Blogging a novel: Has anyone done this?

[Oddity]

Just wondering, has anyone here tried blogging a book (basically you write a chunk - most often it's done chapter by chapter - then post it on your blog)?

How'd it work out? Did it get published any other way or lead to other projects? How does one take care of revising and stuff, particularly if there turn out to be gaping plot holes?

Just wondering - I've considered trying it, but as it stands, I don't have any ideas for a novel right now. I might, however, try to incorporate the idea into NaNoWriMo (not blogging the NaNoWriMo novel, of course; I deliberately write an unspeakably horrible novel every year, but I'd maybe write about the experience).

[JustinPopovic]

Hmmm. I have not seen or heard of this but I think you are onto a great idea.

Why not just get started and see what happens. You don't have any ideas for a novel yet but perhaps you start with some short stories. Each story can be broken into 3 parts. Each part is 1 blog post (for example).

Do that for a month or 2 and I'm sure one of the ideas will catch you by surprise. Then you can transform that idea into your novel.

My $0.02

[Adrienne]

I am in the middle of doing this. I have written a couple things that are more like seriels and i am getting ready to post them on my story blog. I had the idea to do this about a year ago but just did not have the time.
Anyway about a month ago i started adding poems and some short things..
and next month i am starting to post serials.. If all goes well, i started a novel to put on there. But i have only written the first 20 pages of the novel and i wanted to have a bit more written before i started sharing it.

I have two novels written completely and have been debating weather or not to put them on the blog or not.

[CoolBee]

I have been doing it in secret using 'hidden' pages on a completely anonymous blog I run somewhere. So far I have the start and the end - its just the big bit in the middle that's missing

You may want to check out Charles Dickens - yes, the famous British author from the 19th Century - he used to write and issue his novels in weekly (or monthly) instalments (ie as he wrote them, not writing the whole thing and then printing instalments)

Charles Dickens info
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[Adrienne]

Originally Posted by CoolBee

I have been doing it in secret using 'hidden' pages on a completely anonymous blog I run somewhere. So far I have the start and the end - its just the big bit in the middle that's missing

You may want to check out Charles Dickens - yes, the famous British author from the 19th Century - he used to write and issue his novels in weekly (or monthly) instalments (ie as he wrote them, not writing the whole thing and then printing instalments)

Charles Dickens info
.
.

yeah charles dickens is an example of a serial writer. Many of the writers from that time published their work via serial long before they were turned into novels.
However, it was also viewed as one of the problems with literature of the time.. as writers got paid by the word... as anyone who has ever has to sit thru Balzac can attest too

[alexhere]

There's a good article on the subject here: How to write a blog-buster | Technology | The Guardian

And the wikipedia entry for blog fiction is informative: Blog fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Thekla]

This wonderful author has done at least one previously and is currently working on one: Stardancer News

[Gaz]

There are a whole lot of serial writers. Thomas Hardy was also one.

more recently though, I read somewhere (probably in a Seth Godin book) about a sci-fi (I think) author who would post a chapter online and then ask for donations. Once he hit some value ($100 If I remember correctly) he would post the next chapter and reset the counter.

So it's definitely possible.

[James81]

Heh, I'm gearing up to blog several of them for a challenge I'm doing on my own site:

The Million Word Challenge | A Million Shiny Leonards

[aelle]

I've seen several options of this.

A blogger I follow who's also a novelist published chapters of her book online just before it was released in print. I didn't like it, although I do like er books on paper. The format just didn't fit her writing rythm.

Another blogger I follow edited his blog into a novel. I didn't like the novel, although I loved the blog. The style worked great on screen but felt cheap on paper.

A friend of mine who's a writer puts his unpublished stuff online. I love it, but he has very limited success - there's a reason publishers reject some work.

Won't link to these examples because they're in French. Ask me if you care, though.

As Coolbee and others have pointed out, it could work if you can tweak your work into a very dynamic, feuilleton style of writing. Keep your chapters at a length one would comfortably read on screen - I feel 3000 words is a maximum, unless you can include major suspense and plot twists that keep your reader focused. You can't take your time to create atmosphere and spend much text on descriptions - on screen, they'll get skipped.

Editing your writing to fit a specific media and public can be hard, but it's a great learning tool.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Gaz

There are a whole lot of serial writers. Thomas Hardy was also one.

more recently though, I read somewhere (probably in a Seth Godin book) about a sci-fi (I think) author who would post a chapter online and then ask for donations. Once he hit some value ($100 If I remember correctly) he would post the next chapter and reset the counter.

So it's definitely possible.

If I remember correctly Stephen King tried this a several years ago and gave up when there were relatively few donations.

[bluedragon]

I think it's a great idea. Good luck with it if you decide to do it.

[HAGITLOVE]

Good idea, find something you really loved, so you can give some of your vies about the story.
Make sure you send me the link to your blog.