Serial Writing
I feel for comic book writers. It’s a different method, for sure, a different sort of writing skill. Like comic book writers, I write a chapter, it gets published, then I write another chapter, so on and so on. When I’m ahead, I write the whole thing before the first chapter is due.
But when I’m not? Ugh. Sometimes it works out great. Sometimes not. It is a different writing process. You “drop” lots of threads in the first chapter, and you spend the rest of the novel picking them up. You end every chapter with something of a cliffhanger. You have a vision of the end, but…
Right now, I’m at the it’s-a-total-freakin’-mess stage. I’d started this thing with 15K of the end, which is sort of a ridiculous way to start. And now the end needs to be thrown out. In fact, the whole darn thing needs to be thrown out and done over.
But I can’t. I hate that.
The first six chapters are SET IN STONE. So now I have to deal. Sometimes things aren’t as much of a mess as they feel they are. Sometimes they are. I’m usually better than this; I usually can handle serial writing better. It’s a skill you learn just like any other.
Adapt and overcome. It’s just a tiny handicap. One can adapt to most anything and still turn out a good product. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
I’d sorta hoped I’d have some point, some epiphany, something. But I don’t.
What writing challenges and strange situations have you had to overcome, to learn to adapt your writing process to? how did you adapt?
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
Luckily I haven’t done serial writing. Sounds tough. Mary and always constantly retrace our steps and readjust earlier chapter. And one thing I love about novels is that when I’m writing I know I can do it over. I don’t feel pressured to make sure everything is perfect as I’m writing because a book, for me, is a long haul with plenty of time to recognize and go back and correct mistakes (Unlike a short story)
Yeah, that’s unfortunately how I’ve taken to writing. I mean, it’s a great way to write, just in this case, I’m in a mess, LOL. I can’t wait to get back ahead!
If I get stuck I go back and start at the beginning. Printing it out and rereading it. Sometimes it sparks me. If it doesn’t then I just start something new. Putting the space between the work and my brain sometimes helps.
What is serial writing?
Yeah, I really want to do that, Aimless! Serial writing is like magazine writing. Installments. Kind of like what Dickens did. You write a bit of the story, publish it. Then you write a bit more, then publish that.
Where do you find serial jobs? Sounds like fun.
Gosh, honestly, I have no idea, Aimless. There’s my two kinky places, but I don’t know of any other place, aside from magazines, that do it.
Natasha, it sounds more like a puzzle. I don’t know if I could do that. I’d probably have to write the whole thing ahead of time, because I learn so much about my characters and plot as I write the book.
I messed up with my last book. I wrote it based on my beliefs about God and religion, thinking I could keep religion out of it. (My main characters are part demon.) But I couldn’t. I should have figured that out ahead of time. If my beliefs were like most people, it would’ve been okay. But they aren’t. The book isn’t marketable, and I’m on to something else.
You never know, Edie. Erica just put out Freudian Slip, which was a little wacky in that respect. Never hurts to throw it out there while you work on the next, you know!
Yeah, I usually write the thing ahead of time, or at least have it written in my head. I just got off this time.
I’ve done two serial stories before but only one was being written as it was published. THat was Wings Over Talera and it underwent quite a bit of revising before it’s first book publication for just that reason.
Charles, I’ve written 6 or 7 this way. 1 was a disaster. A few were great; I have no idea how they worked out as well as they did. This one, I’m least sure about. They all get their beginning chapters fixed a bit as we go along, though, so that when it’s released in ebook/book, it’s more coherent. Not the first one, though. It’s an unsalvageable mess!
I’m a comic book reader from way back. I had my own “box” at the local comic book store until about 5 years ago. They’ve started to have tons of alternate reality spin offs, that I don’t really like.
But the great thing for a comic book writer, is that you can never get stuck in a corner. If you kill off a character, and then need them back for the storyline – you resurrect them. No problem. No need to make sense. It’s perfect for just this sort of thing.
“Box”? What does that mean? That’s neat, Robin! You crack me up. You randomly throw out a tidbit that surprises me about you, LOL.
And so true about the stuck in the corner thing! I like that, LOL!
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