SHANNON MUIR’S THURSDAY THOUGHTS on THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF are observations from the site administrator on her writing life, or the industry at large. Anything Shannon Muir thinks about goes – check the blog on Thursdays!
Having grown up with an interest in entertainment and periods in my life where I followed the televised daytime drama, or “soap opera” as others call it, I’d strongly felt interested in trying the idea of serialized fiction. I thought if I planned things out enough in advance, I could use the regular but short deadlines to build a writing discipline and encourage me to write daily.
While these goals were accomplished to a degree, I came to learn that several factors about my writing style work against me in doing serial fiction.
- I tend to discover my characters more as I go – So, even though I thought I knew where everything was going when I started, the plot would take twists as turns as I progressed based on character growth. Unfortunately, facts might already be established in already released segments that wouldn’t allow these character directions to be followed.
- I wasn’t able to get as far ahead of myself as I hoped – Real life kept getting in my way, and despite my best intentions, each installment came together at the last minute.
As I result, I closed out several projects mid-stream in their web serial form, but will release them in e-book form when they are revised and polished to a suitable level. In the meantime, I’ve decided to let the Myanna Moore web serial finish out since it is so close to the end. Episode Five is running the last week of June 2017, and the last installment slated for October 2017 (but, as all things, subject to change depending on the demands of real life). All parts have, or will eventually be, released as e-books.
At one point, some services showed a compilation available for pre-order, but I have now pulled this as I re-evaluate how I want to continue with Myanna’s stories. They most definitely will continue; I just want to find the best format that serves character, plot, and my storytelling abilities. I will keep you appraised once I decide which direction to go. Therefore, I encourage you to buy each value priced 99 cent issue individually as they will not be compiled for the foreseeable future, likely not at all.
Serial fiction was an interesting experiment, but ultimately not for me.
