Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
I find the long-book (novel) serial format—where the gap between installments can be measured in years—to be much more disruptive and frustrating than a short-format serial where the gap is reduced to a months (or even weeks). But make no mistake; I dislike them both. It's just that the intensity of my dislike isn't based on the length of the installments; it's based more on the length of the gap between them. For instance; John Scalzi's Human Division serial (a couple of chapters weekly) cheeses me off much, much less than GRRM's ASoIaF serial (huge incomplete novels separated by years and years).
I'll take short but consistently frequent over long and sporadically infrequent any day. But I wouldn't cry if the one-story-published-in-multiple-installments mentality fell out of favor entirely. I just find it humorous that many attribute the former to money-grubbing, but the latter often gets a pass because it's obviously only a side effect of art and vision (certainly not marketing!).  |
and
The Human Division had the advantage of working well both as a bunch of short stories, and as a collected story arc. That is an important difference which made it bearable.
Meanwhile, I just hope GRRM dies now so someone else can take over and write faster.
Brandon Sanderson FTW.