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| Scheherazade: 19th century painting by Sophie Anderson |
Let me introduce you to Scheherazade, the Persian princess
who bought us the 1001 enchanting tales more popularly known as the Arabian Nights.
Some of you will have met her before. She was quite famous
in her day, and many of her stories such as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Sinbad the Sailor and Aladdin and the Magic Lamp have become classics.
Her own story is no lesser tale. Legend tells us that when
Prince Shahryar was jilted by his first wife, he declared that no other woman
would ever treat him that way again. To make sure of this, he bedded virgins and then ordered their execution the very next morning. Once word got around, most girls were understandably terrified of being summoned to the prince’s bedchamber. Scheherazade, however,
saw this as a golden opportunity.
Knowing the prince’s love of fairytales, each night Scheherazade told him a captivating story created from her extensive knowledge of legend and myths, always stopping
just short of the ending. If the prince wanted to hear the end of the story, he had no choice but to spare her life so that she could continue the tale the next night. This went on for 1001 nights,
during which time the prince fell in love with Scheherazade and made her his
queen.
It’s clear Scheherazade had invented the ultimate serial, which is still a popular form for children’s fiction today. But serials are also popular among adults. In the Victorian era, novels were tested on the public in serial
form first, with episodes appearing in the newspapers and periodicals of the day.
For example, Charles Dickens shot to fame after publishing serial episodes of the Pickwick Papers in 1836. Alexandre Dumas originally wrote The Three Musketeers as a serial, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes for serialization in the Strand magazine.
These days, you’re more likely to find serials on TV in the form of soaps. However, the ebook format seems to be encouraging
a revival of the serial in literature, with successful authors captivating their readers by publishing novella-length episodes of around 20,000 words at regular
intervals. Later, these short books can then be bundled into a boxed set for the full-length novel experience. Freed from the constraints of
publishing a paper edition for trade distribution, such ebook serials can appear over a course of months, or even weekly or daily, mimicking the nightly tales of
Scheherazade.
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| Ali Baba plots his next move in the thieves' den. |
Scheherazade was the ultimate debut novelist of her time - virgin, highly motivated, intelligent, educated, and beautiful with it (just look at that portrait!). She literally put her life on the line every time she opened her mouth to begin a new story. Many newer novelists publishing today will no doubt identify with her. But, having lost my publishing virginity, survived my 1001 nights as an author and divorced the prince, is it possible to create a serial the other way around?
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| FREE DOWNLOAD TODAY! |
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| ONLY 99c / 77p |
These
days, if our stories fail to arrive in the marketplace regularly, captivate our
readers, and leave them eager and waiting to buy the next one, their authors are seldom put to physical death. But our books might well get the executioner's chop for one reason or another, which can have exactly the
same effect on an author’s career. I've heard that a gap of 12 months in New York publishing is enough to kill a career these days. So if this is your first night with the
prince, and you’d like to enjoy 1000 more of them while he falls head over heels in love with you, then why not make Scheherazade your role model, too?
Note: 1001 nights = 2 years 9 months, possibly the average length of a debut author's career today? Discuss below!
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Katherine Roberts won the Branford Boase Award in 2000 for her debut novel Song Quest. She writes history, myth, legend and fantasy for middle grade/teen readers. Find out more at www.katherineroberts.co.uk
The first two titles of the I am the Great Horse Serial are now available for Kindle (other ebook channels coming soon):
6 comments:
Sounds good, Katerine! And you're not wrong about the necessity for being there in the public eye all the time. I know a writer who got a five book contract and the publishers actually kept their commitment, even though the books weren't selling well, but that was a long time ago. Another friend of mine wrote a novel and was commissioned to do a sequel, but the publisher then told him the first one wasn't selling well enough, so they didn't want the sequel. So he has a whole book he can 't do much with.
Your free download doesn't seem to be happening, BTW; the Amazon website says it isn't available yet.
Creative thinking, Katherine - here's to even more happy readers coming your way!
What a good idea! Have downloaded the first one now.
Nope. Still can't download. Maybe it's not available outside the UK?
I may just wait for it to come to iBooks and buy it.
Sue, it should be free everywhere by now! Amazon work on Pacific Time, so in the uk that means "Prince of Macedonia" should be free until about 7am tomorrow morning... which site are you using?
Nice article, Katherine. Since this is History Girls,
let me add that the first English version of the 1001 Nights
came out as a serial in London newspapers.
I love the idea of serializing novels.
I've considered serializing my novel,
1001: The Qaraq, since like the Nights,
it contains a new (past life) tale every chapter.
I've thought of doing it on my site qaraqbooks.com,
but there's also Kindle Serials,
if you're considering it as an ebook series.
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