I’ve been thinking a lot about the blog as a medium for writing. I know that I don’t post here often and this mainly because I am still trying to find this blog’s niche. The original plan was to be about my journey from writing my novels to their (hopefully) eventual publication. This quickly fell by the wayside. The world has so many writer’s blogs, do we really need another blog chronicling the publishing process? I’m sure you’ve read enough about query letters to last everyone a lifetime at this point.
I have a couple ideas for continuation. One is based around the whole “Daughter of Rock in the City of Soul” concept a little more closely as a place to do Detroit and Cleveland history posts. Another is a forum for posting of my poetry.
And then…there’s a third…and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it: A novel in blog form.
Now, wait, don’t run away, hear me out.
Webcomics made me think of it. Unlike many gag-a-day comics that I read in print, a lot of webcomic artists that I know actually have plots and story arcs that they intend to follow. In many ways, they seem to be graphic novels on the web. The wheels then began turning…how could I translate a novel to the internet? Maybe a blog, a blog with a chapter released weekly or monthly, like the Victorian authors once did with their serials in magazines?
I’m sure this has been done before. I’m just not sure how I feel about this as of yet. I am very much a devotee of the traditional publishing format (be that paper or ebook), but perhaps for some of my writing, this might be an interesting experiment, especially something less publishable. Not “lower quality” but more niche. I mean, I am rather comfortable with putting poetry into the blog, due to the unfortunate lack of poetry publication available in other formats and as the ebook slowly takes over, I often worry about niche publications’ ability to compete with “blockbuster” authors.
So…leave me your thoughts, and stay tuned.
Amy Stilgenbauer - Writer 