A Novel in Blog Serial Form?

[Margaret]

Dickens originally published his novels as magazine serials. Now that we're in the internet-driven 21st century, I'm thinking of posting an original novel in serial form on my website. In Dickens's day, people had longer attention spans, so I thought I would post this novel in shorter installments: 200-500 words at a time, about what someone could read while on a coffee break. Set in medieval Germany, it's titled A World So Wide and is about a young woman who becomes mixed up in a murderous feud between a princess of Burgonden and the powerful lord who tries to prevent both women from marrying the men they love.

What do you think? Would you follow something like this if the storyline hooked you?

[Jemidar]

Dickens originally published his novels as magazine serials. Now that we're in the internet-driven 21st century, I'm thinking of posting an original novel in serial form on my website. In Dickens's day, people had longer attention spans, so I thought I would post this novel in shorter installments: 200-500 words at a time, about what someone could read while on a coffee break. Set in medieval Germany, it's titled A World So Wide and is about a young woman who becomes mixed up in a murderous feud between a princess of Burgonden and the powerful lord who tries to prevent both women from marrying the men they love.

What do you think? Would you follow something like this if the storyline hooked you?


Yes I probably would, but getting it in such small installments would probably drive me nuts...lol. I could definitely see myself saving up the installments till I had a good chunk and then reading it :p.

[Chatterbox]

If it were such small installments, they would have to be posted very frequently. Actually, tiny installments would probably irritate me. After all, a novel/story isn't a newspaper item. When I read fiction, I need to immerse myself in the universe that its characters occupy -- it's hard to yank oneself in and out of that with great frequency. Henry James published two or three chapters at a time of some of his serial novels (like The American). I would do at least one chapter.

[Margaret]

I was thinking of posting 2 or 3 times a week - and after the first post, there would be a place at the top to click for "previous episodes" that would go to an index page so readers could read all of the previous posts in order or just the ones they'd missed.

[Chatterbox]

It's just me -- but I'd still struggle with that little content at once. Especially when I have to mentally transfer myself from point A to point B in time and place. What I'd certainly do is (a) wait for 10 or 12 episodes to be published and (b) print them out so I could read them easily in one clump (which kind of gets away from the idea of the blog publication, at least as a reader). Just me, though. You may find other (esp younger) readers will be fine with it.

[Anna Elliott]

I'd be fine with it, though I think I might go a little bit longer--maybe more like 800 words per post. Though I read fairly quickly, so that's about the amount I could get through on a coffee break. Sounds like a really interesting story, Margaret!

[Nefret]

The story does sound interesting, so I would read it. And I agree with Anna about being longer. Since I might get impatient for more story. One whole chapter would be good.

[MLE]

I might read in little clips, but then I've been 'internetized'. However, I do have some hands-on experience with this kind of thing. I have about ten (well no, I just counted and it is eight) test readers who like my stuff enough to be anxious to get it in raw form. (In exchange for giving me glaring harsh picky criticism -- the useful comments.) On average, I don't send the attachment until it is at least 1,000 words or one full scene. Otherwise, I notice I don't get feedback until enough comes through.

I have two other test readers who don't do screen reading. For them, I have a booklet template of five sheets of paper, which is 20 pages in normal book format, or about 7K words. I paste in however much fits with a good stopping point -- not always filling the whole booklet. Obviously, those come slower than once a week.

I can't emphasize the value of test readers enough. They are worth a whole shelf of writing books, at least the honest ones are. But you are asking a lot of them-- most of your friends just want to maintain good relations with you and not make you feel bad. As critics, these are worse than useless. Many a singer/writer/artist is wasting time on something they are dreadful at simply because too many people were more interested in being liked than in being useful.

[Margaret]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I'm going to go for it. This is not so much for feedback on the novel (I worked with about a dozen other writers who critiqued the manuscript in various stages and got a lot of great feedback on it already), but to experiment with a new way of attracting both visitors to my blog and readers for the novel. I'm going to try the short installments, at least to start with, but will set up the "previous episodes" page so that readers can easily access whole chapters (once they've been on the blog) without having to keep clicking for new sections. Hopefully, that will offer both types of reading experience and give me an idea of which one attracts the most readers.

I'll post here when the first installment goes up.

[Julianne Douglas]

But Margaret, won't this mean that you'll never be able to publish the book through a traditional publisher? The market won't always be this bad!

[Margaret]

Actually, when I checked with my agent, she thought it was a great idea. We've been through all the likely possibilities (the "commercial" houses thought it was too "literary" and the "literary" houses thought it was too "commercial"), but she said if it catches on as a serial, this would give her a new angle to try again with traditional publishers.

[Julianne Douglas]

Cool! That's interesting to hear. This might then be the stepping stone you need.

I'm looking forward to reading your first post! :)

[Kveto from Prague]

Hi, Margaret.

I think it sounds like a cool idea. (but you know i dont have the most traditional interests). Ive always enjoyed stories in serial form, but im a fan of old pulps and comicbooks and was used to the "wait till next issue" idea.

For me it would be fine. I rarely have a chance to read more than a couple of pages of anything a day (one reason ive been leaning toward short stories lately) so im used to coming back and forth to stories.

As for the word count, i would try not to concentrate on that so much. You'd be best off just using complete scenes (but avoid cliffhangers) regardless of length. If one scene takes 500 and another 3000, so be it. if the content is what is interesting then id read it for sure. Ive got a very low tolerance for reading text on the computer, so for me, the shorter the better. (but again this is just me, i have no idea what others will think)


A last comment on Dickens: he was paid by the word, and boy, it really did show!:-)

[Margaret]

A last comment on Dickens: he was paid by the word, and boy, it really did show!:-)

LOL - reminds me of the story about Abraham Lincoln's delivery of the Gettysburg Address. He spoke after the featured orator delivered a speech lasting around 2 hours, I think. The style back then was for very wordy, flowery orations. The Gettysburg address was so short that there are no pictures of Lincoln delivering it - he finished it while the cameramen were still setting up their shots.

Thanks for the feedback, Keny!

[Sharz]

I would gladly read a good HF novel in that format. I did beta reading for a fanfic author for about 5 years, and during that time, she moved from short story length, to novella, to full-fledged novel length. I eagerly anticipated each section as it went up.

[Margaret]

Glad to hear this, Sharz!

The first installment of A World So Wide will appear on Wednesday, April 21 on the blog (http://www.historicalnovels.info/historical-novels-blog.html). I'll be so interested to see what kind of readership it draws.

Meanwhile, I just posted a review of Underground (http://www.historicalnovels.info/Underground.html), a psychological study of a Canadian who fought in the trenches in WWI and went on to volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. If you've ever wondered what it's like to be buried alive in a WWI trench, this is the book for you.