Sunday Summary and #ROW80 Update

  1. Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Once I finish my tea (and oh boy is it ever a two cup morning), I’ll be putting together the marinade for the carne asada I’m making for tonight’s little Cinco de Mayo get together with the neighbors.  It’s the first time we’ve had them over (for shame…in 3 weeks, we’ll have been here a year), and I’m in wow them mode.  I’m even making homemade tortillas.  The wife came over yesterday to borrow an egg, which made me ridiculously happy.  It’s a silly thing, I guess, but it’s just so neighborly.
  2. It’s been a really good writing week.  5393, with SOMETHING written every day.    Except yesterday.  I’d love to get back into a groove where this was the norm rather than the exception.  Either way, I’m solidly into Act 4 and barreling toward the end of Riven.  I had hoped to finish the scene I’m on today, but we’ve got a LOT of cleaning to do before tonight, and since I got up way late this morning (10:30!), I didn’t get any writing in before hubby got up.    I might be able to get a couple hundred in anyway.
  3. I read a really good post this morning by James Scott Bell (the more I read by him, the more impressed I get), talking about self publishing being the next pulp fiction era (which I’ve said before) and giving advice on how to best approach it.  Well worth a read if you’re considering (or on) the self publishing track.
  4. And speaking of James Scott Bell, I’m still working my way through The Art of War for Writers, which I’m loving.  He’s got several exercises that I want to try.
  5. Also on the reading front, I’ve been plowing through Nalini Singh’s Wild Invitation anthology.   Which has just made me happy because I love the Changelings and it’s fun to see the little spin off mating stories of some of the side characters.  It was a nice little tide me over until the next Guild Hunter novel comes out this fall (October, I think).  Except, of course, that it didn’t actually last me more than this week.  It was enough to make me go search out fan fic of both series (ultimately a disappointing endeavor because I am no longer capable of being a non-critical reader and most fan fiction is very amateurish and I just can’t take it).  So I may be doing some rereading of that series here soon.  Oh!  The next Psy-Changeling novel comes out in June!  Score!  Not so long to wait after all.
  6. I’ve been thinking a lot about serials lately.  I know this is something that has become possible again with the advent of ebooks.  Some folks are writing and releasing “episodes” the same way I write and release regular ebooks, charging some set amount (apparently usually 99 cents from what I’ve read) per episode.  And then there are the folks who use Wattpad to release stories part by part (I’ve been serializing Forsaken By Shadow there, but haven’t really done anything to promote anything) to build an audience, and then release and sell the whole (while leaving up the serialized version).   There are probably other methods of doing this that I haven’t thought about yet.  But what do y’all think about this?  I mean, there are lots of issues to consider.  Do you write the whole thing before releasing it part by part (this is what I did with FBS the first time I serialized it on the blog)?  That’s my first inclination because I know how often things wind up changing on me as I go.  But then there’s the challenge of seeing, if I plot everything out really thoroughly in advance, can I stick to it and release on a schedule?  How often do you release parts?  I’d think weekly for the kind of scene by scene part release on Wattpad.  But how often for buyable episodes?  I’d imagine them to be longer.  Maybe full acts unto themselves (which would, I hope, end on sufficient hooks to make people want to move on to the next one).  How do you feel about serials as a reader?  How would you want them presented, how often, etc?  Inquiring minds want to know.

4 thoughts on “Sunday Summary and #ROW80 Update

  1. Sometimes I just wish I HAD neighbors. My mom is through the woods, but not next door. And then again, maybe it’s better to be isolated. 🙂

    That’s a great word count, Kait! You’re really on a roll.

    I generally don’t read serials. I don’t like to wait for the next installment. It’s funny, the first experience I had with serials was long before ebooks were a thing. Stephen King wrote a serial (the name escapes me) and offered it for $1 for each installment. You got the installment whether you paid your $1 or not, but the deal was, if a certain percentage actually paid, the serial would continue. But, if after a certain number of installments people weren’t paying, we wouldn’t get any more. Luckily, a HUGE percentage actually paid their dollar. That was a new thing back then. Now, I’m just too impatient for that. I would rather wait until I can read the whole thing.

  2. I have to put my vote in with Lauralynn here, Kait. I love the idea of series stories–I grow attached to characters and worlds and prefer to read more stories about those things from an author than get bounced from place to place, time to time. Serials, not so much, however. I’m the kind who never watches a show until there is at least a season to watch in a sitting.

    The wordcount rocks. I totally understand the wish for it to be the rule as opposed to the exception, but it’s better to celebrate the success than mourn the failures. The successes drives us further.

    Sounds like you have some lucky neighbors. Enjoy your get-together. 😀

  3. I’ve thought about releasing one chapter at a time, but you have a very good point about writing the whole thing – or at least a detailed outline – first. Hmm, food for thought!

    Congrats on goals achieved. It sounds like you’ve had a good week and you’ve given me more to add to my To Read list. Sigh! It is never-ending. 😀

    Have a good one, Kait!

  4. I don’t know how I missed this Sunday, but I’m going through the same thing regarding serialization. I’ve decided to do it with a piece that’s been my “sandbox” for some time now. I’m not sure of all the details yet: how often, how much, where, finish first, then release. . . I read that Stephen King released Green Mile in 2 installments per month. *shrug* It just sounds like a fun, different project for me. Something to liven up my day. Bwahahahaha!

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