Flat Diane is a novelette

Novelette

A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella...

 by Daniel Abraham

Daniel Abraham (author)

Daniel Abraham is a prolific American science fiction / fantasy author who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies. His novelette Flat Diane was nominated for the Nebula Award...

 which was nominated for the 2005 Nebula Award

Nebula Award

The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...

, and won the 2005 International Horror Guild Award

International Horror Guild Award

The International Horror Guild Award is a recognition presented by the International Horror Guild to recognize the achievements of those who create in the field of horror and dark fantasy. Nancy A. Collins, the founder of the award, felt there was a need for an award granted by a large,...

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Inspired by The Flat Stanley Project, it tells the story of a father who helps his daughter create a paper outline of herself. They send the outline to friends, with instructions to take a picture of themselves with it, send back the picture, and send the outline on to another friend. The daughter, Diane, begins to show signs of knowing things that only the paper outline "Flat Diane" could have witnessed, and shortly after Diane begins having nightmares of torture and molestation the father receives photographs showing that Flat Diane has "fallen into the wrong hands".