Hey, fellow readers and writers! It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a writing update. Today, I want to give you a little behind-the-scenes look at the evolution of my current project under my pen name, J.E. Ortega—The Kids Are Gone.

This story originally started as a short piece that I wrote with no intentions of expanding. It was a deeply personal and haunting exploration of a mother who wakes up to find her children missing, trapped in a state where she’s unable to distinguish whether the events unfolding are scientific or supernatural. What began as a surreal, contained narrative—perfect for a short story—has since transformed into something much bigger, and I’m now in the process of expanding it into a novella.

The Origins of The Kids Are Gone

When I first wrote The Kids Are Gone, it was meant to be a standalone short story. The central character, Carolina, is a mother who has experienced an unimaginable loss and is in the midst of a mental breakdown. Through her fragmented memories, readers are left to piece together what really happened to her children. At its core, the story blended psychological horror with supernatural elements, a mix I’ve always loved exploring.

As the story developed, I realized there was so much more I wanted to unpack. Carolina’s journey—her trauma, her denial, her confrontation with the unknown—deserved more room to breathe. The emotions, the confusion, the battle between science and the supernatural—all of it needed more space to fully explore the depths of this character’s psyche.

Why Expand into a Novella?

Expanding The Kids Are Gone into a novella has given me the freedom to dive deeper into Carolina’s emotional and psychological state. The story is no longer just about a mother’s search for her missing children—it’s about her fractured perception of reality, her denial of her trauma, and her desperate attempt to reconcile what’s happening to her with the world she thought she knew.

By moving from a short story to a novella, I’ve been able to add layers to the narrative that were only hinted at in the original version. We get to explore more of Carolina’s memories and how they’ve been distorted by grief. We also get a closer look at the science-versus-supernatural debate that threads through the story, leaving readers questioning what’s real and what’s imagined, just as Carolina does.

Where I’m at in the Process

Right now, I’m in the thick of expanding the middle sections of the novella. This is where the suspense ramps up, as Carolina begins to unravel the events that led to her children’s disappearance. One of the challenges has been balancing the psychological horror with the supernatural elements—I want to keep readers on edge, not quite sure which way the story will go, all while making sure it still feels deeply grounded in Carolina’s emotional journey.

I’m also having a lot of fun building out the world around Carolina. We get to see more of the people in her life—the ones she reaches out to for help, the ones who doubt her sanity, and the ones who hold the key to the mystery she’s trying to solve. It’s been both exciting and intense to dive back into this story and give it the space it needs to fully unfold.

Looking Ahead

I’m excited to continue developing The Kids Are Gone into the novella I know it can be. This expansion process has pushed me as a writer, forcing me to dig deeper into the characters and themes. It’s been challenging but incredibly rewarding to explore Carolina’s story in more depth and to see where her journey takes her—and my readers.

Stay tuned for more updates on how the novella is coming along! I can’t wait to share this story with you in its expanded form.