(from @inquisitor-gayfax)

Why yes! I'd love to (thank you for giving me the excuse XD)

The main thing I have realized is that experience with traditional, "complete on arrival" novels is actually super helpful for serial writing. The principles of character writing, world building, and all that still apply, but even more importantly the beats you want your story to hit are all pretty much the same. You want that into, the inciting incident, the midpoint turn, etc. Those are all vital to keeping your story on track. Especially as serials are prone to meandering. It is so easy to get lost and lose sight of the forest for the trees. For me, always checking with myself that I am hitting or actively working towards those major beats helps to keep me on track.

Also note that one big thing will be different is the length. Serials tend to get much longer and thus the beats are stretched out. The length is because each chapter essentially functions as a short story in and of itself. It has to be a satisfying reading experience on its own as well as in the context of the larger work. This oftentimes means fleshing things out more than you otherwise would and bam, longer work. (not necessarily as long as I often go! but the tendency is there). FWIW, I find editing these chapters as I got to be much easier than editing a whole novel. I do miss being able to move big chunks and scenes around (cut and paste, my beloved), but it is worth the tradeoff to me.

The nature of the chapters functioning as short stories (minus a definitive ending of course) is probably going to be the biggest difference if you are someone who writes the entire thing ahead of time and then posts chapter by chapter, as opposed to posting as you write or posting with a backlog but not a finished novel.

Now, the other biggest difference if you are posting as you go is that you will not have the chance to revise the entire story the way you do with a traditional novel. You cannot go back and change things, add foreshadowing or a character beat or anything. Once you publish that chapter, the events are set in stone.

I actually enjoy this! It is a fun challenge to work with what I have established. But...I also cheat. I have a tendency to drop little things here and there that could be hints at larger plot points or things that are setting up things later on, but they are vague enough that I am not fully locked into anything.

The secret is that your readers are unlikely to remember a small detail in chapter 3 that didn't really go anywhere. But they will remember that detail in chapter 4 that got paid off in chapter 35 and you will look like a super genius (I am 99% sure Eiichiro Oda, possibly the greatest serial fantasy writer/artist of all time has done this writing One Piece, alongside his legit 5-D chess long game reveals)

To call myself out, here is an interaction from chapter 5 of The Silence & the Storm (poster child of fics that got too long)

Before he turned to go, he placed a hand on Anrakyr’s shoulder. Anrakyr tried to shake him off, but his grip was as strong as his bulky build would imply. Through an interstitial message he said, “If you ever wish to hear of Pyrrhia, you need only ask. Perhaps you still have friends there? Perhaps not. But would you not like to know?” “What are you—” Zultanekh broke the connection. He started back down the corridor, and Anrakyr had to choose whether to chase him, or remain with this stranger.

I had no idea what had actually happened on Pyrrhia when I wrote that. I just knew I wanted to address Anrakyr's backstory and why he left his home planet, so I left myself that set up figuring I would pay it off later. And then in chapter 48 we got this:

“Do you remember back when the mot was called,” Anrakyr said. “You told me that if I wished to know about Pyrrhia I need only ask. That I might still have friends there. Was that true?” “Would I lie about such a thing? Never,” Zultanekh replied, surprisingly softly. “Did my own wanderings take me to Pyrrhia? Yes, they did. An unlucky clash with some orks left this ship in need of repairs—although make no mistake the orks were far worse off! Space debris after we were done with them.” Anrakyr flashed a glyph of impatience.  “In any case,” Zultanekh continued. “We landed, declaring our intentions to repair and leave. Had we heard rumors of lost Pyrrhia? We had, however the planet itself was quite…orderly. Calm.”

The conversation goes on as Zultanekh describes more of what he saw because 33 chapters later I, the author, now know what happened and can start giving that pay off. Sometimes I will get really lucky and find something I didn't intend as foreshadowing but that happens to work! Those are good days.

Now this is a risky strategy. You can limit your options when you do this, and you have to make the pay off make sense given whatever you set up. I've definitely wished for the power to go back and edit some of my vague hints in the past. But that is the challenge! True you could actually be good at planning and meticulously plant all your little seeds and reveals. Or you can be me, a creature of vibes and chaos.

Speaking of vibes, I think it is important to talk about the audience. And how they will influence you. When you present a finished story, that is it. It is done. The audience can talk about the story all they want, but it cannot retroactively influence how you wrote the book. With serial writing 99% of the time readers will be able to comment. And I think we writers have to be very careful about how we let that affect our writing.

The Game of Thrones writing team apparently at some point decided that "fooling the audience" and being unpredictable was more important than telling a good story, so they changed plot points when too many audience members predicted certain outcomes. This is bad. However, sometimes audience feedback is good! I personally unlocked a whole subplot because a commenter asked about a character I had included totally at random. It was a filler name! I did not realize this character was in a game, but realizing that gave me incredible stuff to work with. I'm glad I listened to them! Not to mention the incredible kindness and support that has kept me going through some rough patches in my life. By that same token, negative comments can feel awful. I have not found that to be an issue in my corner of the 40k fandom, but it is absolutely a consideration in other spaces (especially outside of fanfic) so just be aware.

Yes! You are, amazingly, talking to someone who read Homestuck after all.

Serial writing has an element of a collaborative project, especially in the internet era where it's so easy for an author to receive direct and immediate feedback. This is, I believe, almost exclusively a bad thing (at least in literature). I wrote a story, Modern Cannibals, about the dangers of a fanbase allowed too close to the creator of their fandom, but in that book I didn't touch so much on the impact on the work itself. Ironically, I personally think Homestuck has one of the most interesting and unique author-fandom collaborative elements possible in a serial work, though this interest is developed solely through what I view as Hussie's growing, seeping disdain for his readership, which manifests throughout Act 6 as a series of increasingly bitter and less good-natured jabs at them. (See: Calliope, the Dancestor trolls and especially Hussie's self-insert comments about them, the literal DOTA followed immediately by his self-insert making its most direct influence on the narrative yet, and a generally increasing nastiness that would culminate in the Epilogues, his master stroke.)

At the same time, though, Act 6 succumbed to incredible bloat (not unlike a RoyalRoad Patreon trap? Only with merch instead of Patreon), became mired in ancillary romantic shenanigans, lost focus of what it wanted to do with most characters and instead crystallized them into some fandom-encouraged configuration (Rose and Kanaya both essentially stop having any meaningful character moments the instant they hook up), brought back Vriska???????? (did the fandom even want this? Or just the devil whispering in Hussie's ear?), and ended the story on a saccharine note that sought inoffensiveness above all else. Indeed, the entire crux of the lousy Act 7 animation seemed to be, at least as Hussie explained it, a reference to the fandom meme "Homestuck is anime." A reference that fell hopelessly flat. How many other niche fandom-specific injokes populate the pages of Act 6, now blisteringly incomprehensible?

Several of these problems were possibly caused by behind-the-scenes issues related to the Kickstarter (which is itself an issue that would only ever exist for a serial work). Still, the point comes across, and this is a work I think pulled off its serial nature better than most.

On the flip side, you get stuff like Game of Thrones - or 90 percent of all long-running TV shows. There's a reason you have the phrase "jump the shark." Though now known generically as a synonym for "gets bad," the original jump the shark moment involved Fonzie, a character who started as supporting cast and who, over time, in response to his popularity, nonsensically became the lead. When fans like something, they want more of it. Some good things are best in moderation, however, and an author typically understands that better than an audience.

But you see, the problem is this: The sharks are already in the water, and the web serial industry has become toxic. If it ever wasn't.

I don't mean people using Substack or individuals at all. What I mean is that it's an entire industry already that, in the past several years, has kind of gone from bad to worst.

There is a general idea that web serial writing isn't as good as traditional publishing. Yeah, there's so much of it out there. There are a lot of people getting their start writing this way. But that doesn't mean that's the only people out here, even if there are a LOT of them.

However, it does mean there are a lot of hopeful writers just ripe to be taken advantage of.

The problem in the last few years has actually come from media conglomerates snapping up platforms left and right. Many of these are coming out of overseas markets, because web serials are HUGE there and have already proven to be profitable. Naver, which owns WEBTOON, also now owns Wattpad [link] Kakao acquired three platforms in the last year: Tapas, Wuxiaworld, and Radish. [link]

Webnovel is under Tencent. Here's a fun article about that.

and from that article:

Cultivating native writers

The huge success of a handful of Chinese stories has been great for the platforms, but also unpredictable and hard to replicate. Within China, the industry isn't just built on that. It's also about the thousands of B-list or amateur authors constantly pumping out new works to keep readers on the platforms.

To recreate that overseas, Chinese platforms have begun to cultivate non-Chinese writers. And the platforms have plenty of experience from the two decades of competing within China.

Emphasis mine.

These companies are predatory at best. Webnovel has a notoriously hellish contract. Authors are paid pennies and expected to "pump out" content, and those writers have to produce 500-1k words at least 5 times a week or be in breach of contract.

The kicker? Most don't retain the IP for their work, let alone moral rights.

While we often cite "to become a better writer, you must write," there is a point where the stress of the constant churn doesn't allow a writer to grow.

I've had friends get cut out of revenue shares for their work because, technically, it is considered contract work. You were paid what you were paid, and whatever profits come from that go to the company. Often this is done on a second season, or slipped into an amended contract.

Check the fine print on any of the contests. Most include something about entries only being able to be posted on that platform (see even The Wattys) which, understandable, but exclusivity is a low gate. It doesn't seem like a big deal until you're trapped behind it and at the mercy of whatever platform is holding your work.

And these larger companies often release massive waves of censorship.

Recently on Tapas, novels (and comics!) were shadowbanned from the app if they had the word "kiss" in the title. This was just weeks ago. If you search "kiss" on the Tapas app, the main way that the audience accesses the site, literally nothing comes up. Have a tweet about it:

[link]

It's the newest wave of censors that have been placed on the platform... and the platform has issued no statement on this. What other words are banned? Who knows? Well, omega is another one. But no one was told that. It's been a lot of trial and error among members of the community to find out if anyone can even find their stories anymore.

In the last few years, many of the more experienced authors I've met and highly respected on platforms just... left.

Does this mean that serial writing is dead in the water? Of course not.

I really, really hope not.

But if anyone out there is interested in taking that route, there's some pretty basic advice that everyone has heard:

read the TOC of a platform thoroughly before posting.

do not rely on a platform alone to share your work. you never know when something might happen, and suddenly your work will be unavailable. (this is one of the reasons that I run from exclusivity.)

plan to build your own audience, in your own way. Most platforms already have a niche, and that is what they are going to push more than anything.

understand that marketing is on you, just like any other kind of self-publishing route.

if your interested in becoming a "premium" author for the sites, read your contracts COMPLETELY. Even and especially renewals.

be wary if anything seems to good to be true when it comes to these large platforms. it probably is.

My experience, like everyone's, is obviously limited. I understand that. Personally? I loved platforms, and building communities on them with other writers, but I am finding it difficult to trust my work on them anymore.

I'm trying to figure out my own way now. I'm not sure what that's going to look like, but I'm trying to think of something. Because I haven't given up. I can't. I committed to writing my story as a series, and I'll finish it as such, because it is what is right for that story.

Here's the monthly round-up of everything written and posted in October 2022! A bit of a delay this time because I started writing a lot for NaNoWriMo!

Underline the Black 09

Underline the Black 10

Underline the Black 11

Underline the Black 12

Underline the Black 13

Underline the Black 14

Underline the Black 15

The Nascent Diplomat 25

The Nascent Diplomat 26 (Patreon early access $5+)

Underline the Gold (Alois/Flitmouse) extra (Patreon only $5+)

Chapter Commentary - Underline the Black 03 (Patreon only $3+)

Chapter Commentary - Underline the Black 04 (Patreon only $3+)

Underline the Green - Mosk/Augus - Twenty Blankets 01 (Patreon early access $5+)

The following three stories are ongoing at my Wattpad account. For those who prefer to read on the Wattpad app, or who prefer shorter chapters, you can currently find these stories ongoing there:

Stuck on the Puzzle

The Wildness Within

Spoils of the Spoiled

This month I ended up with 31,435 words. It was a more conservative wordcount because I knew NaNoWriMo was coming, and the end of the year is always a difficult time for me.

November will bring more Underline the Black, and ideally another Underline side chapter. We have more Nascent Diplomat, and the commencement of an Alex/Sebastian Stardew Valley fanfic over at my other AO3 account at thespectaclesofthor.

   Chapter- II

The pool of light was luring me in itself but, the glow was blindingly relaxing. Inside the tunnel of light was a blob of a blaze with different patches of light all shining these different colours and.... upon looking closely they all looked kind of like, places, places I had seen before in my life, or places I had never seen before but which looked surprisingly familiar to me. I didn't know where I was going but I did know that I wasn't going there willingly, well, not entirely willingly. I could feel someone pushing me into the portals of light, I tried to see who it was but with gravity in hell and my hair in air, all I could see were my honey brown hair all about the place.

My feet were hooked in the pane of my window as I was trying to force myself away from the pool. But as hard as I was trying to pull myself into my nook, I felt a force almost as strong as mine trying to sling me into the pool. And so I went in there, ecstatically defying Newton's pride and peeked into a portal. It looked like some familiar scene from my past as if I had seen the place but my brain had long resolved to bury any memories pertaining to this place. Intrigued as I was, I was pushed inside rather than me going in with mere self force. I turned back to see who it was but, could only catch a glimpse of the tuft of the honey brown hair. 'Gravity really seems to be on its day off', I thought. Nevertheless, I ventured forth because you don't let a tuft of honey brown hair distract you from flying into a strangely familiar place.

Being pushed into the first portal, I was in awe. I was in a place I knew and in one I didn't. I could feel my brain reaching out into its depths to fish out some memory related to this place but in absolute vain. I walked around the desolate road, alone, with no one around for miles and miles. Dalton Highway. That's it. That's where I am, in Alaska but, how were I to know it? I had never been to America, let alone Alaska. But as I was thinking this, I realised how little I could see. I could barely see my hands and yes, I had my glasses on.

So I was walking, along the desolate road, seeing absolutely nothing, just the clouds , descended from the sky to the ground, looking at the ground, I could see nothing but the gravel below and the white ahead. Walking a few steps ahead, I saw that I was losing my balance and almost twisted my foot twice but, as I had to, I kept walking ahead. I was walking when I fell, but didn't fall onto the ground and the gravel. Oh no no no. I wished I'd have fallen onto the gravel. But instead I fell in a manhole. A long 10 metre manhole with no safety harness and not a soul around to hear my cry. But how was I to know when I didn't even try to reach out. If there is no help in sight, is it even worth crying out for it?. Would any of us ever even talk about our pains if we didn't have anyone to listen to them? Would we even consider it pain? Or think about it in terms of pain? Maybe we would. Maybe we wouldn't. But in that deep pitch of darkness, with the clouds from the heavens above, I didn't have a listener and so I didn't have a voice. People say you need to be a listener to know people but, they never say how much you need a voice to find a listener. Maybe there would have been one listener out there, maybe there wouldn't have been but, I didn't know and I would perhaps never know.

However, as I was approaching my upcoming end, or what I thought was my end, I wasn’t quite ending. Instead, I found myself in the same pool of light as I had originally found my way to the road. I found myself drifting out of some light and into another. This time, I tried to resist. And resisted hard. But I felt the same amount of force that I was exerting to be exerted back at me. I gathered my floating brown hair and let myself be drifted all whilst asking myself, 'Why am I going in there? Will I even make out alive?' but death is an adventure, a mystery, a suspense and what a beautiful, luring suspense is it. You get a definite way out of the mystery but, it is the most definite decision or sometimes, if you are lucky, a compulsion. People like to portray it in the most gruesome sense, as a thief, show it wielding a scythe but, in this case, it was me with the scythe. Death doesn't wield the scythe, it bestows it upon you and you take it for what it is, an honour. But there is something relaxing about having the scythe in your hands, to know that it's you who is in charge of the scything. And so here I was scything myself as I let myself drift into the second portal, into the blinding yet relaxing light.