My Recent Serial: An Epilogue

~ beetleypete

With the completion of my serial ‘Happy Birthday’, I thought I would expand the background to the story.

In the 1990s, I was working as an EMT in London, and we received a job on the radio to transport an elderly lady from one hospital to another for an MRI Scan. She was very alert, telling me she was 99 years old and lived in an old people’s home. She had a distinctive accent from the north-east of England, known here as ‘Geordie’. It was not an emergency transfer, so we sat in traffic for almost 40 minutes between hospitals. On the journey I was in the back with her, and I asked her what she did for a job before she retired, and how she came to be in London.

She told me that she was from Newcastle, and when she was younger she had trained as a typist and got a job with the civil service, working for the department dealing with coastal shipping and fishing boat regulations and movements. At the outbreak of the war, she was married with no children and her husband had a shop in Newcastle. (She didn’t say what kind of shop) Her department started supplying information to the Navy, and eventually she transferred to war duties regarding enemy submarines and warships. During her training, she met a Naval officer from London and fell in love with him, making her realise her marriage was over. She spent the rest of WW2 working on top secret projects for the Navy, and after the war she continued in that role.

Her Naval officer lover was sent abroad on a mission, and didn’t return as expected. So she transferred to London and lived in a small flat, working for Naval Intelligence and hoping he would come back some day. But he never returned, and she spent the rest of her life waiting for him. I never forgot her interesting story, so used it for the serial, switching the locations and substituting Army for Navy. I also transferred ‘Hettie’ to Berlin, to add some international flavour to the story.

Out of interest, this has been one of my least popular serials so far, with few readers staying the course of all 40 episodes. I also chose to ‘stagger’ the serial, so it was not posted every day, and I think that might have been a mistake. So I am posing two questions that you can answer in the comments.

Is a 40 episode serial too long?
Some of you were sad that it ended, so would you have read a lot more episodes? (It could have been as many as 60)

I would also like to address ‘happy endings’. Very few of my serials have had what might be called a happy ending. This is based on my personal life experience that few things end happily. So I prefer to have ‘realistic’ outcomes to the long serials, and to most of my short stories.

This story will be posted in full as a complete (and very long) story later this week, and the next serial will appear near the end of May.

Thanks again to everyone who read it all, left comments and likes, or shared on social media. Rest assured you are always very much appreciated.

54 thoughts on “My Recent Serial: An Epilogue”

  1. I did not think it was too long at all … and yes, I would have kept reading if it had gone on. Interestingly, I rarely read fiction anymore, and when I do, I prefer a mystery or suspense story, but this one grabbed me from the first episode and I just kept coming back for more! I don’t understand why it was your least popular, but … sometimes you just cannot account for people’s preferences. I’m looking forward to the next one, and for the record, I think you are a terrific writer!

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  2. It wasn’t too long for me , Pete and I am surprised it wasn’t your most popular although I would have loved a happy ending the ending you gave was fitting and more true to life..A lovely series xx

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  4. (1) Good stories are often based on real life experiences.
    (2) Personally, I preferred the staggered approach to the serial.
    (3) As for the number of episodes, I think it depends on the story. There have been some serials that I wished were longer. Or serials that I wished had spawned a sequel.
    (4) This particular serial probably appealed more to your female followers.
    (5) I like story twists, unexpected endings, and open endings. An occasional happy ending is okay.

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  5. 40 isn’t too many, considering average length of each chapter you come in around 32,000 words which is an old school noir paperback. Publishing pacing isn’t a science. Those who are looking for it will come. Subject, characters, etc are the drivers and not every story is for everybody and not all depth is appropriate for everyone. They’re your stories, you know? Fuck em if they didn’t like this one😆

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    1. Thanks, Phil. I would write the serials for myself, even if nobody read them. I do it for the discipline, and the interest in writing. I was just interested that this one was around 50% less popular than the last one.

      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Subject matter, characters, time of year, type of story. I’ve spent more time outside when it’s not raining trying to get some things done that, like your pressure washer, have been waiting too long. The point there is this spring has made more people electronically disconnected for one reason or another. Also consider fewer, and a different type of reader buys into the the validity (authenticity) factor of the memoir format when told as a novel and not a series of shorts.

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      2. Stories we find worth telling doesn’t mean our audience will tag along. I have a favorite character I find silly, amusing, wise, honest, talented but I think another character who likes her and I are it. So…

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  6. Not suitable for People’s Friend ha ha. I don’t think it makes that much difference daily or not, It’s easy to get behind with any blogs we follow, visitors staying or a day out and you lose track. I was surprised to see the epilogue appear and had a moment of panic before I worked out which chapters I had missed!

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  7. Is a 40 episode serial too long?
    Some of you were sad that it ended, so would you have read a lot more episodes? (It could have been as many as 60)

    No 40 episodes is not too long. Neither would 60 have been too long. Sadness was not that it ended, it was all too close to what I, for one, did not want to happen. Nonetheless, it is well written and it was interesting from one episode to the next. I do not know why readership would have been lower.

    Warmest regards, Ed

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    1. Thanks for your kind words, Ed. The amount of people regularly reading this serial was down by 50% on the last one. Perhaps some readers are tiring of the formula or the committment?

      Best wishes, Pete.

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  8. I’m very surprised that Hettie’s serial was your least popular. Maybe some readers prefer plot-driven stories and others (like me) prefer character-driven? The main thing I look for in an ending is that the story “earned” it, based on what had come before.

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    1. Thanks, Liz. There were 50% less views/reads of the episodes of this story compared to the previous serial. But I don’t write for views, I just found the drop-off interesting. I will carry on with the next serial regardless.

      Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. I wish you’d continued through the years, though it seems as though you ran out of steam condensing 40 years into one final episode. Perhaps those 40 years weren’t worth relating, but I hope the person you based this on had a happier time. With all the sadness and hatred in the world I would quite like a happy ending occasionally. Just saying… 😉

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    1. I didn’t run out of steam, Jude. I just didn’t want to write about decades of Hettie living alone. The final episode was the first one in my notes, and I worked back as usual. Happy endings have to be appropriate, don’t you think? George turning up would have been a bit ‘Barbara Cartland’, I feel. Thanks for giving me your opinion, and for reading it all. Both are much appreciated.

      Best wishes, Pete. x

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  10. 40 episodes was not too long, I would have continued reading! I do think better with no interruptions, and as I said previously, kudos for being realistic and avoiding happy endings

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      1. Thank you, Mo. It will show you as Anonymous if you are not logged in to WordPress, unfortunately. I appreciate your comment, and that you read all of my story.

        Best wishes, Pete.

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  14. I would have read more. Happy endings are nice but I agree that they are unrealistic and I think ruin the story. As I commented yesterday, old people often have fascinating stories but seldom get asked to tell them.

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  15. I’m sure there are many stories you could tell from the job experiences you’ve had. I hadn’t followed this one through as although I liked your writing, I’ve not been at the computer much lately. I also prefer shorter stories. On Thursday we’ll be away on the IOW with family for 10 days and then I have to undergo a minor op on my right hand, so I’ll not be online for quite a lot of June. Hope you’re enjoying the warmer weather!

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    1. I didn’t expect you to follow this one, Stevie, as I know you are stepping back from blogging. The weather has been better, but torrential rain is forecast later in the week. Good luck with the hand operation.

      Best wishes, Pete.

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  16. apologies i don’t comment on each episode but do read. Your patients life is interesting. I wish we could record our patients life stories, many are humbling.

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    1. I have featured some ideas in stories that I gleaned from talking to people in the back of an ambulance. But until I can be sure that it would not cause offence to any relatives still living, they have to remain anonymous, and some circumstances and events must be altered.

      Best wishes, Pete.

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  17. For myself, Pete, I didn’t find 40 instalments too long: it was an engaging story, each instalment was about the right length, and although I didn’t get lost with any of the characters, I always had the option of opening an earlier instalment to remind myself. Being a bit of a sentimentalist, I do like a happy ending, whilst agreeing with you that life’s episodes don’t always end happily: I do read a lot of fiction with danger, some violence, and unsatisfactory endings, but it’s always good to have a happy one from time to time to reset the balance 😀 Cheers, Jon.

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    1. Thanks for your thoughts, Chris. I debated whether or not to cover the 1960s in more detail, or add parts showing Hettie trying harder to find out what happened to George. But I abandoned that in favour of keeping it to 40 episodes.

      Best wishes, Pete.

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  19. 40 episodes is not too long, all your serials are the right length for the story you tell I think. I don’t think this one needed any more episodes, but I would have read them if you’d written them!

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