Serial fiction
I've been thinking about serial fiction recently. Can it still work in a prose format? It works for TV, of course, and for internet shows that use basically a low-budget TV approach. I don't know of any audio shows that take a similar approach (radio or podcast), though I know that some writers have had success essentially serializing their novels as podcasts. But I wonder if serial fiction that isn't simply a novel or novella chopped up would work too, something more open-ended, even if it has a definite overall arc to the story, like some TV series do.
To be clear--I'm not asking this from the standpoint of "let's bring back the wonderful old pulp days when short story writers were rolling in the dough with serial characters." Partly because I think that's mostly a wishful, imagined past rather than the reality, but mostly because I actually like the type of short fiction that gets published today. Places like Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Fantasy, and others frequently have good stories, and I'm not trying to change that. But I am curious about serial fiction as well.
Michael Chabon last year published a novel in serial form, and I have the (now complete) book checked out from the library, so it will be interesting to see how he handles it...but that again brings it back to the question of a chopped up longer work vs. an open-ended approach.
Mostly I'm doing this because I like to shake up my own approach to writing at times, just to see what happens. So I'll be posting more entries about the process as it goes along. But I'd be interested in any other thoughts on the idea of serial fiction, whether in written form or podcast form since I'm leaving that possibility open for now as I work on the project.
I've been thinking about serial fiction recently. Can it still work in a prose format? It works for TV, of course, and for internet shows that use basically a low-budget TV approach. I don't know of any audio shows that take a similar approach (radio or podcast), though I know that some writers have had success essentially serializing their novels as podcasts. But I wonder if serial fiction that isn't simply a novel or novella chopped up would work too, something more open-ended, even if it has a definite overall arc to the story, like some TV series do.
To be clear--I'm not asking this from the standpoint of "let's bring back the wonderful old pulp days when short story writers were rolling in the dough with serial characters." Partly because I think that's mostly a wishful, imagined past rather than the reality, but mostly because I actually like the type of short fiction that gets published today. Places like Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Fantasy, and others frequently have good stories, and I'm not trying to change that. But I am curious about serial fiction as well.
Michael Chabon last year published a novel in serial form, and I have the (now complete) book checked out from the library, so it will be interesting to see how he handles it...but that again brings it back to the question of a chopped up longer work vs. an open-ended approach.
Mostly I'm doing this because I like to shake up my own approach to writing at times, just to see what happens. So I'll be posting more entries about the process as it goes along. But I'd be interested in any other thoughts on the idea of serial fiction, whether in written form or podcast form since I'm leaving that possibility open for now as I work on the project.
Comments
I think it could work for some publishers. For example, if Ace decided to launch an online magazine/network, they could do something like this and connect it to the book series they already publish (Shadowrun, Mechwarrior, Age of Conan, etc.) and have an instant in with those readers. It could also work as a direct outlet for some authors. I know some are already serializing novels with a donation quota that needs to be met before the next chapter is posted.
As for a current example, I think there is an episodic audio show currently running that set in the Star Trek universe. Can't remember the name, but I think it's based on the Defiant.
-Neil
One key to making it a financial success would probably then be a known name (either of the writer or of the proprietary setting), though possibly a good, intense marketer could get his or her works out there without the immediate name recognition. Me...not so much a salesperson...
be a novel or a collection
of short stories?
Terry Finley
http://theterryfinleysite.blogspot.com/
And much as I like the description "mosaic novel,"--VanderMeer's City of Saints and Madmen is among my favorite books of recent years--the image that conjures (for me at least) doesn't quite fit either.
But I suppose that's OK with me--I'm curious to try to imagine how to describe such a project, but I'm willing to work on it without having a definite label for it.