Forum: Author Hangout

The one done this way that's been successful this century is 44 Scotland Street

Stephen King wrote "The Green Mile" as a serial of 6 short pocketbooks (they were eventually released as a novel with six chapters). Someone who was fascinated with the Dickens' serial writing approached him. King realized the sum of income from 6 low-priced paperbacks was greater than a single novel.

There are two obvious differences between dead tree serials and electronically published serials.

First is the size - you've only got so much paper to fill. Second is the ending - you know WHEN it's going to end, so you have to do like Picard and 'make it so.'

I'm not QUITE publishing as I write, but darned close. My goal is a fifteen chapter buffer, so if Real Life™ screws with me, I have some room. I'm down to a fourteen chapter buffer, but that's still 150,000 words between what's published now and where I am in the story. That gives me time for research as I'm writing and the editing process.

I vaguely recall from my childhood some examples of cereal publications. There was a series of magic tricks, for example. Because they were inside the cereal packet, you had no idea at the time of purchase whether you were getting a duplicate. Another series came as a small,thick booklets. When you flipped through the pages quickly, it looked as though the subject character was moving.

AJ

My ideal buffer is 40 chapters. I'm just under 30 right now, which is frustrating but okay.

I've previously said that if it goes under 20 I will drop to 2x a week. It's not dropping right now, so there's no imminent threat, but at under 20 I think quality would suffer. I don't often have to jump back that far to add or revise, but it happens.

The other factors are the editing cycle (each chapter takes roughly a week to edit, with each editor taking a day or two) and my own editing cycle, which benefits from getting significant space between when I write it and when I go back and proofread and edit. If I reread too soon I'm more likely to read what I meant and not what I wrote.

That's not a typo comment, either. Often it's a piece of phrasing, where (at the time) I knew what I meant, but on a reread it's 'What exactly WAS I thinking here? How did that ever make sense?'

As long as I can write 3+ chapters a week on average, all is well.

Also I'll note that my chapters are significantly shorter than StarFleet Carl's chapters; my target is 3,000-6,000 words with a very few under 3,000. Average is around 4,000 words. Based on what Carl's above comment, he's at 10k+ per chapter.

If I reread too soon I'm more likely to read what I meant and not what I wrote.

I do the same thing. Typically the day before I post a chapter, I'll do a final reading, so that way a chapter is 'fresh' for me.

Based on what Carl's above comment, he's at 10k+ per chapter.

I'm running about 12,000 - 13,000 words per chapter. I use Libre Office, and Times New Roman 14 point font. When I'm writing, I try to stay right about 25 pages in length using that metric.

I recently published a story I had sat on for a year while working on the next chapter.

I get the desire to want it finished before publishing. I also really want to see it out there and see what people think of it.

I'm glad I chose to put it out there even though there's another chapter coming. A second spinoff story would not have ever happened unless I had hit the point where I could think a little past it. And now that spinoff is also out there.

For the spinoff I didn't sit at all. I wrote the whole thing in a rapid stream of consciousness. Took two days to edit it, and sent it to three different erotica sites. It probably could have used a bit more time to 'cook' or maybe gone another chapter first. Some of the reception has been great, none of it's been bad, but it hasn't "scored" as high as prior parts.

That said, for the spinoff I wanted it out there right away and I also wanted to see how people would react to me putting out something that was not finished, and now I am seeing if I will be able to finish it.

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Thankfully, I still feel inspired.
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That is the key.

Make sure to end each chapter feeling inspired and wanting more just as much as your readers might.

Year and years ago when I wrote my Alandra story it was the opposite. At the end of each chapter I was often angry and needing a break. A story I thought would take me a month or two to get out there took 6 years to finish even though it only had 6 chapters.

If you ever step away from your story while not feeling it, or worse feeling against it, it risks lingering.

By contrast with my new Jacandra at Blanke Schande College CMNF story... the ideas are still there and I still very much feel the story in a positive, inspired way. It helps that I'm not fighting against other authors over what the canon is... but it goes beyond that too.

Making sure I stop writing at a point where I still feel inspired means I'm carrying the 'high' forward.

Hopefully.

After all, if Chapter 2 takes a year to get out there - this will have been wrong. But I'm hopeful it will be a lot sooner. ;)

Is that 'buffer' in a single story or across many?

Single story.

I have ideas for other stories, and even a few with a couple of completed chapters. But for me, when I'm ready to sit down and work on an idea, then that's what I do. My subconscious only works on one topic at a time.

As an example, when Laz announced the Valentine's Day contest, I immediately had the story title in my mind. Then I spent the next two weeks writing it - with appropriate research, as well - to the exclusion of other writing. Once I got it back from my primary editor, then I finished it, submitted it, and flipped the switch in my mind to get back to working on Cal's stuff.

What does your 'workflow' look like?

I have no set time per day when I sit down and write. I can't - I'm a Realtor™, so I never know from one day to the next when I'm actually free.

The fun part is research, because I might end up spending two or three hours doing research into something just to make sure one line is right. A lot of people don't do that, and I think that makes a difference. Someone from Reno County, Kansas - which I've had a lot of people comment - have told me how accurate my descriptions are.

I am a discovery writer in general. I have an idea of where I want the story to end, but how it gets there, I don't have a clue until I actually write it. Pinhole, my largest success (ratings wise), was published as it was written chapter by chapter. It wasn't at all consistent in its release frequency, but it didn't linger too long between uploads.

That story was a lot of fun, namely because I got a lot of interaction from the readers both in the comments and privately. Those conversations spurred me on and kept my mind excited about what I was writing. There was little to no risk of me not finishing it, regardless of what happened in my daily life.

That said, I used that method to test to see if the readership would even read it, accept it. It's not your typical erotica, not even close. Which I was worried about, and those initial comments were vital for me personally.

TWP book 1 was also released as I wrote it chapter by chapter. That was a disaster.

Fanlon

Single story for me, too. Since I'm serially publishing, it has to be that way, since I'm on a schedule, and no other story is on a schedule.

It would be very different if I was writing smaller stories.

I agree that research can be pretty time-consuming, but that it's also very much worth it.