Writers in the Storm

by John Peragine

One of the hot new forms of writing right now is serialization. This is breaking up a story into smaller digestible parts, much like episodes of your favorite TV series. While the trend is hot and fresh, the concept of serialization is not new. In the 19^th Century, Charles Dickens wrote the Pickwick Papers. It was a story told in 19 episodes over 20 months. More recently, Stephen King wrote the Green Mile as a serialized novel.  Many other famous authors such as Hunter S. Thompson, Margaret Atwood, and Harriet Beecher Stowe also serialized some of their stories.

In genre fiction, creating a series of books is often preferred over one-offs, but that can take years to produce. Consider if you could serialize each book into smaller episodes. You could release those episodes as you create and edit them. You wouldn't need to do any fancy layout or covers, as many serializations are read through apps or online.

There are several benefits of writing in a serialized form.

1. Building an Author Platform- I have used Bookfunnel.com to build a newsletter list. I want to create newsletters that provide content and don't feel spammy. I am sending new episodes of a side story to my book Max and the Spice Thieves. This keeps up the interest in the series while I finish the second book and introduces new readers to my characters. It keeps the subscribers' interest and gives them something of value for continuing to receive my newsletter.
2. Getting Stories Out Faster- It takes time to write a full-length book. In genre fiction, once your first book is published, your fans are wanting book two. You can create a serialization of the next book or create other shorter tales that exist in the world you have created. You can write 500-3000 words easier than 48K words. It will keep your fans engaged and your books top of mind until your next full-length book is released.
3. You Can Experiment- If you allow your fans to comment on your serialization, you can create new works and test the waters. If you find that people are enjoying it and are hungry for more, you can continue the series. If the response is not as positive, you can stop and move onto another project. You can find out early on what people like or do not like about a particular story, and their expectations can even influence and shape future installments.
4. Gives You Space to Make Changes. You can decide if the direction of your story is making sense or if you need to make changes to your plot. It provides you space and perspective in between episodes to read and reflect on previous episodes.
5. Keeps the Pace Moving. Each episode must create a complete scene or scenes and often leave a cliffhanger or unanswered questions to keep the reader wanting more. This cuts out the glut and slow-moving pace that can sometimes plague books and creates more complete and exciting chapters of a book should you decide to compile your serializations. The pace needs to move, or readers will become bored and disengaged.
6. It Keeps You Moving. Unlike a novel that can take any amount of time to complete, serialization has a built-in clock. People expect a new installment in whatever amount of time you decide upon. You have to keep writing and moving the story along. There is no time for procrastination.

Here are some sites to consider to begin your serialization journey:

• Royal Road
• Webnovel
• Tapas
• Moonquill
• Radish
• Dreame
• Wattpad

In part 2, I will discuss serialization on Kindle and their new platform Vella and some rules for creating serialization episodes.

Have you considered serializing a story? What platforms have you used? How successful have your serializations been?

About John

John Peragine has published 14 books and ghostwritten more than 100 others. He is a contributor for HuffPost, Reuters, and The Today Show. He covered the John Edwards trial exclusively for Bloomberg News and The New York Times. He has written for Wine Enthusiast, Grapevine Magazine, Realtor.com, WineMaker magazine, and Writer's Digest.

John began writing professionally in 2007, after working 13 years in social work and as the piccolo player for the Western Piedmont Symphony for over 25 years. Peragine is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. You can learn more about his books at JohnPeragineBooks.com. 

His newest book, Max and the Spice Thieves, was released on April 20, 2021. Click here for a free first chapter. 

by Eldred Bird

While perusing the Twitterverse recently, I happened upon a question that caught my interest. Author Jeff Richards asked, “What is your LEAST favorite common writing tip?”

We all have that one piece of advice that makes us roll our eyes when someone feels the need to impart that particular kernel of wisdom. Below, I’ve collected some of the most popular responses from Mr. Richards’ query. Everyone has their own interpretation as to the meaning of these gems. Let’s take a deeper look and I’ll give you my opinion (I’m full of them).

Write Every Day

“Write every day” is the one I hear most often and was also high on the Twitter list. The most common complaints about this piece of advice involve finding the time and/or the inspiration. Both can be quite difficult at times. You need to write consistently, but that may not mean every day in your particular life situation. I like to approach this tip more as, “Make time in your schedule for writing and stick to it.”

The truth is life doesn’t always give us a choice, so do your best and don’t kick yourself to hard when you stumble and miss a day or two (or in my case sometimes weeks). There are times you need to give yourself permission to say, “It ain’t happening today…”

Show, Don’t Tell

“Show, don’t tell” is something I see run up the flagpole at every critique meeting I’ve ever attended. It’s good advice in general, but not something you can avoid in every situation, nor should you. There are many times where telling is not only appropriate, but the most expedient way to get the point across.

Rather than rehash this one, I’ll just point you to a WITS post by Lori Freeland. I’m pretty much in agreement with everything she has to say on the subject.

Don’t Use Prologues

I have to admit “Don’t use prologues” used to be one of my favorite pieces of advice. I always felt the need for a prologue meant you were starting your story in the wrong place. I also found a good number of the prologues I encountered were simply data dumps of back story that could have easily been woven into the fabric of the narrative or eliminated completely.

I’ve flipped my opinion on this one a little. Sometimes a prologue can set the proper mood for a piece or help the reader get anchored in an unfamiliar setting, especially when it comes to fantasy and science fiction. I think the key is to keep it short and don’t overload the reader with details you can work into the story when they are necessary. A lot of back story can be implied by context and world-building done by your character’s interactions with their surroundings.

Avoid Adverbs

We’re all familiar with the Stephen King quote “The road to hell is paved with adverbs,” but what does it really mean? Some people say never, never, never, ever use adverbs and preach it with fire and brimstone! Come on folks, we all know there’s no such thing as never when it comes to artistic endeavors like writing.

Yes, you are allowed to use adverbs, but like any other element of writing, don’t over-use them. If your work is being propped up by a multitude of adverbs, it means your primary verbs aren’t doing the heavy lifting. Look for stronger action verbs to do the work. Your readers and your story pacing will thank you.

Write What You Know

“Write what you know” is fairly popular and top of my own list. Most people complained that if we only stick to what we know, we never grow as writers or members of the human race. A few also pointed out that following this advice would preclude you from writing fantasy and science fiction. After all, none of us mere mortals have been to space or Middle Earth or been blessed with the power of magic.

I think the real intent of this advice is that you should bring your own experiences into the writing as much as possible. When writing an emotional scene, recall your own emotional state during a similar situation and apply that to your narrative. The same applies to locations, be they real world or fantasy. Think about the things that catch your eye and give a location character. These details are what make a location real to the reader as well. When building characters draw on people you know or have observed. It will give them more depth and make them more relatable.

It can also mean before you write about a specific subject you need to do a little studying first. I like to twist this piece of advice around to, “Do your research and write what you want to know.”

Some Final Thoughts

When we hear a piece of advice like those above, we should keep in mind that most, if not all, have roots in the truth. They’ve come from the experiences of others who are trying to help by passing on lessons learned from experience. It’s up to each one of us to determine what we do with the advice. Mull it over to see what applies to your work and how it applies. Experiment with it, twist it around, play with it, and when you find what works for you, pass it on.

What do you think of these writing tips? Do you have a favorite (or least favorite) piece of advice? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

About Eldred

Eldred Bird writes contemporary fiction, short stories, and personal essays. He has spent a great deal of time exploring the deserts, forests, and deep canyons inside his home state of Arizona. His James McCarthy adventures, Killing Karma, Catching Karma, and Cold Karma, reflect this love of the Grand Canyon State even as his character solves mysteries amidst danger. Eldred explores the boundaries of short fiction in his stories, The Waking Room, Treble in Paradise: A Tale of Sax and Violins, and The Smell of Fear.

When he’s not writing, Eldred spends time cycling, hiking and juggling (yes, juggling…bowling balls and 21-inch knives). His passion for photography allows him to record his travels. He can be found on Twitter or Facebook, or at his website.

by Tasha Seegmiller

I just finished my MFA at Pacific University. I had several reasons I went to get this expensive graduate degree, one which is obvious – I wanted to dedicate time to my writing. I wanted to get better. 

But it was expensive. Really expensive. 

And that is a significant reason why many people don’t seriously consider MFA programs. 

While I would never presume to state that that experience can be replicated in whole outside of the dedication that comes from a financial commitment, there are some key things I learned that I will bring into practice throughout my writing career. 

1. Read Well & Critically

If you have any desire to be published, it is essential to keep apprised of the books being published in your genre. That’s one of the first pieces of advice nearly every publishing professional will tell you.

But one of the things I hadn’t thought about before entering my program was the necessity to read adjacent genres as well. For me, that included stories about women in modern society wrestling with similar things but in a different way.

I’m currently writing about a mom of teenagers who is a successful professor and a person of faith, so reading narratives featuring women from different cultures and different faiths proved to really solidify some of the things I wanted to emphasize in my own stories. Some of these included Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum, The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd, and The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall.

I had an advisor who asked what real stories I’d read about people who were similar to my characters. I opted to read Shoot the Damn Dog: A Memoir of Depression by Sally Brampton, and found, for the first time in my life, I was reading many of the same things I’d been feeling as a person who has severe depression and saw the way that language could be used to help explain the unseeable. Since then, I have included works by Anne Lamott, Jenny Lawson, Glennon Doyle, and Emily Nagoski.

Then, I had a couple advisors who suggested a well-informed writer of any genre needs to have experience with some of the foundational books that solidified elements of that genre. It was through this process that I learned my preference in writing leans more literary than I’d originally realized, a funny realization because my love for A Scarlet Letter runs deep and I’ve written a Little Women retelling. This doesn’t mean merely classics either, but if a book has won awards from an entity that you admire, taking the time to read those, to consider why they won is a really valuable use of time.

If you are interested in next-level consideration, I recommend doing a little write-up of books you admire. This isn’t talking about what the book was about, but leaning more into what did the writer do that you admired.

• Where did they lose your interest?
• How did they gain it?
• What passages had language that left you in awe?
• What do you sometimes struggle to craft that they did well?

2. Study Writing

Along with reading good books, there is a necessity to study how people talk about writing. I think there are some pretty solid benefits to studying both craft (the tools of writing) as well as the fulfillment of writing (the art, the meaning, the efforts of creativity).

Everyone is going to have their own balance here, but too much craft talk can make a writer feel like they are merely an assembly line: insert character, add tension, kill your darlings, save the cat. And too much about the art of writing can leave a person feeling all inspired without much to really show for it.

I’ve heard some people say people at different levels are ready for different books, but once upon a time I was a piano teacher and there is no one – NO ONE – who doesn’t need to practice their scales. Returning to basics frequently, especially as our understanding of art improves continues to unlock parts of art to us.

As such, for craft books, I recommend:

• Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer
• Story by Robert McKee
• Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses
• The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby
• Story Genius by Lisa Cron

I initially read two of these digitally and have since bought physical copies. They have a lot of depth and intentionality and I needed to mark and underline and ponder.

For inspiration, I recommend Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Daring Greatly by Brené Brown (it’s not a book about art, but it is about shame and vulnerability and if an artist hasn’t figured out what to do with that, creation is just going to be harder), and Light the Dark: Writer on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process edited by Joe Fassler.

3. Get Eyes on the Work Regularly

If you’ve been hanging around as a creative for much time at all, you have likely heard or seen what others might say about a work. And a lot of people, when I mention this part, wonder if it was all people tearing everything apart.

There was some of that. BUT! But, when someone starts the critique by saying why they are making the recommendations they are, when someone asks you to lean into your sentences to see if you are over-writing, when they are asking how this scene advances the arc of a character, or when they are questioning why you blew through the emotional peak (ahem, because the character needs to be authentic . . . and I feel super vulnerable writing it . . .and we’re back to Brené Brown . . .) there is something that happens within.

Within my program, there were two kinds of feedback we could receive:

1. Feedback from peers and advisors in workshop during residence.
2. Feedback from an advisor who worked with me throughout a semester.

In publishing speak, this could be a critique group and beta readers. Having 3-5 people provide feedback on the same chunk of writing at a time is often hard, and so so valuable. Within my own critique group, we have tried several different methods and found that giving each person a chance to talk without fear of interruption has been the best way. This was also how most of my workshops went.

When reaching out for a beta reader, it is better to start with what you, as the writer, desire for feedback. There are some who think as long as they are saying something, it’s helpful; but if a writer isn’t careful, that feedback requested could derail the whole story.

While there are lots of different reasons people might seek feedback, including sensitivity readers (if you think you might need one, you do), area experts (doctors, police officers, geologists and the like), there is an absolute necessity to also get feedback from people who are writers. They are going to look at your work differently, going to see things other very kind, well-intentioned reader types might gloss over in favor of seeing where the story goes.

The thing to remember about art in general is that you are going to get out of it what you put into it AND (as I like to tell my students) there isn’t a right way to write, but there is a right way to have written. While all of these ideas will enhance the way you are able to think and talk about writing in general, they will also serve as a guide to help you discern what writing methods are going to work for you.

And I think that’s the most valuable thing to learn at all.

Let’s help each other out - what books do you recommend for craft or artful inspiration? And how were you able to find people to give you feedback on your writing?

About Tasha

Tasha Seegmiller believes in the magic of love and hope, which she weaves into every story she creates. She is an MFA candidate in the Writing Program at Pacific University and teaches composition courses at Southern Utah University. Tasha married a guy she’s known since she was seven, is the mom of three teens, and co-owner of a soda shack and cotton candy company. She is represented by Annelise Robey of Jane Rotrosen Agency.