I have a serious dilemma.
You may recall that I was originally going to serialize a different story this fall, A Test of Freedom, and I changed my mind and decided to keep going with the momentum of Misplaced Hero.
I just sat down and looked at Test of Freedom, and I chopped the first story of it up into 700 word chunks...
And it worked.
I mean, seriously, it worked way better than I expected. It's exactly what that story needs. Now that I am used to writing at that length, I can see that those episodes are already in there! It needs editing, but not only does it work... It's a better story than Misplaced Hero. It's still in the same category -- a world built not on history or reality but on tropes -- but it's more balanced and mature.
So now I'm thinkin' ... maybe I should go back to my plan of doing ToF in the fall, and put off the sequel to The Misplaced Hero until spring.
Pros:
- I would have time to work more on The Case of the Misplaced Baroness before I started publishing it.
- I would have time to work on my novels.
- It would be easier to get out of my rut on the art -- and maybe develop my technique more -- if I had a different project to play with.
- Test of Freedom already has a prequel for sale, and since I've got a complete draft in hand, I could more easily get the book version finished and published before the end is posted on the blog, for impatient people who are willing to pay.
Cons:
- I wanted to test how the long term momentum would work on a serial like this.
- It makes me feel wishy-washy changing my mind again.
- ToF is 48-50 episodes long, so at two episodes a week, it would run until the end of March.
- Misplaced Hero is going to need a more satisfying, less squishy and cliff-hangery ending, since it won't just lead straight into the next story. (Which is probably a good thing.) And that might take me a little longer to do.
I really think the pros outweigh the cons here. Especially when I consider that, now that I've learned so much from this summer, I think I have a better idea of what the whole Misplaced Hero series needs.
I could see, potentially, trading both series off an on - one summer, one winter -- with maybe some short stuff from my other series in between.
Sounds like I've made my decision, doesn't it? I'm going to keep thinking it through until I post my Aug/Sept goals on Wednesday.
A Round of Words in 80 Days Meets The Clarion Write-a-Thon This Segment's Progress:
Wednesday Day 31 - Ep 30 (book version)
Thursday Day 32 - Ep 30 (final)
Friday Day 33 - Ep 31 (book version) - to finish the Write-a-Thon!
Saturday Day 34 -Exhausted.
This Week's Upcoming Posts
Monday - Episode 27 "Which Side Are You On, Kinchin?"
Rozinshura doesn't like what he hears, lays a few traps.
Wednesday - Goals for the Rest of ROW80
The write-a-thon was more tiring than expected, and I'd must plain exhausted. I'm taking time off until Wednesday, when I post the new goals. August will be a transition time. In September, the blog will kick back into full gear.
Thursday - Episode 28 "The Girl With The Sword"
Lina wants to know which side Alex is on.
See you in the funny papers.
3 comments:
It's so fun to see that someone else does pros and cons and figures things out by themselves.
Diana
checking in from ROW80
www.pencildancer.com
I think one of the problems with the misplaced hero is (to be honest) that I would probably have bought it weeks ago just to find out the ending.
If you'd already written it, you could have offered the novel version at the end of every post. Probably people would have bought it.
Diana: yeah, I do pros and cons, and they make good blog posts too!
Thomas: I was hoping to get more of the story done sooner so I could offer this book for sale a while before the end, but I don't know how close it will be.
I like the idea of having it available earlier -- even from the start. You do lose some of the fun (and adreneline) of pantsing in public, but I do think that readers who are attracted to it should be able to read it in any way they want... when they want it.
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