Almost everything you need to know about writing online serial fiction
Lots of useful things in one place
A curious quirk of writing a newsletter is that a lot of you reading now weren’t around a month ago, or a year ago, or two years ago. Today, I’m taking a moment to pull together a handy List of Useful Things that I’ve published since 2021.
The focus here is very much on writing online serial fiction. Even if you’re already a subscriber, there’s a good chance there’ll be something in the archives you won’t have seen. All of these articles are currently free to read.
The big guide to writing serials
Back in the mists of time, aka 2018, I wrote a guide to writing serial fiction. I’d completed my first serial, A Day of Faces,1 and was in the middle of my second. I published that original version of the guide over on Wattpad.
I updated the whole thing in 2021 and re-released it here on the newsletter. It’ll probably be due an update sooner rather than later as the online scene has shifted dramatically in the last couple of years. It’d make for a nice ebook and paperback, too, now I think about it. For now, though, there’s this 22-chapter guide:
If that’s all a bit too much reading for where your brain is at, I also have a considerably more succinct intro guide on the same topic with more of a Substack leaning:
The video guides
I haven’t made as many of these as I’d like because there isn’t enough time in the world, but if you’re looking for an introduction to the basics of using Substack and Scrivener it’s worth browsing the videos.
Here’s the Scrivener intro:
Talking of Scrivener, I recently put together a detailed (non-video) explanation of how to use it to plan and write serial fiction. It’s very nuts-and-bolts, so if you like to know what’s inside your sausage do check it out:
Nerdy chats about serialisation
The best thing about writing your own newsletter is that you can focus on exceedingly niche topics that would never be featured in a writing magazine or a more traditional book on writing. It’s where I get to indulge my interests in serial fiction, which is as much about process as it is about art and creativity.
Most recently I detailed precisely how and why I present my chapters in the way I do:
What exactly is serial storytelling? That’s a good question, and it can be many, many things, as I explored here:
Any writing project requires long-term dedication, regardless of how you’re publishing it. A serial is a particularly public form of writing, which necessitates an especially keen focus. That means avoiding ‘the boredom threshold’. And there’s nothing I like more than making up some sketchy diagrams to explain things:
The craft of writing a serial
Moving beyond the semantics of what a serial is, there’s then the question of how to create one yourself. As with any writing, there’s no singular answer and every writer is different. The way I do it might be useful, or at the very least might spark a new way of doing it for you.
Here’s me trying to visualise the way I plan ahead:
Looking back at completed projects can be a useful way to better understand your own method. Or even to examine another writer’s style and approach. I had a go at this by examining the shape of the plots in my earlier books, and it’s something you could do for yours, too:
Writing about things that matter to you is the best way to end up with a book that will matter to other people as well. That’s something I looked it here, in the context of my then-just-released book No Adults Allowed:
Figuring out how to build up a world and move a plot forward without it feeling artificial is one of the hardest parts of writing a good story. Here’s how to avoid the dreaded infodump:
Assuming you get all of that right, at some point you’re going to be barrelling towards some kind of ending. It doesn’t matter how good the flight is if the landing goes wrong, and the same is true of a story:
The publishing world
A question that comes up again and again is whether publishing online damages your chances to publish elsewhere and in other forms, such as with a traditional publisher. The short answer is ‘no’. The long answer is here:
I use Substack to publish my newsletter, but it’s far from the only game in town. I poked around and looked at the top newsletter platforms in 2024. If you’re just getting started, or are looking for a new set of tools, this might help:
Anything else?
If you’ve written anything that could help other writers of serial fiction (or, indeed, non-fiction), please do feel free to share links down in the comments.
Hope that trip through the archives was useful and that it dug out something you hadn’t spotted before.
If you want to get really nerdy about any of this, paid subscribers can now book a video chat over a cup of coffee. I’m hoping it’ll be useful for anyone working on a serial who wants to run it by someone who has been doing this for about a decade. More info on how all that works here:
This weekend I’m at an event to talk about how authors can build an online presence. Do come along if you happen to live in the East of England. I’ll be sure to report back with any useful tidbits next week.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Cover Photo by Bradyn Trollip on Unsplash
I keep dabbling with re-serialising this via the newsletter, in revised form. Perhaps after I complete Triverse.
This is great Simon thank you. A question: Should I grow my 'stack to a certain subscriber level before introducing a serial novel?
I write short one page pieces that are part of a series. I have many of them. How do you suggest I use them?
They are all uplifting and fun. Can be done in audio as well.