Charles Dickens wrote many of his novels in serial form and Arthur Connon Doyle did the same with the Sherlock Holmes stories. They weren’t the only ones. Serialised fiction was big when books were expensive, so the stories were published in a more affordable magazine format in easily digestible chunks that suited the newly literate working class with little time for such indulgences. It was much easier for an author to have his or her work published this way than in a full book form. Although this form of fiction grew out of the economic constraints of the publishing industry at the time, rather than for any literary or artistic reason, it created fiction that didn’t take the readers commitment to the story for granted, hence there was plenty of dramatic tension to keep you reading. One segment always ended with a hook to lead you into the next one, something to keep you wondering. The tradition faded when books became more affordable, but it re-emerged first in radio and then in … [Read more...]