6.20.2011

Lazy Summer Serial

As I’m sure the regular followers (both on this blog and on twitter) of Frea know, she likes to imagine different Chuck fic scenarios. Most of the time, I indulge her in this, and even encourage her flights of fantasy. Yes, I say that like if I didn’t, she’d stop. Yeah right.

Most often, the readers reap the rewards of this. Many of her Fatesverse side stories, Greater, Greater: Disneyland, and R&J are all the result of her and I (or her and her other minions), bouncing ideas back and forth about whatever plot bunny bursts into her brain. And believe me, they are legion.

R&J is actually what got me thinking. The way she posts it on the blog, a little section at a time, is like how serial writing used to be back in the day. For those who don’t know, a serial story (Charles Dickens is a famous example of somebody who did this) is a story that is published periodically, and by that I mean that a chapter would be published like once a month in a magazine or newspaper. And you would read it as each new chapter came out. In many ways, that’s what Frea does with R&J. The difference between what Frea does with R&J and a normal writer who posts their fanfic on FF.net is that R&J is in many ways a piecemeal story.

But wouldn’t it be great if we could do what she’s doing with R&J, but actually have it adapt to a full blown story, with reader input, and all the works? Only it wouldn’t be published on FF.net like normal fanfic, but here on the blog? I think it would be great, so that’s what we’re going to do. Plus, I’m gonna be honest, the hope is to get the blog eyeballs, but also I think this format allows you, the readers, to have more input in how the story unfolds than you would on FF.net. We’ll see how it goes. This is really an experiment.

Over the next week, Frea and I are going to post excerpts of FIVE different story ideas. They range from the absurd (Morgan as the Intersect? That’s so crazy, it could never happen!) to a complete alternate universe (Chuck and Sarah in the old West? WHAT? And no, this is nothing like Chuck vs. the Frontier). Each day will have a new excerpt and the order is as follows:
TuesdayMy Best Friend's Girlfriend is a Spy (An Intersected Morgan tale)
WednesdayCourting Miss Sarah
ThursdayOutpost GKW
FridayCurtain Call
SaturdayJenny Burton vs. the World
On Sunday, we will open a poll and allow the blog readers to vote on which serial we will do. You will have till Friday of the following week to decide. And yes, emphasis on the “we.” This is a joint project between Frea and myself, so whichever one you pick, we will both be writing for it. I hope that doesn’t discourage you.

So enjoy and by all means, let us know what you think! Part of the point of this idea is to get the readers involved, so don’t be shy. Share your thoughts!

- mxpw and Frea

13 comments:

  1. What happens when I like all of them, as I know I will will you guys do top 2 if there is a close tie? I LOVE THIS IDEA, can i subscribe to updates for you blog to go to my email?!

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  2. How exciting! Ya'll are awesome for sharing all this with us, wish there was a way to repay ya'll. :) Again, thanks for sharing. :)

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  3. So when can we except a next chapter of R&J?
    And more importantly mxpw, when are you going to get back to finishing Banality and Nine Months?

    -SH

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  4. Wow. I apparently was wrong. It only took 3 comments before someone asked that without talking at all about the serial, not 5. Good thing we didn't bet on it, Max.

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  5. Yup, Frea, I noticed that too. Ah well. We'll just have to continue on regardless.

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  6. I was thinking something similar to Speedhoven, but knew better than to say something. Since, you've already reacted, I'll respectively stick my neck out.

    None of us have the right to dictate how you spend your writing time (although with the poll, I guess we are, to some extent). You could choose to abandon or temporarily set aside all or some of Fates, Greater, R&J, Banality, Double Agent, and 9mos in favor the LSS. Or you could write some of them in parallel with the new project. The best stories are always the stories authors want to write, not what they feel obligated to write. Your loyal readers are going to read whatever you publish, just like Joss Whedon fans like whatever he produces. However, just like TV show followers like to know if a show is going to be renewed before committing time to it, it is to be expected that your readers would want to know if stories are on hiatus or abandoned in favor or new projects. New projects sound interesting, but so do your old ones.

    Another comment: I understand there would be many reasons for you to post here. It is more of a draft area, you have more flexibility and control, it allows you to publicly respond to comments, it lends itself to out-of-order writing, you're trying to increase traffic, etc. However, the ff.net interface is better for reading. It supports mobile devices with m.fanfiction.net, remembers font size settings independent of browser settings, has better navigation between story parts. If this serial takes off, please consider cross-posting. Your R & J link is useful, but is hard to read in a browser. Before I noticed the R & J link, it was even harder to navigate between blog posts, even using the tag.

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  7. Blogger has a mobile version too. It's as easy to read with it than to do so with m.fanfiction.net.

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  8. What is the URL for the mobile blogspot? Most websites automatically switch to the mobile version when a mobile browser is used. blogspot.com does not. (sorry this is off-topic)

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  9. Really? My phone does. I'll look.

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  10. Apparently, my phone adds ?m=1 to the URL to get the mobile version.

    For CI, here's the home page: http://castleinanity.blogspot.com/?m=1

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  11. I've figured it out. The URL requires a m=1 argument. So

    castleinanity.blogspot.com/2011/06/a.html?arg=value#c1234 becomes

    castleinanity.blogspot.com/2011/06/a.html?m=1&arg=value#c1234 becomes

    Not the easiest thing to edit into a URL. It looks like blogspot.com does not recognize Firefox mobile or Opera mobile for Android, but it recognizes the browser that ships with Android. Surprise, surprise, since blogger.com is owned by Google.

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  12. I recently enabled the mobile version of this site, so it should probably be sending most phones to that by now. I think. My phone does.

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  13. It depends on the browser and whether or not the server recognizes that browser as a mobile browser. It looks like blogspot.com (owned by Google) recognizes the Google browser that ships with Android, but not Opera Mobile or Firefox Mobile. Other web sites recognize all three browsers.

    I've bookmarked the mobile URL to work around the problem.

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