Thank you @hollyabrown and @simonkjones for the opportunity to share my serial journey. I was inspired to serialize my novel, The Summer We Said Goodbye, after finding @sarahfaywritersatwork Substack in July of 2023 (Simon’s, too! His intro to Substack videos are great). Sarah is an expert in serializing, having written about it in her PhD dissertation. Her collection of posts about not only the substance of writing serialized literature but also its rich history made me want to jump right in. So I created a new Substack specifically for my novel and began publishing the nine installments I already had. That gave me about two months, I figured, to stockpile some more. I did have a fair amount of trepidation going in since I am a polish-as-you-go kind of writer, who comes to this from a career in film and video editing. It’s nearly impossible for me not to edit in real time. I am constantly reading my stuff out loud in the same way I listen to my film work because it has to sound right before I can move on. While rewarding creatively, it can be slow going. Inevitably, I lost pace with my weekly posting schedule, which was okay since I only had just under 50 subscribers, many of whom I know, and hadn’t been actively pursuing new ones. There’s also no paid option. So I rationalized it all as some kind of grand experiment that would test my resolve, which ultimately did manifest in a crisis of commitment this past February when I wasn’t sure if this was how the universe wanted me to spend my time. While fiction, my novel comes from my teenage experiences and the writing had veered into aspects of my parents’ divorce I hadn’t planned on revisiting. So I took a step back for a few months to reevaluate. I am happy to say, I am stronger for it. There were a number of factors that contributed to my return, but the most satisfying and surprising were the unsolicited check-ins from subscribers inquiring about future installments. People evidently cared! So I ramped up writing again this past June solstice and haven’t looked back. I was convinced at the time that a major restructuring of the already published installments was in order and wasn’t sure how that would work. But my two go-to beta readers who are both filmmakers disagreed. While I’m still not convinced, I decided to write through whatever murkiness I was encountering, figuring that as long as each installment is heartfelt and moves the story forward, all would be forgiven. I did, however, revamp the last installment I had published, deleting the old and re-publishing the new with a note to my subscribers at the top heralding my return, which I then quickly removed once it was emailed so anyone discovering me via the app wouldn’t be confused. There’s a saying in the film world, films are never finished, only abandoned. I take that to heart and since I am in no way ready to abandon any part of my Substack, I have no problem going back into previously published installments and revising or word-smithing for the benefit of newcomers. It’s been an enriching journey so far. I’ve learned to trust my intuition and place very little stock in data. I still have under 50 subscribers, but that’s okay. As I continue to gain confidence in my progress, I find I’m venturing out beyond the walls of my own Substack and interacting with others in the growing Substack fiction community, like you and @ericadrayton whose Top in Fiction Substack recently featured one of my installments in its weekly roundup. Thrilling! All told, serializing my novel has provided me a platform to show up in a way that transcends the solitary nature of a writer’s life. Having actual readers, we’ll that’s just icing on the cake! @jackfitzgerald
I subscribed to Simon's series about serial fiction. I'm just starting out (writing short and steamy interracial novellas) and I'm a newbie to writing serial fiction as well as writing adult romance (even though I've been reading it for 30+ years). I started writing YA in 7th grade and back then I was a pantser; more often than not, all I had was an idea, character names, and the title. Writing adult romance has definitely been different and I feel that I'm a "plantser". LOL I paywall after the 4th chapter.
My first serial, "A Broken Woman's True Desire," wasn't planned and suffered from certain drawbacks, including continuity. I've since taken that story and the second, "The Reeve's Tale," and almost rewrote them so they make sense to me.
If you can extemporize, that's great. However, I've discovered that I must complete at least half of a traditional book before posting it on Substack. That way, I'll have the parts that work published and can work on the rest.
My chapters tend to be closer to the 2500-word limit, so I post them in sections.
For another take on serializing, here’s @maryltrump from her Backstory Serial Substack where she was serializing a romance novel called The Italian Lesson with @ejeancarroll and @jentaub. Great perspective on the vagaries of serializing.
This was a great article! I just started serial fiction. I wrote the first 15 chapters of my book out and an outline for the next 15...it is a YA book. I do enjoy writing on the go, but planning out at least 10 chapters ahead, to have an idea of where I am going with it. So far it has been fun!
Great interview! Thanks @hollyabrown and @simonkjones I was thinking of starting paywalling almost from the get-go, but now, after reading what Simon said, I am not so sure.
And you also helped me clarify a few things I wasn't so sure about (particularly the length of each instalment etc.).
I was also curious about the best day for publishing, but I see @simonkjones you are publishing on Fridays and I understand that works for you?
Obviously there are a lot of people doing serials. I saw an article by Simon shortly after I started my serial on Substack. I made changes to some things based on his sound advice. I'm serializing a novella I already wrote but had not self-published. And writing a new novel right now to have my next serial ready. I am a panser. I need a lot already written to allow me to go back and refine the story because I often don't know where I am going until I get there.
Great interview with so many good points! This is the first time I’ve attempted a serial and while it’s challenging, it’s really fun, too. Oh, and I’ve definitely made mistakes that I won’t make with the next one!
Yes, I'm a pantster and a planner. I start out as the former usually, then as the story starts to form, I start doing some planning. For me, I've gotten into a groove and realized that to write the serialized story, I'm essentially just writing a scene. Then another scene. Then another. The transition between scenes is made by the reader. It's not a hard transition, but it saves me from having to do that work myself.
My initial foray into serials was about 15 years ago with as many as six other writers all writing one big story with different characters. Writers came and went, and I inherited several of the characters myself, which was a fun exercise. We did abut 150 episodes in two years, all with no script up until the very end, when I had to start directing traffic to get to a solid ending. I'm republishing Dorothy: Locked & Loaded now on my Substack (to some degree -- I don't want it to dominate all my writing, so the main repub is happening on my website, and I'm leaving breadcrumbs on Substack.)
Our second multi-author foray was called Just Right, which I'm dropping in total on my website, and it ended up around 35 episodes with about 100k words. It was a blast.
So, I'm sold on serials now. I have erotica serials (8-10 episodes), mystery serials, sci-fi serials. I just like being able to mostly pants it with a little planning, and just run with it. What will happen next? I don't know. But I do know that I love writing something between a novel and short story.
I started over 10 years ago with Dorothy: Locked & Loaded, but now it’s my go-to. I like the middle ground between a short story and a novel, although my latest, Just Right, came in around 100k words in 35 episodes. So, there’s that. haha
That's all very good advice indeed in terms of stuff to keep in mind - especially before one starts.
For my part, I would say the most important thing is to have a detailed outline, with plot points/timeline and suchlike, as well as a sufficient amount of detail about all the main characters. That's obviously something it shares with novel writing, at least for me. And it's just as fun as writing the thing.
The writing bit is then just filling in all the gaps.
I would definitely also give the piece of advice about having a large chunk of it already written before you start - that way you don't fall behind if you keep writing whilst posting your (pre-written) instalments. And thus avoid too much stress.
Having said that, I just got to a stage where I realised I had to introduce a new and important character and do a whole a load of editing. Still - if that kind of thing happens you can always tell people 'we're having an intermission now'. People need breathers once in a while after all - especially at this time of year.
Plus it gives new arrivals time to catch up from the beginning.
Anyway - that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.
I used to live in Norwich as it happens. Must be something in the water. Or on the Riverside, maybe.
Thank you @hollyabrown and @simonkjones for the opportunity to share my serial journey. I was inspired to serialize my novel, The Summer We Said Goodbye, after finding @sarahfaywritersatwork Substack in July of 2023 (Simon’s, too! His intro to Substack videos are great). Sarah is an expert in serializing, having written about it in her PhD dissertation. Her collection of posts about not only the substance of writing serialized literature but also its rich history made me want to jump right in. So I created a new Substack specifically for my novel and began publishing the nine installments I already had. That gave me about two months, I figured, to stockpile some more. I did have a fair amount of trepidation going in since I am a polish-as-you-go kind of writer, who comes to this from a career in film and video editing. It’s nearly impossible for me not to edit in real time. I am constantly reading my stuff out loud in the same way I listen to my film work because it has to sound right before I can move on. While rewarding creatively, it can be slow going. Inevitably, I lost pace with my weekly posting schedule, which was okay since I only had just under 50 subscribers, many of whom I know, and hadn’t been actively pursuing new ones. There’s also no paid option. So I rationalized it all as some kind of grand experiment that would test my resolve, which ultimately did manifest in a crisis of commitment this past February when I wasn’t sure if this was how the universe wanted me to spend my time. While fiction, my novel comes from my teenage experiences and the writing had veered into aspects of my parents’ divorce I hadn’t planned on revisiting. So I took a step back for a few months to reevaluate. I am happy to say, I am stronger for it. There were a number of factors that contributed to my return, but the most satisfying and surprising were the unsolicited check-ins from subscribers inquiring about future installments. People evidently cared! So I ramped up writing again this past June solstice and haven’t looked back. I was convinced at the time that a major restructuring of the already published installments was in order and wasn’t sure how that would work. But my two go-to beta readers who are both filmmakers disagreed. While I’m still not convinced, I decided to write through whatever murkiness I was encountering, figuring that as long as each installment is heartfelt and moves the story forward, all would be forgiven. I did, however, revamp the last installment I had published, deleting the old and re-publishing the new with a note to my subscribers at the top heralding my return, which I then quickly removed once it was emailed so anyone discovering me via the app wouldn’t be confused. There’s a saying in the film world, films are never finished, only abandoned. I take that to heart and since I am in no way ready to abandon any part of my Substack, I have no problem going back into previously published installments and revising or word-smithing for the benefit of newcomers. It’s been an enriching journey so far. I’ve learned to trust my intuition and place very little stock in data. I still have under 50 subscribers, but that’s okay. As I continue to gain confidence in my progress, I find I’m venturing out beyond the walls of my own Substack and interacting with others in the growing Substack fiction community, like you and @ericadrayton whose Top in Fiction Substack recently featured one of my installments in its weekly roundup. Thrilling! All told, serializing my novel has provided me a platform to show up in a way that transcends the solitary nature of a writer’s life. Having actual readers, we’ll that’s just icing on the cake! @jackfitzgerald
I subscribed to Simon's series about serial fiction. I'm just starting out (writing short and steamy interracial novellas) and I'm a newbie to writing serial fiction as well as writing adult romance (even though I've been reading it for 30+ years). I started writing YA in 7th grade and back then I was a pantser; more often than not, all I had was an idea, character names, and the title. Writing adult romance has definitely been different and I feel that I'm a "plantser". LOL I paywall after the 4th chapter.
This was really helpful! I’ve been planning my own serial but haven’t tried the format before. Love a lot of what was outlined here.
My first serial, "A Broken Woman's True Desire," wasn't planned and suffered from certain drawbacks, including continuity. I've since taken that story and the second, "The Reeve's Tale," and almost rewrote them so they make sense to me.
If you can extemporize, that's great. However, I've discovered that I must complete at least half of a traditional book before posting it on Substack. That way, I'll have the parts that work published and can work on the rest.
My chapters tend to be closer to the 2500-word limit, so I post them in sections.
Excellent. Top advice. Honest. Well put. Bravo.
Ditto
Thank you for this. Serialized fiction is my new obsession.
For another take on serializing, here’s @maryltrump from her Backstory Serial Substack where she was serializing a romance novel called The Italian Lesson with @ejeancarroll and @jentaub. Great perspective on the vagaries of serializing.
https://www.backstoryserial.com/p/catching-and-getting-caught-up?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
This was a great article! I just started serial fiction. I wrote the first 15 chapters of my book out and an outline for the next 15...it is a YA book. I do enjoy writing on the go, but planning out at least 10 chapters ahead, to have an idea of where I am going with it. So far it has been fun!
Great interview! Thanks @hollyabrown and @simonkjones I was thinking of starting paywalling almost from the get-go, but now, after reading what Simon said, I am not so sure.
And you also helped me clarify a few things I wasn't so sure about (particularly the length of each instalment etc.).
I was also curious about the best day for publishing, but I see @simonkjones you are publishing on Fridays and I understand that works for you?
Obviously there are a lot of people doing serials. I saw an article by Simon shortly after I started my serial on Substack. I made changes to some things based on his sound advice. I'm serializing a novella I already wrote but had not self-published. And writing a new novel right now to have my next serial ready. I am a panser. I need a lot already written to allow me to go back and refine the story because I often don't know where I am going until I get there.
Great interview with so many good points! This is the first time I’ve attempted a serial and while it’s challenging, it’s really fun, too. Oh, and I’ve definitely made mistakes that I won’t make with the next one!
Yes, I'm a pantster and a planner. I start out as the former usually, then as the story starts to form, I start doing some planning. For me, I've gotten into a groove and realized that to write the serialized story, I'm essentially just writing a scene. Then another scene. Then another. The transition between scenes is made by the reader. It's not a hard transition, but it saves me from having to do that work myself.
My initial foray into serials was about 15 years ago with as many as six other writers all writing one big story with different characters. Writers came and went, and I inherited several of the characters myself, which was a fun exercise. We did abut 150 episodes in two years, all with no script up until the very end, when I had to start directing traffic to get to a solid ending. I'm republishing Dorothy: Locked & Loaded now on my Substack (to some degree -- I don't want it to dominate all my writing, so the main repub is happening on my website, and I'm leaving breadcrumbs on Substack.)
Our second multi-author foray was called Just Right, which I'm dropping in total on my website, and it ended up around 35 episodes with about 100k words. It was a blast.
So, I'm sold on serials now. I have erotica serials (8-10 episodes), mystery serials, sci-fi serials. I just like being able to mostly pants it with a little planning, and just run with it. What will happen next? I don't know. But I do know that I love writing something between a novel and short story.
I started over 10 years ago with Dorothy: Locked & Loaded, but now it’s my go-to. I like the middle ground between a short story and a novel, although my latest, Just Right, came in around 100k words in 35 episodes. So, there’s that. haha
Thanks for the insights on writing & the paywall. I just turned my payments on & without saying anything I had 2 paying subscribers.
Thank you for writing this. The insight about viewing paywalls as a patronage model has changed my perspective.
That's all very good advice indeed in terms of stuff to keep in mind - especially before one starts.
For my part, I would say the most important thing is to have a detailed outline, with plot points/timeline and suchlike, as well as a sufficient amount of detail about all the main characters. That's obviously something it shares with novel writing, at least for me. And it's just as fun as writing the thing.
The writing bit is then just filling in all the gaps.
I would definitely also give the piece of advice about having a large chunk of it already written before you start - that way you don't fall behind if you keep writing whilst posting your (pre-written) instalments. And thus avoid too much stress.
Having said that, I just got to a stage where I realised I had to introduce a new and important character and do a whole a load of editing. Still - if that kind of thing happens you can always tell people 'we're having an intermission now'. People need breathers once in a while after all - especially at this time of year.
Plus it gives new arrivals time to catch up from the beginning.
Anyway - that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.
I used to live in Norwich as it happens. Must be something in the water. Or on the Riverside, maybe.