But, Serially, Folks...

Hey, it worked for Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers was first published as a serial in 1836. Uncle Tom's Cabin originally appeared in the National Era in 1851. And around the turn of the last century (early 1900s), many newspapers carried serial stories to boost circulation. In the 60s and 70s, I subscribed to Good Housekeeping mainly for the serialized novels published at the back. Tom Wolfe published The Bonfire of the Vanities in 27 parts in Rolling Stone starting in 1984. Now serials are becoming more common on the Internet.

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So, to keep up with the times, and hopefully get my books in front of more RVers and campers, starting yesterday, Florida Outdoors RV site is publishing a chapter a week of my new mystery spoof, Camping Can be Murder. Punk and PJ (Patty Jo) Norton are recent retirees who decide to buy an used travel trailer and, for the first time in their lives, try camping. PJ is entranced by the ads for Rving on TV, but their purchase and experience doesn't turn out quite so idyllic. And when someone pushes the shady RV dealer off a cliff, the Halloween camping weekend turns spookier.

This was a fun but challenging writing experience. Each chapter is about 700-1000 words, much shorter than the typical book--about 10 minutes for the average reader. And each chapter needed to end with a cliffhanger or at least a teaser. If you read any of it, let me know what you think.

If you are interested in reading serials of any genre online, there are all kinds of options. Goodreads has a whole group devoted to web serial fiction:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/22783-web-serial-fiction

A site devoted wholly to web fiction is http://webfictionguide.com/. Check it out!