she's no dickens

[lunabee34]

the_emu has a fascinating post about writing HERE. the_emu is currently serially posting a story; the story is complete, but ze's using the interim between chapters to tweak and edit the unposted portions of the story in response to audience feedback.

This post got me to thinking about serial writing and posting of fic.

The very first fanfic I wrote was a Big Bang length Spike/Xander that I wrote out longhand on legal pads, typed up, edited, and then thought—How do I go about getting this onto the internet with all the other fanfic? LOL I posted the whole thing to a Yahoo listserv, met a handful of people who introduced me to livejournal, and set up shop over here.

The first thing I noticed on lj circa 2005 was that everyone seemed to be posting long fic serially—a part each week or each day or sometimes according to no discernable schedule at all. And so when I started my next long fic, I wrote and posted it serially as well.

After I’d posted a few chapters, I definitely could see the draw of posting a story this way. Posting serially generates a lot of energy and excitement for both reader and writer.

As a reader, the delayed gratification can be just as satisfying as waiting every week for a favorite television show to air. The mini-cliffhangers ratchet up emotional tension and drama, and they force a reader to wonder what will happen next in the interim between postings. Often times, this means that readers talk about the story while they’re waiting for a new part to emerge: speculating and squeeing and nail biting—all those activities that make consumption of a source text as a community so enjoyable. At the very least, posting serially makes reading the story a process that lasts longer, prolonging the fun.

For writers, posting serially can be very encouraging. It’s interesting to see what people think will happen next in the story and very satisfying when readers comment to say they can’t wait for the next installment to appear.

Some people tweak elements of their stories based on feedback. Everybody loves this side plot? In future chapters, I’ll foreground it. Some people think I didn’t get this character’s voice right? Okay, I’ll pay closer attention to that going forward. Getting constructive criticism along the way can be really useful. I think I’ve even seen instances where authors polled readers about upcoming elements of their stories, and reader response dictated what the authors wrote (and, naturally, I can’t find a link).

Ultimately, however, posting serially just doesn’t work for me—or rather, I should say, writing serially just doesn’t work for me. There’s a huge difference between choosing to post a completed story in increments and actually composing the installments of the story during the timeline in which they’re being posted. While I enjoyed all the cheerleading comments and the speculative comments and the comments from people who were excited for the next parts to appear, I feel like the story as a whole suffered from being written in that way.

I need to have the entire document spread out before me so that I can make sure that everything is cohesive and consistent and does all the work that I want it to do. I lose focus when I write serially. I feel like some of the chapters of that fic from 2005 don’t quite match tonally because either a) so much time passed between the writing of installments or b) I was in different moods when I wrote them. It was easy to let the story languish when the writing got difficult or real life intervened, and I know some readers must have worried that I might not actually complete the fic. I finished “Shadowlands” many months after I’d started it, and I’ve never written that way again.

Because I have such trouble with writing this way, I have a lot of respect for writers who can turn out perfectly entertaining and well written fics in a serial format. And a lot of writers who write and post serially are crafting phenomenal stories. I have noticed, however, some common pitfalls of serially posted fic: the every chapter has to have a sex scene syndrome, the forgotten plot thread, the story element of initial prominence that is inexplicably downplayed as the story goes on, and the rushed or abrupt ending.


So now I want to know what you think. How do you feel about serial writing and posting of fic as a writer, as a reader, or as both? What are the pros and cons? Have you done it yourself, and if so, how did that experience compare to posting a fully edited story? Talk to me about writing!

Comments

[lyr]

I like the idea of serials, and the Cube project I'm doing this summer will be my first real attempt at doing one. The interactive element intrigues me, especially in a community setting like fandom. I don't really think my existing series count as serials. All my installments have been far apart, and rarely did I even announce that there were forthcoming parts, so as not to raise expectations too high; I know quite well I don't usually work that fast, and I don't want to be a tease.

I think that for me the negatives would be a sense of guilt if I were running behind schedule getting new parts up, and a weighty feeling of obligation that might make the writing process less fun for me. On the other hand, I have that sense of obligation when I'm, say, writing for yuletide, and it actually seems to bring out my productivity, so I can't say for sure that counts as a negative.

As for the positives, there's the interactivity that I mentioned before, and also the ongoing encouragement that you bring up. It may also be that for some writers it makes them feel more committed to finishing the story.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I am really excited about your Cube project. I think it is going to be so amazingly cool. I am really looking forward to what you come up with for that. Remind me again how that is going to work; I remember you talking about it, just not a lot of the details. It's throw a bunch of characters from disparate fandoms into the Cube setting and have them work together to escape, right?

Like you, I do think there's a real difference between writing a sequel (or revisiting a story universe) and writing serially. Sequels come after a work that's complete; readers have an ending and then the new piece has its own beginning and end.

[lyr]

I certainly hope it'll be cool. You have the premise essentially right. In the movie, groups of characters (say, 6-8) would wake up in empty cube-shaped rooms alone, dressed in uniforms, with no provisions or memory of how they got there. Each room contained a hatch on every wall and the ceiling and floor. The characters would meet up while exploring---if they lived that long, since some of the rooms contain hidden traps. One they got together, it would usually emerge gradually that they possessed complementary skills or knowledge that might help them to solve the traps and clues in the rooms to figure out what was going on and escape. However, the group also always contained at least one person who was apparently included just to add an element of dangerous friction.

I'm planning to let people vote on who goes into the cube, and to do a few rounds. That should generate some interesting combinations, and keep me on my toes figuring out how to make them work.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

When does this project start? Because OMG yay!!!!!!

Are you gonna have voting to see who gets axed, or will this be a kinder, gentler Cube with less character death?

[lyr]

I'm going to run the project over the summer, so I expect to start when this semester ends. I;ll set a firm date as we get closer, but I'm thinking probably sometimes in late May.

And yes, I was going for at least some death. No kinder and gentler Cube here! I had definitely wanted to let people vote on who goes in, but I hadn't really thought about letting them vote on final fate of each character. What do you think?

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I think it might be fun. :)

Whatever you do this is going to be a hell of a read.

What fandoms did you have in mind?

[lyr]

I'm going to be daring and open it up to anything I'm familiar with, which is a pretty big field.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I totally the second the whole deadline being very motivating. I always produce what I feel is good work for fests or ficathons. Time constraints work well for me.