Q&A with Stephen Matlock discussion

This is a book of personal essays, short stories, and flash fiction.

What did you think? What stories would you like to see developed further?

I updated the book last night (it's still waiting for final edit approval, so I can still change it!) and added a section for the short story/flash fiction that was the inspiration for my novel.

I hadn't read that story for a few years, and when I reviewed it for this book, I found that I really did improve the story by changing it into a novel, and by re-arranging the way the story gets told. I also smoothed out the narrative and made it more approachable to the young adult audience.

The interesting thing is to see the changes in characters. The name of the town changed because I found that there was a real town with the name in the story. I changed Benjamin's last name. I changed the entire name of the congressman.

I also found that I was already hinting at subplots even in this first draft. The story of the congressman and the mayor's wife is hinted here. The collision between the churches is here.

Of course, as the author I think I did the right thing in changing the story to fit a novel-sized work, but I'd be interested to hear from readers who have read both.

I really like the detailed and the interesting characters of the story 'Christiana and the Beans'.