The Mask of White and Red -- Status Update and some thoughts on serialized fiction

So, like where's the next chapter?

Yeah, about that...

So firstly, I'm writing it. I really am. The other thing is that life happened and got in the way. It's an excuse, but it's the truth. The other thing I would like to say here is that doing a story like this (currently over 11,000 words so far) written on the spot directly into Steemit, is not easy. Usually I would tell someone to have written at least the first draft from beginning to end before they attempt this, but yeah...do as I say, not as I do.

Serials are not new, nor is the idea of having a lot of installments (allegedly The Count of Monte Cristo was released in 139 installments--I'm only up to 10 on Mask so far), but they are new to me. I've learned a lot about writing serialized fiction from going through this process. So here are some of my thoughts on writing serialized fiction (especially on Steemit):

You can't edit

So with only 7 days to edit, it's basically locked in. With a normal novel or novella, I would get to the end of the first draft (which would see the light of day) and edit the crap out of it. This would 9 times out of 10 involve me tweaking the earlier chapters to make the story work better. There may be large structural issues to fix as well, or there could be character issues that require less work. I've had to delete a character from a novel and add one in! You get all kinds of situations. None of this is possible when your draft chapter is your final one and it's up on the blockchain. So, yeah, that's one big difference.

Since you can't edit, plan like hell

The polar opposite of editing later is writing so you don't need to. This means planning. This is, incidentally, the reason this latest part has taken so long. I'm planning like crazy now to try to nail down the rest of the story so that I don't screw it up.

Read back a lot

Keeping track of voice to keep it consistent (even though it has been broken up so many times into so many pieces, is very important. Reading back allows you to maintain the story voice but also to ensure that the plot and characters threads are fresh in your mind. Since you can't go back and fix things with a sneaky ninja edit, this needs to be done as you go. Or so I have found. Which is yet another reason why I had to slow down on getting the next chapter out--I'm reading through from the beginning to see what I was about to leave out.

Keep a story bible

Yet another example of "do as I say, not as I do." I've been doing this, but I didn't start it from the beginning. As a result, it has become a lot of work to keep track of characters, place names, eye colors, descriptions, plants, how many children someone has... I'm telling you, do this from the start, it will make your life better. It's not easy to keep track of the document when it is cut into bits, so doing this piece by piece will help you make sure you don't mess anything up.

Each part needs a beginning, middle and end

Even though this is a story that is split into pieces, each piece needs to stand alone. Have I been consistent about this myself? No. But I'm learning. If I make sure that each chapter has an arc and that things start at a beginning and then move through to an ending, readers can pick this up even mid-way through. That's much better than having to start at the beginning (although I do recommend you start at the beginning).

Use Steemshelves

If you are doing anything on Steemit with serialized fiction you should definitely do yourself a favor and grab a Steemshelf for it. There is a really good explanation for what Steemshelves are here.

And you can see my Steemshelf for my Mask of White and Red project here: http://www.steemshelves.com/thinknzombie/. You can see each Steemit post linked there as well as some of my other stories.

Make use of the best editing service on Steemit -- it's free!

What if I told you there is a fiction editing service on Steemit that you can use that has some of the best editors around volunteering in it and it won't cost you a thing except to join and participate in a community of like-minded writers, poets and screenwriters? If you have not already, I highly recommend that you check out The Writers' Block on Discord (https://discord.gg/vjVavr). Each part of Mask has gone through the editing process. That won't help me with large continuity issues or gaping plotholes that only become possible to see when the entire story is finished (gulp) but it will make sure that each part of your serialized project goes out onto the blockchain without horrendous editing issues. There's no cost to it, you just need to hang out with the crew. Who knows, you may even want to.

So that's it. These are my hints and tips so far. I may revisit when I think of more as the project continues. Right now I don't even know if this will be a novella or a novel. I thought it was a short story, but we're outside that now and firmly heading towards novella territory. If we get to 60,000 words it will be a novel. Right now, we are at 11K. Let's see how we go.

If you've been reading along, thank you for sticking with me. I promise to do my best to make it worth your while. If you are new to The Mask of White and Red, please check it out on my Steemshelf and let me know what you think.

-- @thinknzombie

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(Images are my original works.)

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