Write More with Simon K Jones

We’re back with part 3 of our mini-series all about Crafting serial fiction. This episode is all about writing and publishing, once your serial is going out into the world. You’ve completed your planning and prep and the story is in the wild.

During the episode we go chronologically through the experience of publishing serial fiction, and how each phase brings its own challenges (and joys!).

* Getting started: early chapters

* The hump: getting past the tricky 20% or 20k threshold

* The long slump: being in the middle of it

* Landing the plane: endings

We’ve got a couple more episodes to go in this series, with the next one focusing on audiences: finding readers, building a community, and all of that. Keep an eye on your inbox if you want to watch live.

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And yes, I know, language evolves. I’m 45, so I’m the prime age to be complaining about newfangled words that weren’t used when I was a lad, and all that. I’m very much in the ‘aunties’ age bracket, apparently, according to Time. Why can’t we go back to wearing bowler hats and riding in horse-drawn carriages, dammit?

Language does evolve, and there’s always that interplay between words and culture. That’s what makes language exciting and the best possible expression of right now. Perhaps it doesn’t matter how we describe what we do, as long as we’re still doing it. As a writer, though, I have to come down on one side or another: words either matter or they don’t. I like to think that they do. If the term ‘content creator’ had emerged organically out of some punk underground movement, perhaps this would be a different conversation. The emergence of the term into widespread use seems far more pernicious to me.

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It continues! On Saturday I jumped back onto a livestream with S.E. Reid to talk all about Crafting serial fiction, and this time the focus was on preparation and all the things you need to do and think about before you start publishing a serial.

Don’t be fooled by my rambling and fluffy intro: there’s some good stuff in here (especially from Sally) once we get into it.

In part 2 we discuss:

* The fundamentals: finish the manuscript first, or publish as you go?

* Outlining: plan ahead, or make it up as you go?

* Structure: where are the chapter breaks? What is the narrative structure of your story?

* Themes: staying on track and using them as your compass

* Characters: quick tips for creating compelling character arcs

* Scheduling: weekly? Monthly? Daily??

* Workload: how to figure out how much time you actually have for the project

* Buffers: should you have one?

* Presentation: checklist of resources you need before publishing, from a visual identity to an index

Thanks for watching! Hope it was a useful time. Thanks to everyone who showed up live and contributed questions.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonkjones.substack.com/subscribe

It has begun! The first part of a live video mini-series about crafting serial fiction, hosted by myself and S.E. Reid. We’re going step-by-step through the process of writing serial fiction, from ideas to audiences.

Before diving into the nuts and bolts, it seemed sensible to define what serial fiction is, at least from our point of view. What define serial fiction, and what isn’t serial fiction? Where did it come? What is its history? Is it a new concept, or has it been around for a while (spoiler: it’s very old).

In part 1 we cover some of this:

* What is the difference between a series and a serial?

* How 16th century serial fiction isn’t all that different to 21st century serial fiction

* The golden age of serials in the 19th century

* Why many of the canon classic novels are the DVD box sets of their time

* Why publishing forgot all about serials in the 20th century

* The impact of television, film, radio and comics

* How the arrival of the internet took us right back to the 16th century

* My hot take on why publishing made a huge error when it abandoned serials in the 20th century in favour of The Novel

In June we’ll be back with part 2, which will be focusing on ideas and prep.

Subscribe so you don’t miss it!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonkjones.substack.com/subscribe

Well, this was delightful. Just having got back from her US book launch, Eleanor Anstruther joined me for a live chat about the mixed feelings that always accompany the completion of major projects.

We discuss:

* Fallout’s winding road to publication and how it caught the attention of Empress Editions

* How the Tales from the Triverse finale took longer than expected

* Trying to host a book launch when London’s transport network goes on strike

* My print plans for Triverse

* Online communities and meeting cool people

* The button you really shouldn’t press during a live stream

Thank you Mona Mona, Cherry Coombe, Ever Blue | Serial Romance, CPro99, Kell Willsen, and many others for tuning into my live video with Eleanor Anstruther! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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Orna Ross 📚 invited me onto her regular salon live session to talk about serial fiction. It was a whistlestop and detailed examination of the form as it exists on Substack.

* Why I moved from Wattpad to Substack

* Why Substack is an excellent platform for serial fiction despite its many quirks

* Promotion and finding readers

* Structuring a serial and onboarding new readers

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonkjones.substack.com/subscribe

Last week I wrote about the importance of knowing the rules before trying to bend them. By being daring and breaking new ground, we can take some active measures to keep our heads above the slop tide. Here’s that post:

It still might not be enough. There’s also the reality that we can’t all be genre-redefining creative geniuses. Sometimes we just want to write what we want to write, without the pressure of reinventing the artform.

If there’s a challenge, it’s in proving that we’re alive in the first place.

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It’s getting increasingly difficult to be mediocre. Being average used to be a solid career path, and often would yield far greater financial success that being an outlier at the top or bottom of the quality curve. What does it take to stand out in 2026?

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Here is a big brain dump on monetisation of fiction newsletters, after 5 years in the trenches.

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Last week I was invited by Erica Drayton to join her and S.E. Reid to natter about publishing serial fiction on Substack. What followed was a very nuts-and-bolts discussion about the process of publishing serials, including taking a close look at publishing on Substack specifically.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonkjones.substack.com/subscribe