So, continuing with the theme of serialised novels, today I have author Krista Ball here to discuss her latest project, Collaborator. Collaborator is a serialised novel, with partial chapters posted to her blog at random; it's a great little sci fi story, and I encourage any of you who like the genre to hop over and give it a go. Krista is also the author of a whole bunch of other great books, which you can find here :)


1) Why did you decide to write Collaborator as a serial in the first place?

I'd been wanting to write that story for ages, but never felt my writing skills were at the point where I could do it justice. I'd made a few failed attempts, but I lacked both the skill and confidence to pull it off. So, it kept getting back burnered. Then, finally, I'd decided that I needed to work on something new. I'm in the midst of some major contracted projects and I needed an outlet. So, I thought the web serial would be a good way to do that.

2) How frequently did you post chapters, and why did you choose that interval?

I post whenever the hell I feel like it. My serial isn't about driving traffic to my blog. Mine is a reward to my readers, who are getting to read a future novel a year in advance as I write it. I'm really busy with writing, so this really has to remain a treat and fun. Or else, it would just become yet another thing that I'm forced/obligated/must do.

3) What was the best bit about writing as a serial?

I'm not under contract to write it! So I can write it whenever I want.

4) What was the worst?

See point #3.

5) How freaked out did you get about the inability to go back and change stuff, and how did you cope with that?

As this will eventually be bundled into an ebook and self-published, it will need to edited after the fact. So small things might change. Also, I'm going into it knowing how it will go. I have an outline for the series (this is part of a much larger series), so I'm confident that I know where I'm going.

6) How different is the final release version to the serial chapter-at-a-time version?

I think there won't be a huge difference. There'll be some clean up, better setting explanation, but overall I think this is going up fairly clean and organized.

7) And most importantly, did anyone threaten to scalp you because the chapters were 'obviously written in a rush' or any other variant thereon?

Not really, since I've tried to only put things up when I'm happy with them. Generally folks point out when I've made proofreading errors and, in science fiction, that can really mess up the meaning of stuff when doing technobabble! It is frustrating to put up a chapter, see 20 people read it within an hour of posting...and the only comment is "you have two spelling mistakes." You just want to clobber people!


Basically, this is a terrifying thing to choose to do. WAS IT WORTH IT and WHY?

Oh yeah. I'm having fun. Like I said, I have a very busy year. Lots of stress. It's really important that I *do not* make this on a schedule or anything. Else, it will make it just another commitment and I have plenty of those already.

Thanks so much for your time, Krista! And remember, everyone: you can follow the adventure right here on Krista's website :)