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When I got caught in a thunderstorm on my road bike, that six months later, the blog I was going to write and instead became a story, is still going. I hate to think how many words, pages and megabytes it occupies. It also seems to maintain its relative popularity, for reasons I don't fully understand.
Once it seemed popular and I gave myself the challenge of writing live and posting each day, where possible, I had no idea it would go on so long. Nor if I could keep going - I know I'm full of s*!t, so spreading some of it here is useful, but everyday? Yet the storyline continues from somewhere. All I do is read the previous one and write, which is why the continuity is sometimes a little jerky.
I have checked with management, who seem happy for me to continue using up server space, for which thanks, and as I don't get many telling me to stop, I assume we carry on for a bit longer.
I know I'm a shameless floosie when it comes to comment cadging, or begging for donations to the hatbox fund. So here is your chance to say what you think about long series, and one in particular.
Angharad.
Comments
Long may it continue!
You're a bad girl Ang.
You know what asking questions like this leads to.
It's like asking why those strange moth things have a pupal period of fourteen years, or how long is a piece of string.
Take it from me, it's a serial that has captured the imagination of so many and we're all pleased as punch that you have taken it upon yourself to share it with us.
So if that blog was another shameless attempt to be patted on the back, then so be it, but I for one would not be looking at why it has become so popular, I would just be pleased that it is.
Thank you for sharing.
NB
I know
I know what I like and I like this. This is the first story I check for everyday. Being bad I don't comment every time but this has become a nice comfort piece for me. As to how long this should go on, I don't have a good answer. We'll just have to trust your judgment and instincts. :) I would think at least as far along as her corrective surgery or maybe her marriage to Simon. Could be, maybe, a break after the surgery and then Book 2 can begin starting with her marriage? Maybe not a good idea but an idea? No matter what I know I'll be reading your wonderfully addictive pose!
hugs!
grover
I'll second that
again!
What's wrong with a "soap opera"?
Angharad,
I think this story fits the name "Soap Opera". And, as for length. Well, you've got quite a way to go to get the 30+ years of the Television "Gunsmoke" series. :-) And, who knows how long some of the daytime soaps will keep going over here...
As to why people enjoy reading the episodes... I can think of several off the top of my head. They describe things, that taken one at a time folks find very believable, even if in aggregate they are a bit "big" shall we say. The characters are such that people can identify with one or more at least in part. There's periodically some "hints" of new stuff in the future which maintains curiosity. There's the ongoing storyline, which has been "fairly" steady over the past months (Cathy discovering who she is). All of this tends to be things that encourage readership. Add to this the regularity of posting, the easily readable style, the relative brevity of each episode, and you have a combination that keeps people comming back.
I don't expect people are looking for great depth from the story, though at times you have delved deeply into things that have impacted me, and I suspect others. There have been characters or events that have disturbed some of the readers. This, IMO, is as it should be.
Thanks for writing this... And as long as you're willing to keep writing it, I believe you'll have readers.
The standard
I see more serials starting to pop up and I can't help but believe that you've been a catalyst for that.The quality of your work has been constantly high and is always enjoyable to read.When I first started to think of submitting a story your work influenced me to try daily posting as I went.I haven't been succesfull at that for a number of reasons the ability to post has been a big factor as well as realizing I need to work on developing my style of writing and my ability to self edit and add on top of that how long it takes to think out what your going to write then write it so I for one can truly appreciate what you've done.Thru studying your work and that of other Authors plus my personal preference I came to the conclusion that storys are best posted a little at a time maybe 2,000 to 5,000 words .Cathy,Stella,Simon and Agnew are all great characters and all have an easy to like personality.So please keep up the work so I can have an excuse to show up here everyday.One of your many fans Amy
I can't believe...
it's not butter? No that's not what I was going to say!
The main thing that makes me come back to your epic tale is that you made me care for the characters, especially Cathy. When something nice happens to them I feel happy, but when something bad threatens I worry how they will cope. I think you've got the balance of the crazy humour and the fear that it could all come crashing down just right.
Oh and don't forget the dormice.
I've said it before
If you have never read Louisa May Alcott before, I would suggest you give her a look. If nothing else, you might read Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys, the (semi-autobiographical) books that made her famous, for which she is best remembered, and still read. (All of her works are in the public domain, and available at such sites as Project Gutenberg and archive.org.) I think you will find in her writing a narrative style very similar to your own in many respects: tales describing the interesting and courageous lives of ordinary people, well leavened with humour and commentary about human nature, and all written in a flowing style that is easy to read because it is the way that people speak. She wrote of things common to the human experience, to which nearly everyone can relate, and particularly common to the feminine experience, to which girls and women can relate (her target audience were girls and young adult women). Your work does all that, and then goes on to include the transgender experience, to which we can relate. How could all this not succeed with us?