This feedback was given to me by Tammy Linde. Cheers Tammy!
I really enjoy the way that they are short, sharp and shiny with a cut off ending. It makes me want to click into the next episode to continue reading.
Excellent. This was exactly what I wanted for the series overall, always leave them wanting more. As a kid, my Dad gave me this collection of school magazines, which contained poems, articles, short plays and (most importantly) serialized stories. Sometimes there would just be a done-in-one, but the ones that really kept me invested were the serials. After I'd read part of a story, I could barely wait to dig through the rest of the mags to find the next part.
I usually keep each instalment of Drake Mandible to about 200-500 words in length: short and manageable, helpful for people who don't have a lot of time to sit down and read a whole novel.(or anyone with a short attention span like me) Yes, each segment connects, chapters in an overall story, but by keeping the instalments short and sharp, I hope to invest readers in the long term series, make them keep coming back for more. The "cut-off endings" were also intentional. The best way to get a reader to come back is with a cliffhanger, because if you do it right, they'll want to know what happens next, how the protagonist gets out of the situation you've put them in. To keep things interesting, I vary the danger level at the end of each instalment. For example, Episode 3 ends with Drake humiliating himself in front of this mysterious stranger, but in Episode 4, the stranger threatens Drake with a revolver. Now arguably each climactic point should have equally high stakes, but I prefer to keep the reader guessing.
One of the ideas behind the character of Drake, is that he is so dynamic, that even the most mundane of his activities are interesting: He doesn't just take out his retainer in the mornings, he bounces it off the wall into the glass of water without even using his hands! His breakfast is served every morning by his English Butler, who also appears to be a world class chef and lives in a mansion with it's own subterranean laboratory and armoury! I wanted to derive humour from the fact that his life is so ludicrous but he takes everything in his stride, even embracing the insanity as though everyone else on earth does the exact same thing.
I find the gun thing a little odd, but in a positive quirky way - every comic needs to have its special quirk, yours is the gun specs.
Yeah. I think I mentioned earlier that this was something I borrowed (stole?) from Matthew Reilly, who is not only one of my favourite authors, but also researches the HECK out EVERYTHING that goes into his story. Now admittedly, I don't do nearly as much research, but I DO like to find out about guns. I don't know why the difference between a UMP Submachine Gun and an MP9 machine pistol is so fascinating to me, but whatever the reason, I have Mr. Reilly to thank.
Glad you like the gun-specs Tammy, because they are here to stay : D
I think one way of increasing your readership would be to release the instalments via a blog site, rather than Facebook. Only because I would be a more consistent follower of your blog posts as I have an RSS feed. Unfortunately I can't put a facebook page into my subscription list. You could still have the FB page for promotional things and asking questions as you have been. And you can update the facebook status with a link to the blog post for that week's episode.
Maddie Barlow also suggested this. Admittedly, posting to Facebook gives me a pretty limited audience, but then again, when I started off, I was only writing for myself and my friends. However, sharing my work with a wider audience is kind of an exciting notion! I do actually have another blog, that just has each instalment as a different post, but I don't really know how best to promote it. At least on Facebook, I am guaranteed views, whereas i have very little idea if anyone reads the blog version at all.
Something for me to think about.
Stay tuned, Ladies and Gents ;)
Nate.
