I will gladly say that I do not have television. Not that I don't have A television set, but I do not have an antenna or cable signal. And I really don't care. This is because of a number of factors: my family's love of reading, habit - I grew up with little to no television viewing, and also because of technology - the internet provides a lot of substitutes to television. I'm really don't have anything against television itself as a medium or even against many of the programs. Although there are some that portray things I think are better left alone.
The reason I bring this up is to accent that I enjoy stories in long form, like a lot of what television is doing, but I do not have that source for myself. Consequently I read a lot of books with sequels and series. Just thinking off the top of my head, there are at least 5 series that I have started that I'm currently waiting on books. This is also visible in my selection of web comics.
For this post, I wanted to return to some musing about serials and their origins. A serial of course is when a story is published / produced in segments or parts. This is the definition of television dramas. Often once the story is complete they are complied into one volume for future consumers (think DVD box set). The same is true of books. I understand that Charles Dickens wrote many of his stories in serial format, and the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was produced as a weekly radio drama. Even Larry Correia, one of my favorite authors, wrote a serial story online before selling his first bound novel. So even going beyond a series of books, many books were produced a little at a time.
There are many reasons to do a serial. It might be the form of your medium. Television and radio have always had to work with limited time. If you notice, production requires lots of time and money. So if a TV studio is going to poor millions of dollars into a story, they like to release it a bit at a time so if it's going to go south they can stop it before they become too invested. Serial also supports how we consume media. I don't know anybody who has the time to sit and read a book over a 45 hour and 37 min period in one go. Even if you are like me who will dedicate a couple of hours to reading a book (usually between 10:00 pm and 2:00 am) there are few books I have read in one sitting. (I can only think of three, and they were all less then 300 pages).
I think one result of writing (or at least releasing) material in a serial is that it builds suspense. It leaves the audience thinking and dwelling on it. I understand the show Lost had a huge online following while it was on. I know that when I watched the first season of 24 back in college I would talk about and research it between episodes. The same is true with books. Lemony Snicket used online games and puzzles to allow readers of his Series of Unfortunate Events to see extra content and as precursors to the books coming out. Granted, many of the things done "between installments" is for the purpose of reminding consumers to keep with the story. But when the story is good, consumers need very little encouraging to keep consuming.
I wanted to blog about this for two reasons. First, the serial format is nothing new to television as it started long before broadcast media and second, my sister, EA Younker, is currently releasing one of her unpublished works on Wattpad a couple of chapters at a time. This is not the first time she has done this with alpha and beta readers. My older sister got one of EA's books chapter by chapter as she edited it and I got another. Bragging point - EA's first published novel is coming out this year by TM publishing. I got to read one draft and I liked it. I'm looking forward to getting it to see the finished product. To return to Game Over, She is doing this so people can see how she writes as well as to get feedback from potential readers of her other stories. Check it out and the next time you sit down to watch (or read) your latest favorite drama, think about how long we as a society have been consuming stories that we have to wait for.
The reason I bring this up is to accent that I enjoy stories in long form, like a lot of what television is doing, but I do not have that source for myself. Consequently I read a lot of books with sequels and series. Just thinking off the top of my head, there are at least 5 series that I have started that I'm currently waiting on books. This is also visible in my selection of web comics.
For this post, I wanted to return to some musing about serials and their origins. A serial of course is when a story is published / produced in segments or parts. This is the definition of television dramas. Often once the story is complete they are complied into one volume for future consumers (think DVD box set). The same is true of books. I understand that Charles Dickens wrote many of his stories in serial format, and the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was produced as a weekly radio drama. Even Larry Correia, one of my favorite authors, wrote a serial story online before selling his first bound novel. So even going beyond a series of books, many books were produced a little at a time.
There are many reasons to do a serial. It might be the form of your medium. Television and radio have always had to work with limited time. If you notice, production requires lots of time and money. So if a TV studio is going to poor millions of dollars into a story, they like to release it a bit at a time so if it's going to go south they can stop it before they become too invested. Serial also supports how we consume media. I don't know anybody who has the time to sit and read a book over a 45 hour and 37 min period in one go. Even if you are like me who will dedicate a couple of hours to reading a book (usually between 10:00 pm and 2:00 am) there are few books I have read in one sitting. (I can only think of three, and they were all less then 300 pages).
I think one result of writing (or at least releasing) material in a serial is that it builds suspense. It leaves the audience thinking and dwelling on it. I understand the show Lost had a huge online following while it was on. I know that when I watched the first season of 24 back in college I would talk about and research it between episodes. The same is true with books. Lemony Snicket used online games and puzzles to allow readers of his Series of Unfortunate Events to see extra content and as precursors to the books coming out. Granted, many of the things done "between installments" is for the purpose of reminding consumers to keep with the story. But when the story is good, consumers need very little encouraging to keep consuming.
Thanks. I appreciate the publicity. I have been reading your blog for a week or so now, (including the past posts), and I love it. I wish I was as good as writing interesting posts as you are.
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