I started writing serials because the thought of making the leap between short stories and novels terrified me.   Writing a serial of around twenty thousand words seemed like a good interim step. Not quite as scary as embarking on a hundred thousand words, but allowing more scope than a short story.

I hadn’t realised then, that a serial is not a mini novel with cliff hangers thrown in at the ends of instalments.  The pace is completely different.  As different, in fact, as the pace between a short story and a novel, and, for me, this was the hardest adjustment.

Obviously, there are similarities between serials and novels, too.  The main one that springs to mind is that a serial gives a lot more room for character development.  And you do need cliff hangers, which should be developed throughout the rest of the part, yet also come as a surprise to the reader.  This is not easy!

I’ve had ten serials published now in Woman’s Weekly and I’ve enjoyed writing them all.  One of my favourites was called SHADOWMAN, and was a five part thriller set in a show jumping yard.  A young couple, are plagued by anonymous notes, which threaten both their business and their marriage.  Writing this was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.  There were several people who could have been the note writer – I had set up motives for them all – and I wasn’t sure myself who it was until the end.

I also loved writing WISH LIST, which was a humorous three part serial.  The main character who’s just emerged from a traumatic divorce, finds a wish list she’s written twenty years earlier.  She decides to work her way through it and in doing so regains her shattered self esteem.   

I had a lovely letter about this one from a lady vicar, who said she laughed all the way through.  That really made my day.

Both of the above had strong structures.  Shadowman was a whodunnit and The Wish List was based on a ‘wish list’ – odd that. But I think that good use of structure is worth thinking about in a serial.

Only three of the magazines take serials these days, which is a shame.  They are Woman’s Weekly, My Weekly and People’s Friend, the latter runs two a week and so is probably a good place to start.  Editors’ requirements do differ, but each of these magazines will supply guidelines for writers venturing into this medium.

If you want to know more about making the leap between writing short and long fiction, then I happen to have written a book about it 🙂

Moving On – Short Story to Novel

I think it’s quite good! Though I might be prejudiced!

Constructive feedback is something that we do a lot in my writing classes, i.e. students read out work for which they’d like feedback.  For me it’s very valuable, and is the reason I still attend a writing class as well as teach them.  But I’m well aware of how sensitive we are as writers, so I produced this tongue in cheek tip sheet, which I hope others might find useful.

For the critic

Please be constructive.   Think about how the manuscript could be improved and tell the writer which bits you really liked – as well as which bits you didn’t think worked as well. This is very important.

Think about how the piece began – did the opening catch your attention?  Did you want to find out what happened next?  Was the ending satisfying? If not, why not?

Please give feedback on the writing – not the subject matter.  (And definitely not the writer!)

If you have some specialist knowledge on a subject that might be useful – eg the piece has a medical slant and you’re a nurse or doctor – please say so.

For the victim!

Don’t take constructive feedback on your work personally.  Remember it is only someone else’s opinion and it is your manuscript.  At the end of the day you don’t have to change anything if you don’t want to.

However, if several people mention the same point – then it may be worth listening to them.

Please don’t argue with critics (although this can be tempting!) In the interests of class serenity, it is much better to nod, smile, pretend you’re writing down everything they say and totally ignore it.  However, if you do write down what they say, you might read it later and find that you actually agree with it. 

And Finally….

Listening to feedback about your work is not easy – it is on a par with having someone criticise your close family.   But it is one of the best ways there are to learn the skills of writing.  I personally have learned so much from feedback. It’s worth it.

I always find it interesting what other writers do to keep track of their stories. I know some of us have paper filing systems (I do) and some of us keep track of our stories on spreadsheets.

I prefer the paper filing systems because when I finish writing and editing a story which I do direct on to the computer, and then I send it out, which I tend to also do by email, I quite like to sit and fill in a paper record.  I know, I’m odd like that!  For every story I ever write I keep a blank postcard. It has the title at the top of the card and the number of words, and then below this, I write down the markets where this story will go, for example, Woman’s Weekly, Take a Break etc. Then I list the date sent on the first market and when the story is either sold or returned I list the date again, with any comments.

Recently I ran out of white postcards, so I decided it would be fun to get some different coloured postcards and colour code my stories. So now I have:

Yellow – humorous stories

Blue – emotional stories

Green – twists

Pink – romance

I know, I am quite mad. but it’s quite good fun, watching the colours build up in my index card filing box and seeing how many of each type I write. 🙂

Does anyone else do this?