Excellent advice, Simone ... serializing a story is much different than writing a series of standalones or a whole novel (I've published 6 novels) ... and yes you have 2 wonderful commenters. What happens to me is I write an initial story and THEN I think, "Hey, this could be serialized." I've got to try to write at least 5 chapters before pubbing ...
Same here. My Goldilocks series started as a rather long story in Redemption Magazine on Medium. Then I published it as a two parts on my website. After that, I just kept writing and it grew into seven parts here on Substack. Now it looks like the character is demanding a sequel.
Simone—thanks for the wonderful and generous compliments! I’m currently roaming the streets of my Lovecraftian city now, and left my laptop at home…more feedback later on, but wanted to convey my thanks ASAP!
Thanks for bigging me up as a beta reader - I’m happy to help where I can and am loving the series.
With this & my other pen name I write serialised fiction and I pants it - writing a new chapter a few days ahead of its publishing date- that works for me as motivation.
I have a loose idea of the story arc & some events en route- but much of the time my characters have an influence on the action.
I consider the online version of these series as my first draft & I benefit from absorbing reader feedback.
Your wise advice makes me think I might be missing out the personal development of my MC. If so, Hopefully I can fix that with revisions.
Thanks for all your help Posy. As I say in the post, it's whatever works for you. I am a great one for getting to a certain point and then thinking, Aah, and sitting back and thinking about it for a week or two - not great for a serial. I'm going to write another article on character motivations and backstory (when I get a chance) although I did write this one a while ago https://simonefrancis.substack.com/p/does-my-character-need-a-backstory
Excellent advice, Simone ... serializing a story is much different than writing a series of standalones or a whole novel (I've published 6 novels) ... and yes you have 2 wonderful commenters. What happens to me is I write an initial story and THEN I think, "Hey, this could be serialized." I've got to try to write at least 5 chapters before pubbing ...
Same here. My Goldilocks series started as a rather long story in Redemption Magazine on Medium. Then I published it as a two parts on my website. After that, I just kept writing and it grew into seven parts here on Substack. Now it looks like the character is demanding a sequel.
I definitely agree pre-planning is best. Shows that writing well is a journey.
Simone—thanks for the wonderful and generous compliments! I’m currently roaming the streets of my Lovecraftian city now, and left my laptop at home…more feedback later on, but wanted to convey my thanks ASAP!
Thanks for bigging me up as a beta reader - I’m happy to help where I can and am loving the series.
With this & my other pen name I write serialised fiction and I pants it - writing a new chapter a few days ahead of its publishing date- that works for me as motivation.
I have a loose idea of the story arc & some events en route- but much of the time my characters have an influence on the action.
I consider the online version of these series as my first draft & I benefit from absorbing reader feedback.
Your wise advice makes me think I might be missing out the personal development of my MC. If so, Hopefully I can fix that with revisions.
Thanks for all your help Posy. As I say in the post, it's whatever works for you. I am a great one for getting to a certain point and then thinking, Aah, and sitting back and thinking about it for a week or two - not great for a serial. I'm going to write another article on character motivations and backstory (when I get a chance) although I did write this one a while ago https://simonefrancis.substack.com/p/does-my-character-need-a-backstory
I shall read it avidly!
Having written a 20+ episode cosy romance, I’m now writing the origin story of 1 of its side characters (as a fantasy adventure).