Serial(s are) Killer
Why I'm serializing fiction on Substack
My first experience with serializing came in the form of Dracula Daily, and I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t make it through the whole thing. I’m one of those ‘need a clear inbox to function’ people, with occasional bouts of ‘I haven’t looked at my email in 5 days, it’s going to take me hours to clean it out.’ Plus, I’m not a fan of how big the font is in Substack emails. My thumb feels like it’ll fall off after scrolling 1000 words. Now that I have the app, I’ve switched to push notifications—much more manageable.
My serial, Strange Moon Rising, is the first book I’ve taken from idea to completion. I love it. I can’t wait to have it professionally edited. I can’t wait for a couple people to read it and enjoy the time spent away from the real world with characters I created. My book’s not reinventing a genre or a world-changing debut, but it’s mine, and I love it dearly.
I’m publishing on Substack as an accountability tool for myself, to keep plugging away at making it better, to keep pushing towards publishing rather than letting it sit in my computer gathering digital dust.
I’m publishing on Substack because I’m new, a baby author I’ve heard it called—sure, I’ve been writing for fifteen years, taken nearly enough classes to get a creative writing certificate at my university, entered one single writing competition (the main prize was appearing as an extra on the TV show Reacher: I didn’t win 😒). I want to get to know my ideal readers, where I’m weakest in story form, and general thoughts before I send it out for developmental editing.
I know it’s asking a lot to spend your time on an unfinished product, but if you read my serial, I hope you get a chuckle out of it, and I hope maybe one in ten will let me know their thoughts and critiques.
I’m reading other serials in my genre (and a couple outside of it) and am looking for more. Name drop your favorite in the comments below!
I love it. Keep up the good work!