To Be Continued: A Serial Narrative Primer

Hi Chip,

I am hooked on “The Holly Wreath Man.” (No, don’t give the ending away, please!)

At a recent daily critique meeting, our writing coach challenged us to produce a serial in 2004.

So where do you suggest starting? Are there resources for this type of writing?

Thanks
Michelle Hiskey
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dear Michelle,

Thanks so much for the good words about “The Holly Wreath Man.” 

Collaborating on a serial newspaper novel with my wife, Kathy Fair, represents the fulfillment of a long-held goal. We’re thrilled that it’s running this month in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, along with about 22 other newspapers and websites.

It’s good to hear that the AJC is considering more of the same, continuing an honorable tradition in newspaper history. Newspapers have been home to serial narratives since a young reporter for London’s Morning Chronicle named Charles Dickens published the first one in 1836.

Here’s a brief primer, followed by online examples and commentary, that I hope will help you and anyone else interested in appreciating and/or tackling the form.

THE SERIAL: WHAT IT TAKES

The unifying feature of a serial narrative is not length. Rather, “the serial forces the reader to wait, and that quality, that sense of enforced waiting, is what makes serial narratives different,” says Tom French of the St. Petersburg Times.

A successful serial needs four elements, say writers and editors who have mastered the form.

1. THE ENGINE

The unanswered question is the engine that drives the story — and the reader — forward, says French. In “The Wizard of Oz,” the question is whether Dorothy will get home to Kansas. In “Jurassic Park,” it’s who will end up in the digestive tract of the dinosaur. In mysteries, it’s whodunit.

Although every narrative needs an engine — a thread that drives the story and pulls the reader along — the serial narrative imposes extra burdens. If the narrative is a mountain that the reader is climbing, a serial requires what Jan Winburn, who edits narratives at The Baltimore Sun, calls “switchbacks,” things you didn’t expect, lots of twists and turns, which give you the opportunity for cliffhangers, those moments of suspense that ended early film melodramas.

In the opening section of his award-winning serial, “A Stage in Their Lives,” for instance, Ken Fuson of The Baltimore Sun introduces the story’s engine — the suspense surrounding the mounting of a high school play — and its theme: a rite of passage.

In “The Holly Wreath Man,” a central question fuels the plot for every major character. Will Jeff win his family back? Will Pop keep his wreath business alive or will Turner, the Labor Department investigator, shut it down? Will Allie marry the wrong man? Will Jeff be able to keep his fallout shelter a secret? Will they deliver the Radio City wreath in time for Christmas?

2. ACCESS

You need good access for any narrative story, but you can’t have any reluctant sources for a serial narrative. When Fuson wrote his serial narrative, he attended scores of rehearsals, interviewed the students, teachers, their parents. French of the St. Petersburg Times dressed up in a toga to follow the high schoolers he profiled in his serial narrative “South of Heaven.”

3. A “GOLD MINE” SOURCE

Someone who knows all the answers, has all the details the reporter needs to craft a believable, dramatic story. Usually it’s the subject of the narrative, but it can also be a detective or prosecutor privy to the workings of a criminal case or a doctor overseeing the care of a cancer patient. Of course, the reporter should make every effort to verify the source’s account with documents and interviews.

4. THE BIG PAYOFF

A resonant ending.

Read any of the final chapters of the serial narratives linked below to see how their success depends on an ending that delivers on the promises made in the opening chapters.

RESOURCES:

• “What does it take to produce a serial narrative?”: Writers and editors at the Providence Journal discuss the story behind “Willie’s Nightmare,” a six-part serial by Bob Wyss.


• “Spinning the serial narrative”: Sheryl James of the Detroit Free Press talks about “Devotion and Death,” her 12-part serial.


• “Serial Form Can Draw Readers in for Weeks”: Roy Peter Clark describes his experience writing serial narratives and explains why the form is popular with newspaper readers and a growing number of journalists.


• “Three Little Words,” “Sadie’s Ring: A Journey of the Spirit,” and “Her Picture in My Wallet”: Three serials by Roy Peter Clark: a 29-day series about a family’s struggle with AIDS; an 11-part chronicle about Clark’s experience as a young Catholic man experiencing his family’s Jewish roots; and a two-part serial about Tommy Carden, who survived World War II only to lose his first great love.


• “Imaginary Year”: Jeremy P. Bushnell’s website devoted to his serialized web novel.


• “Narrative and Experimental Models”: Journalism professor Carole Rich discusses serials in a study of newswriting for the web.


• “Writing Serial Narratives”: A discussion thread on the Newsroom Trainers website.


• “Justice for Becky”: A True Crime Mystery in 19 Parts by Gina Barton of the South Bend Tribune.


• “Creating the Breakfast Serial: A Starter Kit”: An essay, available from Poynter, by Roy Peter Clark that includes a glossary of terms, frequently asked questions about serial narratives, and tips for reporting and writing one as well as selling the idea to an editor.


• “What Happens Next? Tom French on the Power of Unfolding Narrative”: A report on a talk by the St. Petersburg Times serialist at the 2001 Nieman Narrative Journalism Conference.


• “Into the Heart: A Medical Odyssey”: A nine-part serial by G. Wayne Miller of the Providence Journal. Also see Miller’s “A Nearly Perfect Summer,” a six-part serial.


• “The verdict is in the 112th paragraph”: Tom French goes behind-the-scenes of “A mother, a daughter, a murder,” a serial on deadline about a murder trial.


• “The Peterson Trial”: Reporters at the Raleigh News & Observer used the serial narrative to report a high-profile murder trial.


• “Blackhawk Down: An American War Story”: The original 29-part Philadelphia Inquirer series by Mark Bowden that led to the best-selling book and movie, featuring more bells and whistles than Dickens could have ever dreamed of.


• “Zen and the Art of Watching Star Wars”: A movie buff examines today’s fascination with serial narratives on screen through its links with the forms’ past.


• “The Terrorist Within: The story behind one man’s holy war against America”: A 17-part serial narrative published by The Seattle Times.


• The Villain’s Role in Soap Operas: A website devoted to television’s version of the serial narrative.”


• “Telenovelas and Soaps in Latin America”: A look at soap operas in Latin America, “a logical extension” of the serial narrative.


• “The Dickens Project”: An online guide to the “life, times and work” of Charles Dickens. See also Charles Dickens LitLinks Page maintained by Bedford/St. Martin’s Press.


• “Meth: A Year in Hell”: A five-part serial narrative by Janice Podsada of The Daily Herald of Everett, Wash.


• “Micro-Narratives in Blogs”: Are online diaries the latest incarnation of the serial?


• “A Stage in Their Lives”: Ken Fuson’s 1998 Best Newspaper Writing Award-winning serial narrative about a group of high school students staging “West Side Story.”


• “The Holly Wreath Man” “Ain’t Done Yet.”: Not surprisingly, most newspaper serials are non-fiction, although serial fiction has found a place. The New York Times Regional Newspapers syndicated Roy Peter Clark’s 29-part novel “Ain’t Done Yet,” while Universal Press Syndicate saw a market for the holiday-themed my wife and I wrote, featuring original illustrations by Canadian artist Jillian Gilliland.

“At the Sacramento Bee, we learned the power of good fiction when we ran serials for parents to sharse with their children,” noted my Poynter colleague Gregory Favre, the California paper’s former editor. “They were and are a major hit.”