Serial Fiction: A Thing of the Past?

By Laura M. Campbell

During the 19^th and 20^th centuries, stories from the minds of Charles Dickens, Isaac Asimov, Gustave Flaubert, Wilkie Collins, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle found their way into the hands of readers through serialized fiction in periodicals. Mind you, most people couldn’t afford to purchase books back then. Serialized fiction also helped sell the newspaper or magazine it appeared in.

Contemporary authors like Stephen King and Michael Chabon have published their novels in a serialized format as well. King gave up on his endeavor because readers were abusing his honor system. Chabon’s story was published in The New Yorker (pretty fancy stuff) with success.

Back in May 2012, Jennifer Egan published her short story “Black Box” on Twitter: 140 characters at a time for an hour over 10 days. I missed the chance to participate in the reading experience, but the first word to pop in my head is daunting. Now, if I were to imagine how I would have felt if I had participated, I think the flow might have been a bit choppy and hard to follow for me. If nothing else, it’s definitely a way to command the attention of your readers.  

Of course there are a multitude of reasons authors choose to publish serially, one being fast money. Others dole out their stories on their blogs or websites to garner readership.

So, is the publishing format of serialized fiction still viable in today’s world? Or are we trying to keep something alive that expired many years ago?

From a readers’ perspective, what’s your opinion on serialized fiction?

The Balancing Act of Paragraphing

A reader is a visual creature and judges a blog post, story or novel by its cover or how it looks at first glance. They want to know what’s in store for them before they read.

When you approach writing, you want to attract and entertain your readers. One step is an editing technique called paragraphing.

You know dense, never-ending paragraphs bore you to tears. The same goes for your readers. The solution? Varying your paragraph lengths. It not only avoids the dreaded half-a-page to page-length paragraphs, but the white space on the page gives your readers time to think, reflect and allow their imagination time to play. Invite them to interact with your writing.

The last thing you want to do is intimidate your reader with large sections of writing. Manageable chucks let your readers know they aren’t about to dive into an AP History textbook, but rather an enjoyable blog post or story.

How do you know when to start a new paragraph? Well, one red flag we’ve been learning since elementary school is when a new idea or thought begins. Help those great notions receive the attention they deserve in your readers mind by giving them their own paragraph.

Dialogue is another chance to break up a paragraph. Not to say you have to do it every time a character speaks. Just keep in mind the visual look of your story. It’s just as important as the words you’ve crafted.

When you experiment with the length of your paragraphs, you’ll find it evokes a particular emotion or experience in your reader. Shorter paragraphs create tension and move the story a long faster. Your reader is more engaged.

Longer paragraphs hypnotize your reader, coaxing them into your story. They take a leisurely walk with your characters. It gives you the chance to provide background or set them up for a surprise or shocking moment. And since the length of the paragraph gives them the illusion of safety, they can experience the moment along with the character. You strengthen the connection between your story and your reader. Now, they have to continue reading because they are feeling the same panic or excitement as the character in the story.

As always, you want to shoot for a balance between the frequencies of paragraphs. Use the length to create the rhythm of your blog post or story to mimic the characters emotions or to just keep your reader engaged. And remember, your reader is first and foremost a visual creature. Entice them to read your story without intimidation.

So, take a look at your current writing project. How much white space do you see? Do you have too many long paragraphs or too many short paragraphs? Can you improve a scene by paragraphing?  

P.S. Varying the length of your chapters can create the same effect as varying the length of your paragraphs.  

Browne, Renni and King, Dave. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to edit yourself into print. Harper, 2004: New York.