#serialised fiction

[machineofreality]

Wirrin and the Fiends: Difference in perspective

Previously: Wirrin and the Fiends: Church Types The rest of the week passed quite pleasantly. Ketla and her mage did not, at any point, try to kill Wirrin. Wirrin did not, at any point, let up on taking in the scenery. But as they walked, Ketla pulled ahead less, and even deigned to look at the scenery with Wirrin. ‘Not much for the natural world?’ Wirrin had asked, as Ketla fidgeted and…

[keyboard-squared]

You're Missing One Thing from Your Serialised Story

Before you write that new serialised fiction story, don't miss this one crucial element!

Have you ever felt the breathless anticipation of seeing the next chapter from your new favourite story drop? There’s nothing quite like serial fiction. No other kind of story causes such eagerness and intense expectation, so it’s no wonder the medium has been around so long! Many of today’s beloved classics like Little Women and Great Expectations were originally serialised before being…

[voidtreader]

Depart 01

A planet looms into view, dimly lit by a smoldering red star: a pinprick of wavering light in the velvet void. From this small, backwater planet, with its small, dim star, a grand departure is underway. Its people are fleeing.

But the courier does not notice this speck outside in space. She is looking at the cargo bay, at the place where there should be cargo—her most important cargo yet in fact, the delivery that would prove her worth, the ancient artwork that should, by all accounts, be in a museum (and certainly is, in some fairer parallel universe)—but the bay does not contain it. The bay is, in fact, almost empty. Almost empty, except for the scattered crumbs of packing material, leading across the bay and to an ill-fitting panel on the back left wall.

Solas Vega is a tall, imposing woman: her broad right arm is covered in dark, thick tattooed tendrils; her left arm is an equally broad mechanical prosthetic fitted with menacing silver tools. Her face, now, looks somewhat serene, or calm—but she cannot completely hide her emotions, and her right knuckles grow pale and her fist clenches and releases, clenches and releases. She has learned to ground herself, in the past years: it’s a lifetime since she earned her callsign Havoc. Many of the younger couriers only know the new her; they assume the name is perhaps ironic, a joke. As if Havoc tells jokes, or lets them be told about her.

A man tried, once. To laugh at her. She was less forgiving then; hadn’t yet learned to control her rage. He had not joked again. Ever. The lights in the cargo bay flicker. The infestation must be big, Solas thinks. She doesn’t have room to worry about the possible dangers that entails, not with the empty cargo bay in front of her. You might think her priorities are questionable, considering the dangers of an energy-sapping swarm of jellyfish-like fungi living, floating, devouring, inside the electronic-stuffed panels of your space vessel, a space vessel currently drifting through the cold dead chasm of open space, where everything—life support systems, propulsion, communication—everything was dependent on said electronics functioning properly. If you do think this, if you think that maybe she should consider the present peril a more pressing issue than the missing (eaten? Probably eaten. Almost definitely eaten) cargo, then count yourself lucky you have not encountered the type of people Solas has to answer to.

[intj-greenwords]

Love that we’re going back to the old the way books used to be serialised in magazines in the 19th century. The serial fiction craze was started by Charles Dickens when he published Pickwick papers in 20 parts in 19 monthly instalments.

I’m up for receiving Bleak House in emailed monthly instalments.

I think these serialized Substack novels could be a bigger gamechanger than we realize. Like, not to get ahead of myself, but the possible revival of Gothic and Romantic fiction has me salivating. It's been too long since they've had a viable widespread audience. Frankenstein and Dracula are among my favourite novels and it’s been simply a joy watching so many people getting into them - and into reading these kinds of books in general (not to mention Sherlock Holmes!)

But these Substacks aren't just a return to an old form - having a substantial readership following along with books sent directly from the authors (or, well, not necessarily from the authors, since most of them are dead, but, you know, we're inches away from that) could help loosen the deathgrip Amazon has on the publishing industry. If whole new groups of people are finding and reading books in other places, it opens up territories that didn't exist until now.

[kidrat]

I don’t care if on page gay Renarin happened to you now, it should have happened to me at the height of my special interest instead

[lokh]

oh my god. a manga where everyones actually wearing masks???

edit: NEVERMIND jumped the gun here it was just for one scene cos they were at a nail salon 😭

edit 2: hmm actually. depending on how recently this manga was drawn it could just be reflective of how not everyone wears masks. the customers are wearing masks in the salon but outside usually not but Sometimes. they are

edit 3: I WAS RIGHT??

[youlackconviction]

[above quote by chris odinson hemsworth about thor ragnarok]

stuff that happens in our LOKI discord server when we remember bullshit like that exists:

[machineofreality]

Absolutely no shame in bailing! Serialised fiction has the potential to really get fouled up if you decide that you don't like something you've already published. I've given up on heaps of my first drafts on the blog because I hot a point where I really needed to change what I'd already posted to get a story I liked.

For me, that means trying to stay way ahead of what's posted (eg: I've got about 30k more words written than posted at this point) so that I have the opportunity to do more structural edits than if I'm posting as I go.

Picaresque/episodic stories are also a good option, where it's more like a series of adventures than a single overarching story.

So publishing a book vs publishing say an anthology chapters? In terms of prep, which one is would you recommend?

Not sure what you mean by anthology chapters. Like a short story collection or like an online serial?

[adelidae]

i need to write.

[machineofreality]

Wirrin and the Fiends: A great deal of digging

Previously: Wirrin and the Fiends: A meeting of explorers Ayan was true to his word, and the digging continued to be leisurely. Even Veyoc got puffed fairly quickly compared to Wirrin. She didn’t mind, though, she was still in no hurry. They had to pause most of the next morning to cut some saplings for supports to keep the walls of the emerging tunnel from flooding in on the excavation. The…

[merelymatt]

Later, they figured out the sequence of events.

The sequence started with Callum, locked in a bare basement room with a corpse for company, ripping cabling out of the walls through a rusty junction box in the corner, and ended with Callum and Lisaveta warily circling an alliance in Lisaveta’s living room.

Chapter 12 of A Net Too Wide To Break His Fall is in the latest Foggy Outline newsletter, out today.

Ready: Dominoes all lined up

📇 Skipton Business Expo Learning Zone update

🌅 I Need A Miracle @inyourbenevolence trailer and release date

⛓️ A chain of events in A Net Too Wide To Break His Fall chapter 12

[pochapal]

So, there was actually an aborted subplot of Natsuhi having an affair with Gohda. My understanding is that that was removed very early, but there are still some weird lines in EP1 that kinda sorta hint at that.

yeah this is actually weirdly fascinating to me. like, obviously don't say if it would be a detriment to my experience, but i wonder if there are other outlines of aborted plots/elements in this story of a similar vein

[deepspaceclawstation]

I genuinely don't understand starting on a piece of media from the middle like what do people get out of that

[joncronshawauthor]

Announcing: Wyvern Rider (A story in the Ravenglass Universe)

Good news, everyone! I am thrilled to announce that my new serialised story, “Wyvern Rider”, will be releasing weekly chapters every Saturday at 2pm UK time, starting May 25, exclusively in my Ream community. Set in the Ravenglass Universe, “Wyvern Rider” follows the journey of Irina, a young village girl who forms a profound bond with an injured wyvern hatchling named Nim. Under the guidance…

[xisadorapurlowx]

I'VE been thinking about doing a chapter serialisation for my new book. It would be completely free of course, but I want to know what you guys thought.