The Medusa Ritual

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This Friday, 1 February 2019, I’ll start serializing the working draft of my new Pierce Mostyn novel—The Medusa Ritual.

So I thought I’d talk a little bit today on what inspired me to write the book, and why I am choosing to serialize the working draft on my blog.

The Inspiration

The other day, on Twitter, I received one of those tweets where you answer a question and then tag a few other people. The question was name 5+ writers who inspired you to write.

My list was:

Edgar Allan Poe

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Saki

HP Lovecraft

Robert E Howard

Rex Stout

Lawrence Block

Anthony Trollope

I would’ve added Jules Verne, but ran out of characters.

It’s no secret that the Pierce Mostyn series draws on HP Lovecraft for its primary inspiration. Nightmare in Agate Bay is more or less a contemporary retelling of “The Shadow over Innsmouth”. Stairway to Hell drew inspiration from Lovecraft and Bishop’s “The Mound”. While Terror in the Shadows was inspired by HPL’s “The Lurking Fear”.

“The Man of Stone” by HPL and Hazel Heald became the springboard for my imagination to take flight with The Medusa Ritual.

Are the two stories anything alike? No. Not really. Both feature a book of forbidden knowledge, both touch on the Cthulhu Mythos, and both have people turning to stone–and that’s it. But the ideas in HPL’s and Heald’s story were enough for Mostyn, Bardon, Dotty, and the gang to say, “Hey! Run with this!” And I did. After all, writers need to listen to their characters. 😃

Serialization

Last week I talked about the practice of serializing novels. So let’s talk a bit about why I’m serializing The Medusa Ritual for free.

First of all, I’m not serializing the finished book, and you might ask why? And the answer is that in a way I’m following Victorian practice.

Frequently in the Victorian era, a novelist wrote the novel as it was being serialized. Dickens, for example, was only one or two installments ahead of his publisher in writing The Old Curiosity Shop. In my case, I handwrite my books, then do an initial edit while typing them. So much like the Victorians, you’ll get the working draft of the book.

Now you might be curious as to why I’m serializing the book for free on my blog. Again, for much the same reason the Victorians serialized: to drum up interest in the book. I’m also hoping to attract more readers to the Pierce Mostyn series, to attract more traffic to this blog, and to get readers to sign up to my mailing list.

In addition, I’m giving you a chance to comment on the work in progress. To be a bit of an editor, as it were.

Serialization is making something of a comeback. Fan fiction is usually serialized. Books are often published in installments on Wattpad. Channillo is a subscription site ($5/month) where writers who want to serialize their work, and get paid, can do so.

There are, in addition, those few writers who issue their novel installments on Amazon and then collect all of the installments into book form.

Steve Bargdill published the novelettes that comprise his Wasteland separately and then collected them in book form.

GC Julien serialized her The Feral Sentence series and then followed up with the installments issued in book form.

For now, I am willing to offer my working draft for free. If my experiment is a success, I might try Bargdill’s and Julien’s approach. In the Victorian era, one of the reasons publishers serialized novels to begin with was to allow those with less disposable income to buy the book. In those days folks could possibly afford the monthly cost of the installment, whereas the outlay for a complete novel may have been prohibitive. It was a win-win for both the publisher and the reader.

Today, when traditional publishing puts a $10 or $15 price tag on the Kindle edition of a James Patterson novel, a 99¢ serial installment looks very affordable.

I know for myself, living on a fixed income, the price tag of a book has become very important. And sad to say, many indies are pricing themselves right out of my wallet. I do not look at indie authors who are selling at the $5 price point or above. And I very much think twice when the book is priced at the $4 price point. After all, I’m stuck with the book if I end up not liking it. I can’t turn it in to the used ebook store to recoup a bit of my money.

For the next 18 weeks, I’ll be running 2 blog posts each week: my regular Tuesday post and on Fridays the installments of The Medusa Ritual. Tune in each week to double your pleasure and double your fun.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!