Hey there—
Below, I’ve written a short piece about serialized fiction. If you want to skip right to my suggestions for reading, watching, and listening (also for drinking!), go ahead and scroll down until you see the thin gray line—that stuff will start there.
Otherwise, here goes…
The other day I had an interesting conversation—on Twitter—with a couple other writers about a story in The Guardian: Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk to Serialise New Book on Substack. If you don’t know, Substack is an email newsletter tool available—for free—to writers and other users on the web. In fact, I’m sending you Roughneck Dispatch through Substack.
Substack’s plan is for Chuck to publish his next novel in regular, serialized installments via email newsletter. He’ll also include writing lessons, discussions of craft, and work from his writing students. This stuff is available via subscription model—$6 a month and round $40 total, according to the Guardian piece.
No doubt that if anybody can make this project a success, it’s Chuck Palahniuk. He’ll bring significant readership with him and, well, he’s a great writer. Salman Rushdie and Patti Smith, too, have signed on for similar projects with Substack.
On its face, this idea seems...interesting. And cool.
But I have questions about the economics of it.
Additional promised content aside, why would I pay $40 for a novel? Especially one I can’t hold in my hand? It seems like, based on his comments in the article, Chuck is attracted to the immediacy of the idea, as well as the editorial control. Both valid points of attraction and…I get that. But is it a sustainable model for readers to pay $40 for a complete work that sits in their inboxes? I’m not so sure…More than that, can serialized fiction work on a paid, subscription-based model?
Others made the point to me about serial fiction successes on platforms like WattPad, Royal Road and, of course, Kindle Vella. Some Royal Road writers, for instance, make thousands a month writing continuous stories. Loyal readers donate to these writers via PayPal or Patreon and, well, the model seems to work (for them). I have to be honest and say I’d dismissed WattPad after reviewing some of the stories there (four or five years ago, if I remember right). I just didn’t think they were well-written.
The genres, too, didn’t appeal to me. Stuff like LitRPG and Fantasy.
But was I being smug? Maybe. Probably.
The truth, I think, is that if a writer (or storyteller) can make money and please readers while writing any kind of story…that might be a good thing. The reader is the final judge of a work (I say that all the time, so I might as well believe it). Another point made to me was that these serial writers don’t care about prestige in publishing, literary awards, or even personal notoriety. Many write under pseudonyms or web handles, and their true identities are secondary to their online personas.
When I think deeply about this—it strikes me as brave. Can the writer hide behind the handle or persona? Yes. But the writer can also write in ways that—and this is clear to me—the ‘person’ might not be able to write. Beyond that, these stories eschew ‘genre’ as dictated by bookstores and the broader literary marketplace.
That, to me, is kind of bad ass.
Personally, I like to write in a (quasi) vacuum…I want the work to be authentic in that it’s my own creation. This gets complicated by editors and market considerations, but that’s how I think I’m working/writing. Serial writers often incorporate feedback or make edits based on reader comments—their stories are alive in revision for much longer (forever?), and susceptible to the hunger of readers in ways that a printed book isn’t. Is that bad? I’m not sure. Does it dictate how the art is made and what the art says or doesn’t say? I think it must to some extent.
Again, I don’t know if that’s bad or, worse, wrong somehow.
But all this got me thinking…Is there a way for a writer to do both things? To write books and other long-form projects in the traditional writer-is-his-own-person way, and yet to create a platform for serialized fictional work?
Maybe. Probably.
I’ll ask Chuck when he’s done.
Hell, maybe I’ll give it a shot myself.
If you have strong thoughts about this, I’d love to hear ‘em.
As you can see, I’m short on answers and long on wonder.
You wouldn’t find this without me (maybe): Nick Shoulders singing his original, “Rather Low.” Mullet included!
Got me by the ear: Warren-freaking-Zevon. Old school, I know. But I picked up a pristine used copy of Excitable Boy on vinyl…And there’s something about that voice coming at me through the speakers. Check out one of his Letterman performances of “Lawyers, Guns and Money.” He sings a bluesy number to start…
You know you want to watch: Sex Education on Netflix. It’s season three now and this teenage love story—that’s what it is, right?—is about the best written, best acted, and best directed show I’ve seen since…The latest season of Better Call Saul? Sex Education isn’t a crime story, but it is about teenage angst and what it means to be an outsider. I so highly-recommend it that I feel like you should pay me for convincing you to watch. Go on. Binge, people.
Read a book, dude: How about a graphic novel? Trashed by Derf Backderf is one of my favorites. Or for you noir aficionados…Check out Peepland by Christa Faust and Gary Phillips. Totally bad ass and devour-able. Set in Times Square back in the ‘80s porn days and full of action. Not to mention beautifully illustrated and inked.
Drink it up: Try one of my favorites if you’re a bourbon drinker…Rittenhouse Rye. Affordable and effortless to drink. I like it. A lot. Perfect while watching a black and white film or reading a noir novel.
Okay. That’s it. Until next time…
Remember to mend your fences and walk the line. And if you can help it, avoid working overtime.
XO