Serial vs. Novel

Do we care?

Hey y’all, it’s KimBoo! I’m an author and a podcaster who is also a librarian, text technology historian, and former I.T. project manager. I write about a lot of interesting things, I hope you agree! Please consider supporting me (and my dog!) so I can keep throwing errata & etcetera into the Scriptorium!

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As I started writing my book Become an Unstoppable Storyteller: Using Beats to Craft Compelling Serials, I kept stumbling over the terms I was using. It ended up requiring a whole damn glossary in the book, but as people keep talking about serials here on Substack, I think it is a good time to delve into my thoughts on the topic.

While you could write a novel, publish it in chapters over a period of time and label it a "serial," I consider serials and novels as fundamentally different forms of storytelling. They share features, but are not the same. Just because many serial stories are published as novels doesn't negate their inherent differences.

I distinguish serials and novels this way:

A serial is usually over 100,000 words, is shared in parts over time, and features overlapping long-running story arcs. Most people recognize serials from TV shows (soap operas are a classic example, but most long-running shows are serials). A true serial is a generative form of storytelling, that circles back around and builds on itself over time.

A novel is usually between 50,000-200,000 words and is a self-contained story usually conforming to established novel structures.

A novel can be serialized, but that does not make it a serial. It’s important to understand that a novel's definition goes beyond its word count to include its structure (because, after all, there are many novels that are far longer than 200k). Novels are self-contained stories which reflect the constraints of the form. I often describe novels a “clamshell stories” because they fit between two covers.

A genuine serial story is not just a novel posted/published in parts, nor is it a completely unstructured chaos engine. A serial is not defined (or constrained) by technological limitations, since serials were originally oral forms of storytelling and are now usually digital ones.

Serials are designed from the start to be ongoing narratives, with continuous world-building and evolving characters. A serial is a story that is both created (past tense) and actively being created (present tense), which determines what will be created (future tense). Serials do end, of course, but along the way captivate readers with ongoing narratives that keep them engaged for extended periods.

Because of this, serials can be more expansive than novels, not just longer but incorporating side stories, back stories, deviations, and world building elements like poetry, lore, mythology, and more. World-building in serials continually expands beyond a single volume, inviting readers to explore along with characters who can develop in realistic, complex ways over time, often leading to deeper emotional investment and maintaining reader interest.

That is true even of the most tropetastic, cliched serial stories. Many people want to read the same story over and over again, but they also want those stories to be engrossing. They want new villains, new love interests, new scenery, and a serial story can offer those up while keeping the reader within the story as opposed to trying to convince them to buy another novel.

Consider The Chronicles of Narnia, a classic example of a serial in my opinion. It starts as a fun romp and evolves into a complex, history-laden narrative. The protagonists are no longer children, and Narnia is a more complex place. The stories may stick to classic novel structures (they are, technically, novellas), but taken as a whole, the overall narrative is generative, expanding beyond traditional "novel narrative form" to include backstories and what these days we call “side quests.” (I go into this in a lot more detail in my book!)

You may not care whether you are writing a novel or a serial, but it is worth your time to think about it.

One is not better than the other, but how do the different formats fit into your author ecosystem? Are you planning to publish a serial as a series of novels? Can you leverage your love of world-building to move the needle from novel to serial? What would appeal to your readers?