I published the first chapter of Lapis of Nicodem in October 2020. I was excited and terrified. I had never written a serial before; all my previous work focused on novelization. World Anvil was an awesome place to try out the new format and see if I liked it.
And I did! The bi-weekly publishing schedule kept me motivated but with enough time to write and edit a chapter. The serial format made the stories seem like less of a slog. I had just published Shiobe Rising and Trouble in Tindrel: Wellspring Dragons Books One and Two through Amazon in August, and by the end of the editing process, I hated my books and hated the story.
That's when I tried NaNoWriMo to motivate me to finish the third book, and while I did, I burnt myself out so badly that I'm just now (in the year 2023) getting my creative juice back and returning to the fourth installment.
So the serial format saved my writing career. Cool.
I had read about serial formats before I even began writing LoN, but I knew that I did not want to put out a 1500-word chapter every two days (I was very wary of further burnout). I also knew that readers wanted to get their money's worth, so to speak. So I chose to write longer chapters to coincide with the increased wait time between them, with word counts bordering on short story lengths.
Throughout the writing process of LoN, my ideas about word count changed. Now, for both this series and Evenacht, I aim for 4-6K every two weeks. If a break needs to happen mid-chapter, then I publish two chapters instead of cramming the ideas into one.
I changed how I do things, and now I want to bring those changes to Lapis of Nicodem. So, beginning February 2023, I'll be working on 2nd edition changes to the first book. I've already put it through some revisions (re-checked spelling and reworded a few things) and created a new cover (with my updated drawing style), but now I'll be splitting chapters into smaller ones. So the chapter count of Lapis of Nicodem will go up, but the content will stay the same. I'm not changing the story, just the setup.
The benefits of being an indie author :).
Thank you all for supporting my endeavors. Thank you, wonderful readers, for reading my stories. You keep me going. And thank you World Anvil, for providing a place I can house my serials and my book worlds without worry. I can focus on creating and entertaining my readers.
Take care all,
Kwyn Marie
