I love the bit on how you don't go back and edit to get out of plot situations. I could totally see how it would be so easy to do that. On another note, I'm just jumping into the middle of this story, but it seems really interesting. I miss science fiction. I've been focused so much on mystery lately. And two years' worth of work already into this? Impressive!
"For starters, this thing has been going out the door for two years already. Some of you have been there from the start, which is amazing. As such, all of the text already published is committed: I don’t go back and edit earlier chapters² to sneakily get me out of tricky plot situations."
Thanks for the reminder of your position on the stability of published text. Would you maintain that position if you publish this in book form--especially if you thought of something that would make terrific sense of a bit you'd overlooked? (Just curious.)
Re some readers present "from the start." I'm writing (not yet publishing) a serial based on a series of 10 previously published historical novels. Same characters, same1930s American South setting. Many of the serial readers will have read all 10 of those existing novels. Many not. Figuring out how much backstory to include is proving tricky, especially because the episodes are short. Interesting issue. Do you have any tactics for dealing with that?
Hi Susan! If I was to reform this into a different form, such as a print/ebook than everything would be up for grabs again. That's what I did with No Adults Allowed, with the book version being a fairly substantial edit with lots of improvements, corrections, tweaks to character arcs and so on. The original version that was serialised still exists on Wattpad and can be read for free, but I consider the book to be the primary version now.
Judging backstory for different readers is really hard! Main thing is to remember that your readers are likely clever and don't need as much hand-holding as you might think. Unless something is absolutely plot-critical, newer readers probably don't need to know what happened in Book 3, as long as the character work and story in the serial is compelling. Veteran readers will get *more* out of it through their prior knowledge, but that's additive for them, rather than reductive for the the newcomers.
You can also cheat slightly by using something a bit like the 'Previously on...' bit I do for Triverse. I get to write a short paragaph that delivers the absolutely need-to-know stuff up front, without it having to clog up the main text. Readers can easily skip over it if they're already up to speed.
I love the bit on how you don't go back and edit to get out of plot situations. I could totally see how it would be so easy to do that. On another note, I'm just jumping into the middle of this story, but it seems really interesting. I miss science fiction. I've been focused so much on mystery lately. And two years' worth of work already into this? Impressive!
"For starters, this thing has been going out the door for two years already. Some of you have been there from the start, which is amazing. As such, all of the text already published is committed: I don’t go back and edit earlier chapters² to sneakily get me out of tricky plot situations."
Thanks for the reminder of your position on the stability of published text. Would you maintain that position if you publish this in book form--especially if you thought of something that would make terrific sense of a bit you'd overlooked? (Just curious.)
Re some readers present "from the start." I'm writing (not yet publishing) a serial based on a series of 10 previously published historical novels. Same characters, same1930s American South setting. Many of the serial readers will have read all 10 of those existing novels. Many not. Figuring out how much backstory to include is proving tricky, especially because the episodes are short. Interesting issue. Do you have any tactics for dealing with that?
Thanks for your work--happy holidays!
Also,
Hi Susan! If I was to reform this into a different form, such as a print/ebook than everything would be up for grabs again. That's what I did with No Adults Allowed, with the book version being a fairly substantial edit with lots of improvements, corrections, tweaks to character arcs and so on. The original version that was serialised still exists on Wattpad and can be read for free, but I consider the book to be the primary version now.
Judging backstory for different readers is really hard! Main thing is to remember that your readers are likely clever and don't need as much hand-holding as you might think. Unless something is absolutely plot-critical, newer readers probably don't need to know what happened in Book 3, as long as the character work and story in the serial is compelling. Veteran readers will get *more* out of it through their prior knowledge, but that's additive for them, rather than reductive for the the newcomers.
You can also cheat slightly by using something a bit like the 'Previously on...' bit I do for Triverse. I get to write a short paragaph that delivers the absolutely need-to-know stuff up front, without it having to clog up the main text. Readers can easily skip over it if they're already up to speed.
Good work Simon, and a neat concept... cargo feared swallowed up by the Void. Keep up the good work and have a merry Christmas there. mate.
Thanks, Chris! Hope you have a good Christmas as well.