The disadvantages of writing a piece of serial fiction never occur to me until after I’ve started writing and posting on my blog. I get these story ideas and find that they’re too long for one blog post and suddenly they take on a life of their own. Then I find myself facing the pressure of writing a new section each week whether the ideas are forthcoming or not! I should have learned my lesson last time.

Even with a well outlined plot, each segment of a serial piece is a little short story on its own and has to have a mini story arc in itself. To keep the readers’ interest from week to week, there needs to be action and intrigue, there is less time for character development and transition between scenes. Imagine the difference if the reader had the entire piece to read all at once. Both the writer and the reader would have time to explore a little history and character backstory, and the physical location or setting. The hook at the start and the cliff hanger at the end don’t need to come every 800-1000 words. It can be exhausting! Nevertheless, I treat these serial pieces as explorations and of course, they are truly at the rough draft stage, needing revision and expansion. So if each section of the current serial is less than perfect, I hope you will take those things into account.

I remind myself when I get frustrated, that the novel I’m working on began its life as a serial piece —you know, that WWI story I keep talking about? Yeah, I really need to get back to that!

So even though I’ve been distracted from my main work in progress, I still believe these serial pieces are valuable. They can be filed away for possible development and eventually I’ll have two more potential novels in progress.