Serialized fiction is a story that's published in parts, usually in “episodes” or chapters, which are published in papers and magazines. Instead of waiting for the next book to release, people wait for the next chapter to come out so that they can see what happened. This medium was notably popular in during the Victoria era, and featured a lot of literary authors such as Charles Dickens who published through periodicals. Dickens is often credited with making serialized fiction so popular with The Pickwick Papers in 1836. Periodicals also published several famous works, including Uncle Tom's Cabin and Pride and Prejudice.

Serial fiction sort of fizzled out over time, but in recent years, the medium seems to be slowly regaining popularity through our digital world and self-publishing. More opportunities have arrived over the last couple of years where readers can enjoy serialized fiction. One of those is Serial Box which was created with the idea that episodes of fiction will be released over several weeks in the same way that television does. The episodes even have a team of writers that work on each episode. These are also accessible through a number of devices. The idea behind creating shorter fiction is the hope that more people will get interested in reading. There are even apps where you can get episodes of fiction to read.

There are several other places where you can read and possibly contribute serial fiction, including Channillo, Amazon, and Wattpad. Each of these allow opportunities to both read and publish work.

Some tips for crafting a serialized story:

Organization is key. It's difficult to wing a series of episodes. Treat each as its own individual story. Then try outlining each chapter or episode, and it will help fit everything together to make up a larger story.

Don't hesitate to leave cliffhangers. Serials are like TV in the sense that you want cliffhangers more than you would in a novel, because this is what will catch attention and make people come back to see what happens next.

Serialized fiction is a great way to start out in writing. It allows for a chance to personally connect with readers at an early stage in a career. For sites like Wattpad, you're getting a wide range of people to read your stories who will stay with you throughout the entire project and others. Several sites also offer the opportunity to have readers comment with feedback. As an already published author, these sort of sites allow for a chance to find a different set of readers and grow your audience.

One of the perks of writing a serial is that it's a smaller chunk to do at one time. It's said that serials keep you motivated, because they're shorter goals to set so instead of aiming for a 50k + word novel, you're only shooting for about a fifth of that at a time. The length varies so the goals are flexible, and instead of breaking away at a daily goal toward a larger project, you're doing mini projects.

By publishing weekly or monthly, you get your work noticed more often. It's also advised not to write a novel and then split it into episodes, because a novel is structured to have a basic beginning, middle, and end, whereas a serial is individual parts that keep you guessing as you wait for the next.

The last key element to remember is just like with any television pilot, the first episode or chapter in a serial is important and should be set up to catch attention and bring people back. Readers won't be able to turn to the next chapter so their whole opinion will be based on the pilot. It'll need to have strong characters, plot, and a cliffhanger that will practically drag people back.