Next up on the blog tour today we are travelling over Tasha Duncan Drake’s blog for a special guest post. 4 tips for writing short serialised fiction. Big thanks to Tasha for kindly hosting me again this year for my blog tour.
Originally published on Tasha’s Thinkings
Serialised fiction is usually made up of a series of parts of a novel or book series. They aren’t just short stories and are different from novels, they’re more like episodes like you see on TV. Charles Dicken famously released his novels in magazines, newspapers or instalments. So instead of releasing and writing a novel all at once it can be a good idea to release parts of your book in instalments.
1. Hook your readers
You need to hook your readers within the first couple chapters of your serial. These chapters set the scene for the storyline, the series and the characters.
2. Have a good outline
Having a good outline is essential when you’re writing serialised fiction. As the stories tend to be fairly short you need a decent outline to know what you’re going to write in each chapter. Serials aren’t really for pantsers or people who write on the fly.
3. Don’t have too many characters
Having a lot of characters in novels works fine, but it’s best to not have too many characters in serials. Stick to just one or two main characters and a couple of secondary characters. Having a lot of character doesn’t work well in short fiction.
4. Write a lot of action
If you release your stories in episodes, then you need to keep you readers coming back for more.
