Serials

Fiction Serials: A Comparison

~ beetleypete ~ 34 Comments

Now that my latest serial, ‘Benny Goes Bust’ has concluded, I thought I would give an overview of the process once again, and this time compare it with another of my serials, ‘A Pillar Of The Community’. As anyone can tell from the ‘Likes’ and comments, ‘Benny Goes Bust’ did not enjoy the same following as that other one. In fact, it was a long way off, getting fifty percent less readers soon after it started, and seeing an increasing decline over the twenty episodes. A rough indication is that the previous serial received over a hundred views a day, for some thirty days. The new one started with something like fifty a day, declining to less than forty within three days, and as low as thirty during the last few episodes.

But as much as I love to entertain and interact with my readers, I was writing this for myself, as always. And on a personal level, it was my most enjoyable fiction, from the writing perspective. It was never designed to end with a twist, for a change. So I decided to include a few surprises with some characters, all of which worked, I am happy to say. I was left with a regular readership of just over thirty people each day, as well as some who randomly read one part or another. Views as of last night were just over eight hundred in total, for the twenty parts. Compare that to the earlier serial, which achieved over three thousand views in thirty days.

I completely understand that the subject matter might have put off a lot of people. A serial about the online sex industry, even one with little or no graphic sexual references, is something not only unusual on a blog, but distasteful to many. I thank you for trying it, and appreciate those who carried on reading and commenting on my other posts. For those of you who just ‘got it’, and stuck it out to the end, my heartfelt appreciation. I couldn’t be more pleased that you enjoyed it, believed in the characters, and invested in some of them too. Most of this serial was based on people I have met, and some I knew very well. The idea for it was even based on an actual event involving one of my cousins, back in 1966.

Benny was an amalgam of directionless young men who have been around all my life. With little ambition, lacking get up and go, easily influenced and controlled by others. Their mantra is ‘anything for an easy life’. Noddy was based on hackers I had seen interviewed on TV, and my own experience of encountering what are known as ‘Autistic Savants’, during my days as an EMT. Nan was a lot like my own maternal Grandmother. Though she was never a glamour model, after she was widowed in her early sixties, she changed her hair colour, bought lots of new clothes, and embarked on a life of ‘excitement’. That included drinking a lot, going away for weekends, and enjoying the company of what she called ‘man friends’, some of them a fair bit younger than her. Sophie was an invention, but also a mixture of some real ‘lively’ older women who frequented pubs owned by my family, and one woman in particular.

And I knew a ‘Beverly’. My Beverly was a married woman too, a good friend of my parents. I was sixteen, and she was forty-six, two years older than my mother. We never operated a business together, and we never married later. But the rest is true. And I knew a hard-working ‘Linda’ too, though she didn’t have a Bugs Bunny tattoo. I was twenty-two, and she was in her thirties. She was close to leaving her husband for me, but stayed for ‘the sake of the children’. So, it was pretty much based on fact.

The small amount of research I did into the ‘oldie’ market online was eye-opening to say the least. I assure you that my version of it was tame. But everything I mentioned, from the revitalised careers of jaded glamour queens, to them selling their worn stockings in plastic bags, is completely authentic. If anyone doubts that, send me an email, and I will reply with actual links! 🙂 Last but not least, the setting. Camden, a part of London I know well, and lived in for twelve years, close to Robert Street, where I set Beverly’s maisonette. The pubs , restaurants, and the market, are all genuine, as are the street names. There is even a stall in the market that sells Moroccan artifacts, but I have no idea if the owner is nicknamed Cozy.

Thanks once again for reading.
I will give you all a break from serials for a while now.
Best wishes as always, Pete.

Fictional musings

~ beetleypete ~ 55 Comments

I have never made a secret of the fact that I enjoy writing short stories, and publishing them on this blog. I get the most satisfaction from writing fiction, approaching it in something of a style, and going from idea to published story very quickly, without too much time for research and construction.

That many of you read them and comment is always a source of delight to me. Whether or not you have enjoyed them, the fact that people take time to read them is very much appreciated. When I have received praise for them, or criticism, both are equally valuable to me.

As you may know, I have occasionally written some in the form of a serial. One of the first, ‘Travelodge’, was in three parts, later followed by ‘Tubby’s Toe’, a gangster saga, in six long episodes. The most recent attempt, ‘Gary’s hot date’ ran to four parts, and concluded last week. That was my first attempt at a real ‘happy ending’ too, and felt a little strange to me.

Today’s musings concern the idea of such serialisations, and one fact in particular. Easily able to estimate from the viewing stats provided by WordPress, I came across something that I found quite surprising. Although most die-hard followers and readers stuck with all the episodes of those serials, often commenting all the way through, most readers read only some, or part of them. If they read the first parts and decided it wasn’t for them, that’s easy to understand. But in most cases, it was the later episodes that received the most views, often twice as many as previous posts, including the beginning to each story, which in many cases received the least views.

I am now thinking about all those people that read parts five and six of a story that had four previous episodes. What did they think was happening? It would have made no sense as a stand-alone piece, and I always publish warnings about serials at the start of each post. The most recent four-parter enjoyed more views of the last episode, that the three preceding it. How did they ever manage to work out the whats and whys? I confess that does intrigue me.

But it’s not the end of the world. Just musings.

Reading books

~ beetleypete ~ 2 Comments

There was a time when I read books constantly. Predominantly in bed at night, and also when commuting, or waiting around for something. Now, I hardly read books at all. I read Blogs, articles in magazines, instruction manuals, and some special interest stuff. No books though. It is not that I am short of a book to read. I have three excellent books on my bedside table, two non-fiction, and a novel that I bought last year. I also have boxes of books stored in the garage and other spaces, many unopened, save for a short perusal. I have even asked for books for Christmas presents this year, to add to the piles already surrounding me.

I still love books. Electronic readers are all very well, but for my money, you cannot replace the feel of paper, the weight of the tome, even the distinctive aroma of freshly published pages. I like the dust jackets, the photo of the author, and the outline on the inside. I even read the dedications, and introductions. I am a fan of non-fiction, though I equally like certain fiction writers. I warmed to the idea of ‘faction’ some years ago, where fictional characters are placed into real events in history, or imagined conversations and situations using real characters, attempted to solve past mysteries and legends.

I like large Atlases. It is always enlightening to pore over these maps and statistics, no matter how much you thought you already knew. Photography books, with reproductions of the photos of the famous, by the famous, making you even more sure that you will never take a good photograph; I have so many of those. If there are sequels, or serialisations, I have to have those too. What use is ‘And quiet flows the Don’, if you don’t get ‘The Don flows home to the sea’, so you can see what happened to all the characters? Years of collecting, decades of accumulation, re-reading favourites, anticipating new arrivals. How can it all disappear?

On reflection, it seems obvious. It is unfair to lie in bed reading, light on, disturbing someone who has to get up for work the next day. Sitting in another room reading, going to bed very late, that still disturbs. Try to read during the day, and no sooner have you opened to the first page, a dog’s head will appear on your lap, a soft toy clamped in his jaws. Ollie does not understand book reading. With him, it is always time to play. Go into another room in the evening, just to read a few chapters, as your wife is doing something else, perhaps watching TV, or using the computer. It soon feels anti-social, and far from the point of getting married, to share time together; to be in the same room, at the very least. I no longer commute, so that option has gone. I go to the beach to enjoy the brisk weather, and to walk the dog, not to sit and read in the sand. I have little to wait around for, as I am not working, so have no defined lulls to consider. So I must conclude that I have no time, and no opportunity for reading. I know that sounds crazy, but that’s just how it is.