Serials and Sentinels
Oct. 15th, 2003 02:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycrawfordMy allegiances have shifted slightly; though my head's still full of Iolaus and Hercules bickering their way through Greece, I've started reading Sentinel fic again. (Appropriate icon courtesy of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dbw).
The blame for this I throw entirely upon the heads of Martha (soulcake) and Dasha. Martha is writing a slash sequel to her Sentinel/Stargate crossover (which is excellent reading even if you've never watched Stargate, like, oh, me) and thanks to her recommendation I've just discovered Dasha, who writes gloriously long and involved slash and gen stories, full of all my favorite things - the guys building a house together, angst without sappiness, ruthless characterization, emotional intimacy, snappy original characters - which I devoured during my flu. But more detailed recommendations must come later, because right now I want to witter on about serials.
Martha mentioned that she's posting Tatters as a serial because of a discussion on Prospect-L, where apparently people pointed out that they hate works in progress. Heh.
Got me thinking. I like serials. My dad read the entire Lord of the Rings to my brother and me - a thousand something pages - over the course of several summer and spring holidays, with a no-peeking rule inbetween. And it worked: the LOTR is really well set-up for this. In between chapters, you can follow the characters' progress on the maps, wondering what will happen to them should they have to go through Moria after all. And in "The Two Towers" the tension really heightens at that extra-slow pace, because Tolkien takes ages to get us back to Frodo and Sam; we knew what was happening to one half of the Fellowship but not the other. And then picture this: you get "The Choices of Master Samwise" read to you at the end of the holidays, and then you'll have to wait nearly a year to find out what happens to Sam and poor Frodo. (I daren't say more, because this chapter was shifted to the third movie rather than the second, so it still lies ahead of us, but it's one of the best chapters in the book, and a favorite of mine.)
I like the depth a serial gives to a story. You can't guzzle the whole thing in one gulp; you're forced to slow down for a more careful reading, where you may discover things you might otherwise have missed in your sheer anxiety to find out what happens next. You have to be patient, yes, but in return you get more room for your imagination to envision plots, endings, possible developments. What is more fun than speculating over where a story is going to take you, and then being happily surprised?
Often a camaraderie springs up between readers. When Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic was coming out in monthly installments, I loved to talk over possible happenings with my friends. "What do you suppose the missing Endless sibling is called?" "I wonder who dumped Morpheus? Do we know her name?" and so on.
The only thing that would annoy me is if the work in progress was never finished. And even so I might still read it, if an author posted it on a website with a note that said 'Sorry, I can't finish it, I'm putting it up here for the people who want to see it anyway', as I've seen done. But if it was posted to a list or a community as a WIP and then the author bailed out, I'd be pissed. Because there is a commitment there: the author is asking readers to trust that she'll get them to the end, happy or otherwise, and that she won't abandon Sam before the gates of Mordor.
dbw).The blame for this I throw entirely upon the heads of Martha (
soulcake) and Dasha. Martha is writing a slash sequel to her Sentinel/Stargate crossover (which is excellent reading even if you've never watched Stargate, like, oh, me) and thanks to her recommendation I've just discovered Dasha, who writes gloriously long and involved slash and gen stories, full of all my favorite things - the guys building a house together, angst without sappiness, ruthless characterization, emotional intimacy, snappy original characters - which I devoured during my flu. But more detailed recommendations must come later, because right now I want to witter on about serials.Martha mentioned that she's posting Tatters as a serial because of a discussion on Prospect-L, where apparently people pointed out that they hate works in progress. Heh.
Got me thinking. I like serials. My dad read the entire Lord of the Rings to my brother and me - a thousand something pages - over the course of several summer and spring holidays, with a no-peeking rule inbetween. And it worked: the LOTR is really well set-up for this. In between chapters, you can follow the characters' progress on the maps, wondering what will happen to them should they have to go through Moria after all. And in "The Two Towers" the tension really heightens at that extra-slow pace, because Tolkien takes ages to get us back to Frodo and Sam; we knew what was happening to one half of the Fellowship but not the other. And then picture this: you get "The Choices of Master Samwise" read to you at the end of the holidays, and then you'll have to wait nearly a year to find out what happens to Sam and poor Frodo. (I daren't say more, because this chapter was shifted to the third movie rather than the second, so it still lies ahead of us, but it's one of the best chapters in the book, and a favorite of mine.)
I like the depth a serial gives to a story. You can't guzzle the whole thing in one gulp; you're forced to slow down for a more careful reading, where you may discover things you might otherwise have missed in your sheer anxiety to find out what happens next. You have to be patient, yes, but in return you get more room for your imagination to envision plots, endings, possible developments. What is more fun than speculating over where a story is going to take you, and then being happily surprised?
Often a camaraderie springs up between readers. When Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic was coming out in monthly installments, I loved to talk over possible happenings with my friends. "What do you suppose the missing Endless sibling is called?" "I wonder who dumped Morpheus? Do we know her name?" and so on.
The only thing that would annoy me is if the work in progress was never finished. And even so I might still read it, if an author posted it on a website with a note that said 'Sorry, I can't finish it, I'm putting it up here for the people who want to see it anyway', as I've seen done. But if it was posted to a list or a community as a WIP and then the author bailed out, I'd be pissed. Because there is a commitment there: the author is asking readers to trust that she'll get them to the end, happy or otherwise, and that she won't abandon Sam before the gates of Mordor.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-15 08:46 am (UTC)The only thing that would annoy me is if the work in progress was never finished.
This is one reason why I vowed never to post a WIP again. Luckily I've only got one that I may never finish (in another fandom and I pulled it off the web quite a while ago). I also don't like posting WIP because I tend to re-work earlier scenes as I go along. No matter how well I pre-plot, things change on me. Even though I know that I could update stuff that's already been posted, I find myself reluctant to do that for some reason. It's like, in my mind, once something is posted it's cast in stone.
Because I know how I feel about my own WIPs (and why I won't post them), I will rarely read anyone else's WIPs. Contrarily, the only way that I will read a WIP is if I don't really care about it (When Hellmouths Collide is the only one I can think of that I've *cared* about that I continued to read as a WIP). Which is why I probably *won't* read Martha's story until it's completed. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-15 10:00 am (UTC)Good point. I've always wondered how authors who work with serials do that. I think that either they must have a very good outline or idea of where they're going and how to get there, or they work things out just enough for the next couple of installments and just wing it, thriving on that challenge.
I'm pretty sure Neil Gaiman never mapped out the Sandman story arc, although he probably knew where it would end up. He tends to leave lots of little 'hooks' - not loose ends, really, just potentially interesting bits - that he may or may not use later on.
For example, early in the series the Sandman captures the demon Azazel in a bottle and stows it away in a big wooden chest. In that chest, we also see a pocket watch, a skull, a miniature city and other things. In other stories, much later, we find out what city it is and who the skull belongs to. But I'm convinced that Gaiman didn't know that either when he put them into the chest, if you see what I mean. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-15 03:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-16 07:17 am (UTC)Still pleasant to hear, though! :-)
I think it's interesting that super hero comics have done so well with serials, even though (from what little I've seen of them) the backstory could grow so huge and complicated that the writers were forced to add those little footnotes: 'Lex Luthor discovered lavender kryptonite in Superman #103: The Lure of the Galaxians'.
I can't think of another paper medium where serials are that successful. Even the SF/F genre magazines don't publish serialized novels much anymore.