What is your view, or the general consensus, on serialising scenes as opposed to chapters?
I've written two unpublished novels, one of 110,000 words and the second ending up at 300,000 words.
A quarter way through my second novel, I thought it a good idea to have the protagonist and her story run through every alternative chapter, while the intervening chapters are told from the perspective from someone else, and in most cases loosely linked to the main plot, but mainly running their own sub-plots.
Using Scrivener, I allocated 4 scenes per chapter. Now that I want to serialise the novels, my opening question comes to mind. Will this work, or will the stories lose momentum, if the main plot is dealt with for 4 weeks with a 4 week break while something else is delved into for another 4 weeks and so on?
It all comes together towards the end, and I've created sufficient curiosity at the end of each scene. The thing is a sub-plot might be paced over 4 parts of the 300k book.
That’s a great question! It’ll depend a lot on the specifics, but I’d say always favour the needs of the story. It’s all very well being strategic and optimising for readers and the platform etc etc, but ultimately it has to be the story you want to tell, otherwise it all falls apart.
With Triverse, I’ve made it quite an anthology-based serial. It has lots of individual storylines that can be between 2-10 chapters long, and which more-or-less can be read in isolation. Put them together and a bigger story becomes apparent. There’s a big cast, though, so it’s entirely possible for a reader’s favourite character to not be around for several weeks — not unlike what you’re proposing here.
Some of it is in how you frame it: e.g. making it easy to navigate around chapters, and maybe letting people know what’s coming up. Turn it into a hook to keep them reading, rather than a problem.
I’m watching Naruto at the moment with my son, which has ‘filler’ arcs that pop up in-between the main story arcs from time to time, often quite abruptly. They exist partly for production reasons, I think, and serve to build out the world and characters, but they also delay the main story quite a bit. It didn’t seem to hurt the popularity of that show and the way it was told, though.
Short version: we’re all experimenting and trying to work this stuff out. So let us know how it goes and what you find out. :)
OK, so my book is already written, and the average length of my chapters is much higher than 1200. The shortest is 1800, most fall somewhere between 2k and 4k, and the longest is just under 6k. Now the issue I have with this is that I've created the chapters to help structure the story. It's quite complicated, with different settings/timelines and character narratives, so grouping scenes together in chapters and parts helps with reader comprehension. If I were to break down chapters into separate scenes, then I would risk losing the reader. What do you think?
This is the challenge when taking a pre-written manuscript, rather than writing something specifically for serialisation.
So the question here comes down to art vs business, in a way. If you want to increase your chances of attracting readers, then it might be a good idea to chop the chapters up to be shorter. You might want to make some edits to make the idea of coming back next week more compelling. That's probably a good growth strategy.
On the other hand, that might make you feel artistically ill. :) If the chapter length and pacing is as critical to the story you're telling as you say, then you should probably stick to it. After all, even if reducing the chapter sizes makes sense for a newsletter, if it actively harms the story itself that's going to end up negating any potential benefits of shorter chapters.
Perhaps there's a mid-point compromise? Leave the sub-2k/4k chapters as they are, but perhaps think about the really long 6k ones. Maybe those longest ones you cut in half, but leave the rest?
Ultimately you need to do what's right for the story. The rest is up to the readers, but if you're not honest with yourself and your creation there's a good chance readers will pick up on that anyway, subconsciously.
That's excellent advice again, Simon. Thank you. I think if I were writing this now, and serialising weekly, then I might well write shorter chapters. There are end of chapter hooks already built in to the finished novel, so it might be hard to change that now. But splitting up some of the longer chapters does seem doable. I shall think on it... :)
Thank you, this is so helpful! I've already completed my novel but am finding the querying process soul sucking and love the idea of instead building community around the experience of reading and interacting with the story. Based on my current chapter lengths, I'd been imagining longer installments, but I think you've persuaded me to reformat things and go with shorter bits that readers can enjoy over coffee, without needing to carve out extra time in their schedule.
Good luck with it! it doesn't preclude going traditional, either - I've heard of people publishing online, or through self-publishing, who then ended up going traditional down the line.
Dec 28, 2021·edited Dec 28, 2021Liked by Simon K Jones
I let the scene/episode/chapter decide its own length. I did decide on a 600 word minimum for my live serial. But that seems to be the minimum that I naturally write per session for my serial episodes. I just checked and every episode is between 663 and 1156 words. So I am under your minimum.
But I have always been a concise writer. Maybe that is why I don't have a huge following. 🤣 If I wrote longer episodes, they would probably feel forced and padding to me. So I do what feels natural for the serial and me.
I think you can get away with short chapters by posting more frequently. For me, once per week is the absolute longest I can remember what is going on in a story when I read a serial. Usually, reading the first paragraph is just trying to refresh my memory. I personally would prefer higher frequency for serials, but I know that is hard for the writer. My serial is once per week because that is all I can realistically manage, and write the other stuff I write, and still have a life. 🤣
Since I wrote this earlier in the year, I've found that my current serial is tending towards longer chapters that I've done before. This seems to be a result of working in a new genre for me - crime fiction, or at least the way I'm approaching it, has quite a different pacing to the straight sci-fi, YA and fantasy stuff I've worked on.
I'd love to be able to do daily episodes, or perhaps even just twice a week, but as you say it's highly challenging simply from a time resource perspective. Especially if you want to not work yourself into the ground.
I think each story—or perhaps, writer— has its own "chapter pace."
I couldn't write and publish daily "live." The stress would kill me. And I have no doubt, I would quit. Unless I was making thousands per month to do it. 🤣
Yeah, plus a lot of my better ideas come in-between writing periods. If I was cramming in writing at a ridiculous pace, I'd actually deny myself that time to think of good stuff.
What is your view, or the general consensus, on serialising scenes as opposed to chapters?
I've written two unpublished novels, one of 110,000 words and the second ending up at 300,000 words.
A quarter way through my second novel, I thought it a good idea to have the protagonist and her story run through every alternative chapter, while the intervening chapters are told from the perspective from someone else, and in most cases loosely linked to the main plot, but mainly running their own sub-plots.
Using Scrivener, I allocated 4 scenes per chapter. Now that I want to serialise the novels, my opening question comes to mind. Will this work, or will the stories lose momentum, if the main plot is dealt with for 4 weeks with a 4 week break while something else is delved into for another 4 weeks and so on?
It all comes together towards the end, and I've created sufficient curiosity at the end of each scene. The thing is a sub-plot might be paced over 4 parts of the 300k book.
That’s a great question! It’ll depend a lot on the specifics, but I’d say always favour the needs of the story. It’s all very well being strategic and optimising for readers and the platform etc etc, but ultimately it has to be the story you want to tell, otherwise it all falls apart.
With Triverse, I’ve made it quite an anthology-based serial. It has lots of individual storylines that can be between 2-10 chapters long, and which more-or-less can be read in isolation. Put them together and a bigger story becomes apparent. There’s a big cast, though, so it’s entirely possible for a reader’s favourite character to not be around for several weeks — not unlike what you’re proposing here.
Some of it is in how you frame it: e.g. making it easy to navigate around chapters, and maybe letting people know what’s coming up. Turn it into a hook to keep them reading, rather than a problem.
I’m watching Naruto at the moment with my son, which has ‘filler’ arcs that pop up in-between the main story arcs from time to time, often quite abruptly. They exist partly for production reasons, I think, and serve to build out the world and characters, but they also delay the main story quite a bit. It didn’t seem to hurt the popularity of that show and the way it was told, though.
Short version: we’re all experimenting and trying to work this stuff out. So let us know how it goes and what you find out. :)
Thank you. Duly noted.
OK, so my book is already written, and the average length of my chapters is much higher than 1200. The shortest is 1800, most fall somewhere between 2k and 4k, and the longest is just under 6k. Now the issue I have with this is that I've created the chapters to help structure the story. It's quite complicated, with different settings/timelines and character narratives, so grouping scenes together in chapters and parts helps with reader comprehension. If I were to break down chapters into separate scenes, then I would risk losing the reader. What do you think?
This is the challenge when taking a pre-written manuscript, rather than writing something specifically for serialisation.
So the question here comes down to art vs business, in a way. If you want to increase your chances of attracting readers, then it might be a good idea to chop the chapters up to be shorter. You might want to make some edits to make the idea of coming back next week more compelling. That's probably a good growth strategy.
On the other hand, that might make you feel artistically ill. :) If the chapter length and pacing is as critical to the story you're telling as you say, then you should probably stick to it. After all, even if reducing the chapter sizes makes sense for a newsletter, if it actively harms the story itself that's going to end up negating any potential benefits of shorter chapters.
Perhaps there's a mid-point compromise? Leave the sub-2k/4k chapters as they are, but perhaps think about the really long 6k ones. Maybe those longest ones you cut in half, but leave the rest?
Ultimately you need to do what's right for the story. The rest is up to the readers, but if you're not honest with yourself and your creation there's a good chance readers will pick up on that anyway, subconsciously.
That's excellent advice again, Simon. Thank you. I think if I were writing this now, and serialising weekly, then I might well write shorter chapters. There are end of chapter hooks already built in to the finished novel, so it might be hard to change that now. But splitting up some of the longer chapters does seem doable. I shall think on it... :)
Thank you, this is so helpful! I've already completed my novel but am finding the querying process soul sucking and love the idea of instead building community around the experience of reading and interacting with the story. Based on my current chapter lengths, I'd been imagining longer installments, but I think you've persuaded me to reformat things and go with shorter bits that readers can enjoy over coffee, without needing to carve out extra time in their schedule.
Good luck with it! it doesn't preclude going traditional, either - I've heard of people publishing online, or through self-publishing, who then ended up going traditional down the line.
I let the scene/episode/chapter decide its own length. I did decide on a 600 word minimum for my live serial. But that seems to be the minimum that I naturally write per session for my serial episodes. I just checked and every episode is between 663 and 1156 words. So I am under your minimum.
But I have always been a concise writer. Maybe that is why I don't have a huge following. 🤣 If I wrote longer episodes, they would probably feel forced and padding to me. So I do what feels natural for the serial and me.
I think you can get away with short chapters by posting more frequently. For me, once per week is the absolute longest I can remember what is going on in a story when I read a serial. Usually, reading the first paragraph is just trying to refresh my memory. I personally would prefer higher frequency for serials, but I know that is hard for the writer. My serial is once per week because that is all I can realistically manage, and write the other stuff I write, and still have a life. 🤣
Since I wrote this earlier in the year, I've found that my current serial is tending towards longer chapters that I've done before. This seems to be a result of working in a new genre for me - crime fiction, or at least the way I'm approaching it, has quite a different pacing to the straight sci-fi, YA and fantasy stuff I've worked on.
I'd love to be able to do daily episodes, or perhaps even just twice a week, but as you say it's highly challenging simply from a time resource perspective. Especially if you want to not work yourself into the ground.
I think each story—or perhaps, writer— has its own "chapter pace."
I couldn't write and publish daily "live." The stress would kill me. And I have no doubt, I would quit. Unless I was making thousands per month to do it. 🤣
Plus I want to write more than just one thing.
Yeah, plus a lot of my better ideas come in-between writing periods. If I was cramming in writing at a ridiculous pace, I'd actually deny myself that time to think of good stuff.
Thanks for taking the time to write these articles on serialization. I am finding them helpful.
So excellent! I am learning so much from this series. Thank you!! jeanine