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JUST WRITE
Becoming a Serial Killer 101
Ken Coomes, DTM
Of course, I’m not talking about murder! every week with my parents. Admission was
This is a column about writing, speaking, a quarter, and for that, we saw a movie, a
and (I hope)thinking. Mainly about writing. newsreel, a cartoon, and an episode of Tarzan
So I’m talking about something old that is (a serial episode), all in black and white. Before
becoming new again —writing serial fiction. you start figuring out how old I am, color
And hopefully helping you “kill it” as a serial movies came along while I was still a child.
author. Today’s serial fiction is frequently
Why do I suggest serial fiction is old? Partly published in episodes about 30-40 minutes
because one of the earliest examples of serial long—enough time for many commutes both
fiction often cited is Charles Dickens. Add my ways (for some, one way of their commute).
childhood to that (see below), throw in today’s Or long enough for a short jog or a walk in
television (well, not just today’s television, but the park. I suspect many of you often listen
yesterday’s as well) and you probably “get it” to an audiobook when driving, jogging, or
by now—why I’m writing about serial fiction, walking, as so many of us do in today’s world.
and why I’m calling it something old. Another beautiful thing about serial fiction, for
Serials are ongoing stories, published in authors and readers alike, is that many serial
installments. Novels, such as A Christmas Carol, fiction novels (the finished “season” of a piece
were published serially in Charles Dickens’ of serial fiction) consist of one full “season”
day. Perhaps because more people could afford (13-18 episodes).
a “penny paper” than a hard-bound novel in From the perspective of an author
those days. Or maybe because there were fewer or publisher, this can mean writing a piece
“big publishing houses” then. that is 15,000-25,000 words long, rather
Speaking of “the good old days,” when I than forestalling completion until you have
was a child (no, this did not precede Dickens’ somewhere between 50,000-100,000 words.
days) I remember going to the theater almost For readers, it can mean spending less to
32 ONE COMMUNITY
