All caught up! What an interesting turn of events! I kind of like how the narrative is mirroring the quote earlier about seeing how big the gap is between what you know and what you need to know to accomplish a task.
It all seems like such a huge goal, but, logically, you still need to take those little steps to even attempt world, and eventually, galactic peace.
I will echo Sean's sentiments in that, even though I read this through in one sitting, there are countless other stories you have shared and published that readers will also want to read that getting facts, names, and places straight would prove difficult. Maybe publishing in arcs? Keep the chapters for structure reasons, but publish a bunch of chapters at once that make up the current arc? Just spitballing.
I really love Esther and her attitude, as well as how this is all shaping up. We finally have everyone in the same room (essentially) and I can't wait to see what they get caught up in now.
I have wondered what readers think about the serial rhythm. I’m such a binger, for TV shows and for serials online. I’ll delay for a time and then devour multiple episodes in a sitting. With the newsletter format of Substack, I’ve wondered how readers would feel about getting a multi-post dump they can leave unopened until they’re ready to binge, or if more people prefer the Every Friday thing like prime time TV. (Which drives me personally bonkers.) I’ve been plotting and polling in prep to figure out how I want to deliver serials myself.
On my other platform I have a cast of characters post that I link to at the top of each chapter. Of course…it’s the whole bloody Greek Pantheon so… 🤪 and a reminder snippet of “where we left off with these characters/situation last” which made readers happy when I was on the weekly roll. They said it helped them remember and pick it back up.
Jan 31, 2023·edited Jan 31, 2023Liked by J.E. Petersen
This is going to sound weird, and maybe it is because I am being silly, but I've never read a book like this before (Where I have a week in between each chapter). As a result, there are often times I have to go back and remember different names to characters. Would it be possible to have some sort of a quick key at the top to remember which names are what characters? It could be legitimately 1 line or a couple words even, just so that it is easier to reference than past chapters? Like “New characters introduced in this chapter” or "main characters" or --well, you get it.
When reading a book in a more traditional sense straight through, it is usually much more clear when a new character is introduced. Reading like this though, week to week, SO much time and other materials have been consumed between each chapter that I genuinely have to be like "Wait is this a new character, or did I forget I met them earlier?”
Maybe it's because I'm tired. Feel free to ignore.
This is a great note, and a very good idea, and yes I should do it but here's the thing that means a lot more work and I'm LAZY.
Unfortunately, you are also confirming what I have been strongly suspecting, which is that something is going to have to change. I can't reasonably expect people to follow along without making some kind of concession. So...standby.
The new guy fell in love. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 of course he did. It’s cool that you have it from Deek’s pov so we can spy the dynamics of these two like a fly on the wall munching popcorn.
All caught up! What an interesting turn of events! I kind of like how the narrative is mirroring the quote earlier about seeing how big the gap is between what you know and what you need to know to accomplish a task.
It all seems like such a huge goal, but, logically, you still need to take those little steps to even attempt world, and eventually, galactic peace.
I will echo Sean's sentiments in that, even though I read this through in one sitting, there are countless other stories you have shared and published that readers will also want to read that getting facts, names, and places straight would prove difficult. Maybe publishing in arcs? Keep the chapters for structure reasons, but publish a bunch of chapters at once that make up the current arc? Just spitballing.
I really love Esther and her attitude, as well as how this is all shaping up. We finally have everyone in the same room (essentially) and I can't wait to see what they get caught up in now.
I have wondered what readers think about the serial rhythm. I’m such a binger, for TV shows and for serials online. I’ll delay for a time and then devour multiple episodes in a sitting. With the newsletter format of Substack, I’ve wondered how readers would feel about getting a multi-post dump they can leave unopened until they’re ready to binge, or if more people prefer the Every Friday thing like prime time TV. (Which drives me personally bonkers.) I’ve been plotting and polling in prep to figure out how I want to deliver serials myself.
On my other platform I have a cast of characters post that I link to at the top of each chapter. Of course…it’s the whole bloody Greek Pantheon so… 🤪 and a reminder snippet of “where we left off with these characters/situation last” which made readers happy when I was on the weekly roll. They said it helped them remember and pick it back up.
This is a great idea, and I'm going to use it. Hopefully it'll be ready by next week.
This is going to sound weird, and maybe it is because I am being silly, but I've never read a book like this before (Where I have a week in between each chapter). As a result, there are often times I have to go back and remember different names to characters. Would it be possible to have some sort of a quick key at the top to remember which names are what characters? It could be legitimately 1 line or a couple words even, just so that it is easier to reference than past chapters? Like “New characters introduced in this chapter” or "main characters" or --well, you get it.
When reading a book in a more traditional sense straight through, it is usually much more clear when a new character is introduced. Reading like this though, week to week, SO much time and other materials have been consumed between each chapter that I genuinely have to be like "Wait is this a new character, or did I forget I met them earlier?”
Maybe it's because I'm tired. Feel free to ignore.
Anyway, great chapter as usual!
This is a great note, and a very good idea, and yes I should do it but here's the thing that means a lot more work and I'm LAZY.
Unfortunately, you are also confirming what I have been strongly suspecting, which is that something is going to have to change. I can't reasonably expect people to follow along without making some kind of concession. So...standby.
It’s nice to know someone else grapples with this, thanks for saying so!
Picky picky: “a whole Forrest floor”
The new guy fell in love. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 of course he did. It’s cool that you have it from Deek’s pov so we can spy the dynamics of these two like a fly on the wall munching popcorn.