My Return to Serials
As a fellow internet denizen, I too know the annoyance of clicking on a title that interested you and then having to slog through bullshit to find the real info, so let’s get to the main point of today’s writing up top:
While it will be different than last time, I am indeed returning to serial publishing for 2024 (and possibly beyond). It will be run through my Patreon, accessible on the $5 tier (which comes with other fun stuff as well) and start in January of 2024.
Now then, that leaves us the rest of the entry for those who want the details on what will be different and what prompted the return to my original style of publishing after several years on break.
Based on the sales numbers, I’m going to assume most of you are not familiar with my entries into the Shingles series from a few years back, but those who checked them out might know it was where I began messing around with writing novellas. And over the years, I’ve found a real passion for stories in that format.
If my normal writing feels like television, then novellas are akin to doing a movie. With so much less space to play with, you have to hit different pacing notes, keep the story moving, and get things swiftly wrapped up. Not the format for all my stories to be sure, but I have had several that finally found their feet when put into a novella style.
So I’ve been working on them in my free time, outside my usual daily writing obligations, and I’ve done it consistently enough to where I felt comfortable sharing that work with readers.
And that, good folks, is what will form the foundation of my new serials. Each year will feature various novellas. Once enough are out I’ll likely release them as a collection so that we can see an audio version, but I expected that will take a while due to the slow release nature of serials.
Now the majority of it will be entirely new content, but there are going to be a few exceptions worked in as well. One of them will be my attempt an Author’s Commentary, where I post some of the older novellas, along with a section below each chapter detailing what influenced certain decisions in the above chapter, my thought process looking at the story as a whole, or any fun (and germane) trivia tidbits I can conjure up.
The reason for those reposts is that some of the serial novellas will eventually be sequels to my earlier works, and this way everyone has easy access to the stories before we reach that point, without it being just old content for the folks who did already read those tales. I’ve made no secret that I have plans for Action Kadabra and Holly’s Jolly Christmas sequels, to name a few.
I’m also really excited to add this to my Patreon. I love the wonderful people in my community, and always feel a bit like I’m not offering enough for folks pitching in consistently, so this should bring a lot more value to their subscription. If you want to read along, it’s on the same tier as the Discord, so be sure and come say hello after signing up.
All in all, I’m hopeful this will be a win all around. I get a new creative outlet, my Patreons get more bang for their buck, and eventually these tales can join my published catalog. That said, those of you who’ve been with me since the serial days know I pride myself on upholding my trust with the audience, which is why I’m only currently announcing this for 2024. This year is a test run to make sure I can keep up with all my necessary writing, and to ensure its delivering content the readers actually enjoy. Once we’ve seen that, we can look to 2025 with a better idea of what works best.
I hope you come join me for this plunge into water both new and familiar. I’ve got the first of stories already planned out, and there are real fun ones in store. Hopefully you all enjoy them as much as I had fun writing them!