Friday, May 9, 2008

Where is This All Going?

I've had a few readers in their feedback wonder where Magician's Merger is going. As background, let me say that Ursus Enlil is an old character of mine. He is the protagonist of an unfinished novel of which I've written a substantial chunk, a major supporting character of an unfinished novel of which I've written a much smaller chunk, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about his back story without ever writing it down. The events in Magician's Merger are just a small piece of his very long life.

That all said, I had a strong idea of the beginning of Magician's Merger, that is, poor Ursus gets reborn as a kid. I have a strong idea of the necessary ending--or at least a major event that must take place near the end of the story.

What I don't really know are all the events between the beginning and the end. Many of them I only know a couple of chapters ahead. Some of them I only discover when I write the chapter. I don't know about my readers, but doing it that way certainly helps keep me entertained. In effect, I'm telling myself a story as I go along.

Thus, Magician's Merger is most definitely designed to be a Web serial, not a tightly plotted novel. Readers who read stories to get to the end will be disappointed. I hope that I'm entertaining readers who read for the trip.

Web serials are a revival of a form of text story that died out for a while. It never did die out in television or comic strips. Think story arcs rather than plot. As I said, though, I do at least have an ultimate goal I keep in the back of my mind.

I hope I haven't just disappointed too many people. In my defense, I plead that I don't really know what I'm doing as a writer. This whole experiment in writing Web fiction for me is an exercise in immediate gratification, which I hope will keep me writing.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I haven't been disappointed at all. I think Magician's Merger is wonderful. Keep it up, please.

Unknown said...

I am in agreement with rabababa.

I am most definitely enjoying your story. As I read all sorts of written stories, dead-tree and electronic.

I have not read your entire blog so forgive me if you have already visited the following site that I heartily recommend.

http://www.beyondthefarhorizon.com