I am working on Leatherwood Creek and trying to get it completed!
You see, this project isn’t like my two Contemporary Romance novels. Leatherwood Creek is more of what is called a ‘serial’. A serial is like a tv show, which has episodes within a season. These ‘seasons’ will be 8-10 episodes long, and there can be more than one season.
For years–as long as I can remember, actually–I’ve wanted to write a ‘soap opera’ type of story. Last year, I started on this project and just allowed the story to tell itself. There are a lot of characters (I watch ‘Days’, hence the 15-20 characters, or more) and several character voices came forward. Once the first draft of book one (which is what I’d thought it would initially be) was complete and reread by me, and others, it was clear most of the scenes were too short and there were more characters talking than needed to be. It made it hard to follow. So, I went back, rewrote parts of it, and took out a few of the POV’s, but could only get it down to five characters Point of Views in the beginning. More have to come on board as the story progresses, but they aren’t all together in the same scene. That would be hard to write and understand. (And, it almost drove me insane trying to keep up with everyone! But, you can’t drive a crazy person crazy, you see, so……)
Some of the scenes are short–a few very short. But, the story is told in scenes with different characters just as it would be if you were watching any one of the many ‘serials’ on television. This ‘serial’ will just be digital or in paperback.
I enjoyed writing the story, although the project has had its challenges. When I realized that these type of projects were being done already (and that I didn’t have something unique), and selling like mad, I researched the topic. Well, I have found episodes lengths should be around 4,000, to 8000 a piece, to 15-20k words per episode. In other words, it depends on who wrote the article.
So, this is what I have decided to do. I am going to go ahead with Leatherwood Creek. I will publish “book one” in episodes. The overall ‘book’ is about 72k words. Then, I will complete book two, which I have already started writing, and do the same with it. If I get a good readership, I will continue with the serial. Heck, I might even ask what you want to see happen with the characters or weave one of your real-life stories into the mix (with your written permission, of course) if you’d like. I feel sure someone has one heck of a tale to tell.
Anyway, onward weary soldier. I will not be defeated!
Until next time,
~D
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