There are several things that I’ve written that are longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella. I’m referring to my serials. Stories that I’ve published in weekly parts, like the TV series of old.
If you were there, you’ll remember them. Episodic stories, with the same lead characters. They were either stand-alone episodes or part of an overriding story arc.
Sometimes they contained elements of both.
We used to be glued to them. Long before the days of binge-watching boxsets. Back when each weekly instalment often ended with a cliff-hanger, forcing you to wait seven days in anticipation of the next episode.
Just to see how your heroes extricated themselves from their latest moment of peril.
I think that my Sci-fi and Steampunk adventures lend themselves to that sort of treatment. I’ve already published two serials on Medium, My Sister Alex and The Adventures of Kalyn Deere. And I’m keen to write more.
So, when I had the idea for a steampunk short story, as I hadn’t written a serial in that genre, I could see that a longer narrative was not just possible but desirable.
Fortunately, the editors at The Kraken Lore, a publication on Medium, agreed and commissioned a serial, after reading the first part.
Murder Most Foul ended up as a 26-part story, totalling just under 30,000 words. Each part concluded with a heart-stopping moment, designed to make you desperate to read the next installment.
Now that its serialisation is complete, I want to expand it into a full-length novel.
As it contains characters, technology and settings from my other Steampunk adventures, it can take its place among them and help to show more of the universe I’ve created.
Because of the need to keep people coming back, its construction as a serial was quite different to that of a novel. In the longer form, a more leisurely pace can be established, more detail can be given and continual action and jeopardy are not required at the end of each chapter to keep the reader’s attention.
As I said, it fits into the timeline that I’ve already established in the fictional world of Norlandia. In a novel, I can do more to incorporate it by cross-referencing places, people and events.
To convert the format, I need to deconstruct each part, expand them and fit them all back together, whilst keeping the plot and pacing intact.
Not only that, I also have to be careful not to overload the narrative with fluff or padding, just to increase the word count.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
Well, there’s a lot that can be done to make more of the story. One of the advantages of leaving a gap between the first publication and the start of the rewrite is that the story has had time to mature in my head. Reading it now, I’m able to see where changes and additions can be made.
For a start, the world-building and use of technology can be expanded and explained. Then, parts of the backstory can be inserted from the other books. Finally, things which were glossed over for brevity can be fully described.
Finally, the ending, which suited the format in that it hinted at more, can be extended.
The idea is to try to achieve a final length of around 60,000 words, which is a doubling in size.
You might be wondering why I’m bothering. I have so many other projects, in a far less complete form. I could just release the story as it is. Perhaps I could give it away as a lead magnet, or some other incentive for people to read my existing Steampunk novels.
That’s true, but there is so much more that the characters have to say.
I see this story as the start of a new series of adventures.
I want to do it justice.
Here’s Chapter One, taken from my YouTube Channel.
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