The Brightest Thread, I'm worried that it will draw the focus away from the main storyline, or that I'm making the story worse, not better. (But at this point I should be in creative mode, and save those sorts of judgments for editing.)


But a new subplot can enrich your story like nothing else. At some point, you'll want to consider whether the subplot revolves around your story's central plot and theme (it should), but for now, take some time to jot a list of all the crazy, difficult, dangerous, beautiful, or interesting things that could happen within your story.


This is where it becomes all about connections! This is when you get to decide that your villain is actually related to your hero, or that trade between two kingdoms is suffering, or that the regular old sword the sidekick wields is no longer an ordinary blade, but a magical object that somebody out there would do anything to obtain.


Rather than bog the story down, a well-written subplot will add depth and complexity.

7. Enter each scene late and leave it early.

KEEP DOING THIS. Basically, start each scene when the important stuff happens, and end it before the tension drops. Don't waste time in getting things going or wrapping them up. This will keep those pages turning fast!

8. Cut unnecessary words.

Admit it, you have a collection of pet words that somehow manage to pepper every other page, no matter how much pet-word-repellant you spray your keyboard with. When you edit, please don't leave those pesky things there just to keep your wordcount higher. Keep deleting whatever's unnecessary. Pacing can be an issue on the scene level and on the sentence level.


Keeping that in mind, you can continue adding dialogue, descriptions, scenes, characters, and subplots. Just make them necessary. Tie them to the stakes of the story. Therein lies the key to meaningful additions.

To sum up:

When expanding a story, look for opportunities to:

• Add dialogue
• Add description
• Add scenes
• Expand the cast of characters
• Create subplots

But don't forget to:

• Keep it streamlined
• And make sure every addition either furthers the plot, develops a character, or both

And that's all I've got! I'm excited about a certain (ahem, creepy) subplot I'm in the process of writing into TBT . . . it's definitely going to change the flavor of the book somewhat, but I hope it will be in a good way.

Discussion time! Have you ever tried to lengthen a story? What worked for you? What didn't work? Or if you're planning to expand a story in the future, which of these tips do you think will help you the most?