One novel = One movie, a general rule of thumb. But times have changed. The feature film industry is on the decline and now it's all about seasons, series and Netflix. Grey's Anatomy is in its 15th season (300+ episodes), who knew? My plan is to write a story in the style of a season. Before anybody cites Harry Potter or Game of Thrones, I've no plans to write story that way. A typical episode of a US TV series runs to a little over 40 minutes. In scriptwriting one page = one minute. So the plan would be to write 13 x 10,000 word episodes over the next eight months. Mid-September Episode 1 would be released on Kindle for free. Subsequent episodes would be released every Friday at cost of 99 cents up until the Christmas finale. I've put this in plot development because it offers feedback that studios enjoy but literature doesn't. e.g. You may have to change your plans to kill Charlie at the end of the season because despite your best intentions he's the reader's favourite character. One drawback with this idea is that it would take more than one writer. If successful you'd have 13 weeks to write another 13 episode season (2 seasons per year). Full disclosure: I came up with this idea after writing a short story - the general feedback was they wanted to know more. My writing style proves suitable to this format because I left a "did she or didn't she?" ending. And I'm very gradual in characterisation. e.g. Violet is an African-American congressman's aide. One of her parents has a wikipedia entry - that's pretty much all. Another writer is not restricted in development of that character. What do you all think?
Having unconnected story arcs is probably the biggest problem with both "Stargate" and "Necronomicon". If each chapter has a proper ending to its own story, it's hard for the reader to stay motivated until the end when it's meant to be read in any order. Television shows changed their format a lot when streaming began and personally I prefer the consistent style of storytelling that was previously exclusive to soap operas that needed more drama. When watching television shows, I always wait for whole season before watching to improve immersion with the season's story arc. Otherwise, I'd forget most of the details until next week.
