New Serials, a Competition, and Microfiction Mondays!
Happy Saturday, Cereal readers and contributors!
I have a couple of exciting new writing initiatives to outline for you this morning. I hope they tickle your collective fancy.
The trouble with serials.
I first heard about Geelong Cereal right before it launched – I was complaining to a local writer that I had just pitched my own serial idea to some publications and been rejected.
'No-one publishes serial fiction anymore. It's a lost cause!' I wailed.
He said, 'Well Mel, you're not going to believe this!'
It's all quite funny in hindsight, because over a year later, I still haven't written one.
Why not? Well, a magazine dedicated to serials is a brilliant concept, but it has unique challenges. The goal, of course, is to publish regular installments that eventually add up to a complete story. Until now, this has been achieved at Geelong Cereal by asking writers to submit a finished longform work, and then breaking that into bite-sized pieces for publication.
The difficulty for authors is, it’s very labour intensive to write a long enough story to serialise, and I simply never found the time. I’m quite sure I’m not alone in this.
A new process for writing and publishing serials.
Longform writing and writing a serial over time are two very different experiences for the author, and the end results are poles apart. Ideally, a serial consists of episodes, narratively connected but also somewhat self contained. They're punchy and dynamic and often full of cliff-hangers and shock reveals. They're also a lot of fun to write!
Not only that, but when a serial is written periodically, there is an opportunity for readers to comment and for the writer (if they wish) to allow some level of audience input to shape the direction of their story. Most writers thrive on knowing that their stories are being read and appreciated – I know there aren't many things I enjoy more.
We’ve been fortunate to feature some fantastic stories over the last year, and we’ll continue to enthusiastically publish longer complete works in installments, just as we have in the past. If people prefer to send a complete work, that's great! We currently have two very popular novels being published periodically, and plans to publish two more novels, a chapter at a time, in the near future.
I hope the new additional format will be a lot of fun, and inspire more engagement between readers and writers via the comments section at the bottom of every published story. You need to be subscribed (it’s free!) and logged in to use this feature.
What if the author can't complete their story?
This of course does raise the possibility of some stories being discontinued by the author - not an ideal situation for our readers.
To mitigate this, I propose that anyone who begins a serial in this format agrees that if they cannot complete the story, they will allow another writer to write an ending (one or two episodes at most). Your work will still be 100% your own, and I’ll explain more about this in the submission guidelines, which I will be revising to reflect this new initiative over the next couple of days.
TL;DR. What do I need to know to write one of the new serials?
The aim of this exercise is to encourage more writers to have a go, so we’ll accept episodes as short as 500 words, up to a maximum of 2,500 words, with a minimum requirement of six episodes, and no upper limit. If you think you’re up for writing the literary equivalent of Neighbours, knock your socks off.
To get started, you’ll need to submit the first two episodes, plus an overview of the series. Again, keep an eye out for updated submission guidelines in the coming days.
What's this about a competition?
Last but not least, a ‘Best Limited Serial’ competition is under construction and will be announced in the near future, so get into practice by starting your own serial now!
Microfiction Mondays.
Henceforth, any publishable microfiction (up to 300words) will be published together in a single post every Monday. Even if you only have time to write 100 words a week, send it in and be part of our new weekly collaboration! The topic is dealers choice, and once again, please keep an eye out for the updated submission guidelines.
Whew. This update is so long, it probably should have been published as a serial.
Have a great weekend everyone, and if you have suggestions or questions, please let me know in the comments, or by emailing me at thegeelongcereal@gmail.com
If you haven't followed the new facebook page, it's here:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61589073457009
We now return you to your regular programing.
-Mel
