13 Things I've Learned Writing Serial Fiction
The first thing I’ve learned is that I’ve become a lot more productive since 2005.
This probably isn't a shock to you, but in 2005 I remember thinking I knew a lot about writing. It was not true then. It is not true now. I know more, and I’m better, but the art and craft of writing is vast and I am very not vast. I know that now. Here are some other things I've learned
ONE — Find the most comfortable way to do the most difficult things.
I’m a bit surprised how comfortable it’s been writing “A Town Called Nowhere” and, even though it’s comfortable, how well it seems to be turning out. This is a principle I didn’t know in 2005 and didn’t fully understand in 2015. You perform at your best when you are comfortable. Not comfortable with the challenge ahead of you, but with your tools, with your process. The best way I can sum this up is to say ‘find the most comfortable way to do the most difficult things.’ Which is doing so much hard work for the game that you can say, “I’m just going to go out there and have fun.”
Every time I sit down to write and I feel anxious or stressed, I keep reminding myself that this is the part I’m doing to relax myself. And it’s totally okay if I don’t use what I write, but it’s a disaster if I make it harder for me to sit down to write the next time. I find a way to have fun and surprise myself and it works for the reader.
TWO — Don’t have the answer until you need the answer.
In fact, the more time you put in figuring it out, the better off you probably are. Your subconscious gets more time to work. And that’s where all the real work is done, anyway. Your conscious mind can’t process everything you need to understand to write fiction.
You gotta have faith. So I think very hard about what the answer could be, but I make no decisions until I absolutely have to.
THREE — Get Help
You’ll notice that I’ve posted a lot of process-type stuff, and asked for a lot of input as I’ve been writing. Talking to people is the fastest way to solve any problem. By a factor of at least 100. When you write a novel, you’re the only one who can make it happen, but you don’t need to originate everything and you probably can’t. Read widely. Ask deeply. Get help.
FOUR — Pay very close attention to the audience
This is a philosophical thing. You could believe that the job of an author is to write a book. I believed that for a long time, but I don’t believe that anymore. Now I believe that an author’s job is to make people’s brains light up in interesting ways. To make readers think and, above all, to make them feel. The medium is incidental. And, less important than the feeling.
FIVE — It’s just another draft
You get another pass at a serial. In fact, you get another pass at everything before it goes to print. Because what does ‘goes to print’ really mean anymore. Nothing is final. So calm down, do the best you can, and if it’s not great, you’ll get it in the next pass.
SIX — Enough of a story is enough
People come to fiction for distraction and entertainment. An escape from the world and a chance to feel something bigger or more exotic, more passionate and dangerous than they get to feel in their ordinary lives.
For example, do you really want to know what it feels like to have your child killed before your eyes? No, you don’t. But fiction can give us this horror at a safe remove. We get to have the voltage without the amplitude. And then we can take the knowledge of this experience back to our real lives and use it to be more patient and loving parents. Because now we have a deeper understanding of what is at stake.
And look at what Dickens did. He didn’t cliffhanger everything. He crafted beautiful chapters and kept the story moving. It was enough for his serials. And enough to produce some of the best novels of all time.
SEVEN — Research like you’re breaking into a jewelry story — smash the glass, grab the best stuff (only what you need) — and keep running.
This is a piece of advice from Neil Gaiman. And the genius is of it is that it conveys the right feeling. Yeah, you want to research, but the longer you research, the more likely something bad is going to happen. Take risks, but make them pay off. After all, you don’t need the answer until you need the answer.
EIGHT — Curiosity is what fuels the entire enterprise. And deadlines make it exciting.
Some people don’t take deadlines seriously. And that’s okay. My first Creative Director once told me, “No one will ever remember if it was late. No one will ever forgive you if it was bad.” But still, I hate to miss a deadline.
Neil Gaiman said you only needed two out of three things to have a freelance career.
Be Nice
Be On Time
Be Easy to Work With
Over the long haul I seem to be the best at #2.