Online Serials

The world of online fiction is growing. Authors like Hogarth were early adopters. Some authors are banding together, like Wibbly.

Online fiction (serials) is an interesting creature. The pacing is very different than a traditional novel. Stephen King got his start in a similar way--only his works were published in journals and papers, though they were still published at regular intervals.

So why bring this up?

Pages Unbound kinda just went kaput. ;D Its founder, AE said, "I've got other things to do!" and so it closed. This is also something related to our era--alright, yes, we have the Dancing Games, too, but, internet serials are new. Web Fiction Guide's taken Pages' place, and all over blogs we have stories about the current history of web fiction. What's out there looks like a jumping on the bandwagon effect of "how do we do this?"

Right now they all look fairly self-referential. o.O

I expect it to grow, though. This is pretty remarkable. :) I'm just waiting for Tor and similar giants to start making their own little communities, if this hasn't happened already, or for things to splinter, as they did with webcomics. Penny Arcade or Ctrl-Alt-Delete might be compared to web serials, in some respects. Companies like Tor may need to take something from this small-but-growing community, too. Or maybe what's here is just a lesson in how the internet works.

Novelr has this to say:

"Let your readers in. Show them that you’re human, that you’re like any other character in your fiction, and that they should care. Talk them, argue with them, make them laugh. Show them the other side of your story - the side where it’s still malleable junk in your head. Tell them the story of how you cat peed on your last draft, or how you dog chewed your masterplan. Ask them questions and respond to their replies. But above all let them in. Community is never too far behind when you do."

Pretty nice, don't you think? It seems to me that a web community plays on our natural, human sense of community. That need to form groups, contribute, and participate. In a sense, maybe the internet is more "real" in some ways when it comes to things like online serials as opposed to books on a shelf.

What do you think?

Me, I think this would be a great class to teach. ...I also wonder that I'd have to cover online, written sex serials, in order to be able to cover the history and success (and nonsuccess) of online serials. Writing is to sell, and well...you know what does. Right? In fact, StoriesOnline, a repository of online serials, goes so far as to...

Well, you get the idea. And just look at how it's classified in internet content filters.