By now you know what serial fiction is, and if you’re anything like the commenters we heard from Thursday, you’re anxious to write some (or already enjoying it). As I demonstrated yesterday, I’ve got some advice from personal experience on how to get the most out of it.

I’ve already introduced you to the Creative Copy Challenge, and even mentioned the serial novel I’m writing over there, The Girl Who Stayed the Same.

Last week the “serial” bit tripped me up pretty badly. I wanted to put my main character on a train to Chicago to land a lucrative ad deal, so in that Monday’s post I had a friend stop by and invite her to Chicago. Then on Thursday I wrote the scene where he explained why they were going, and I remembered I’d already said something about the ad agency.

So I flipped back in my draft to double-check it, see if maybe it had a name, and discovered to my chagrin that the ad agency was in New York. The art gallery was in Chicago.

Since I’ve been posting each scene as I write it, I can’t just go back and change that minor detail. I’ve got a dozen readers who would be really confused (or at least disappointed) at my changing the world around willy-nilly.

I can handle that, though. Remember Thursday’s story? Remember what I said about flexibility? It messed me up in Sleeping Kings, as I told you yesterday, but I learned from that.

Sure, my story has changed. Instead of following my carefully-written plot outline and repeating the client meeting I’ve had scripted for a month, I’ve spent this whole week riffing — and discovering a whole new (and, as it turns out, quite exciting) direction for Kelly’s budding career.

Constant Motion

I’ve talked a lot this week about the lessons you can learn from serial publication’s hardships, but the biggest benefit is much more direct, and more concrete. The way I’m writing this book generates constant motion.

That motion takes several forms. One is regular progress. We should all be striving for daily writing, but none of us can really keep that up. (Right? Please tell me it’s not just me!) With the CCC, though, I’ve got a twice-weekly commitment and regular readers waiting to know what happens next. That’s a powerful motivational force.

When you’re in the midst of a long novel with no deadline, it can be hard to find motivation to work on it on any given day. It’s just too big. This way, I do have a deadline (two a week).

And I’ve got discrete chunks, too. Instead of a To Do list item of

Make progress on the novel this month.

it’s

Write 1,000 words for CCC today.

That just feels a lot more manageable.

It also helps you keep the editing beast at bay. You’re not “working on your book” (with the constant temptation to fix everything that’s broken), you’re just writing this scene.

That makes it a lot easier to spend your time where you’re supposed to be spending it — telling the story. Rewrites and revision can wait until it’s done.

Constant Feedback

Serial publication also keeps you in direct, regular contact with your readers. Traditional publishing can create a vast gulf there, between a writer building a story in isolation, polishing a draft through several revisions (and over several months) before shopping it for who knows how long, and then after it’s accepted there’s typesetting and printing and distribution all on the publisher’s schedule.

With all that to consider, by the time a story reaches readers (and starts generating feedback) it might be years since the writer last engaged with the story in any kind of creative way (which severely limits how useful any feedback can be).

That’s one of the reasons you need to get some good test readers who’ll be willing to comment on your drafts. Another solution, though, is to incubate the story in rich feedback from the very first scene.

For one thing, you’ll get a lot more feedback, because it’s easier to find something to say about a three-page scene than to find a hundred things to say about a big honkin’ book. But what’s really surprised me this time (and what I’m loving best about the CCC) is finding people anxious to read every new scene.

Knowing that’s happening leaves me looking forward to my next entry, and it compels me to make every single scene worth that level of reader attention. In a way none of my other books do (even books with much more exciting plots), every single page pops.

Blog a Book (Creative Writing Exercise)

Does that sound like something you’d like to see in your own writing? What about the promise of constant feedback? Would you like some lightly structured writing time (without the frenetic insanity of NaNoWriMo)? Or what about just trying something new?

If any of that appeals to you, I’d recommend you give it a try. The best artists never stop experimenting, and even if serial publication doesn’t turn out to be “your thing,” I guarantee you’ll grow from the experience.

It’s easy to do, too. You can join us at the CCC on Monday (or go back to last Thursday’s if you’re ready to start now). You can add a regular series to your existing blog, like Justin does with his Fiction Saturday. Or you can start a new blog just for this project (that’s what I did with Sleeping Kings).

Whichever route you go, you’ll find lots of encouragement among our commenters here. Let us know where to find your story, because we’d all love to see it. And if you run into any problems, if you have any questions…we’ve got lots of old pros hanging around, too. Just ask, and we’ll do our best to guide you through the process.

Chances are, you’ll love it.

Photo credit Julie V. Photography.