In spite of the title, Story to Nowhere has arrived at a place where I feel it’s best to stop. For those of you who have been following the story you may well appreciate why.
For those who haven’t been reading Story to Nowhere, you can always go to the first episode and read it through. The last episode will make little sense without the context of what has gone before, so I hope you will be able to take the time to to read through the whole thing.
I know that there are plenty of people who enjoy reading these episodes as they appear and it may seem odd that I’m choosing to end something that looked like an ongoing tale. Some of my reasons actually tie in to why I created it in the first place and what I’ve been thinking for the future.
I started Story to Nowhere as an experiment. I wanted to do a kind of comic strip (or illustrated story if you prefer)where it wasn’t planned in advance and grew organically week by week. When I set out I didn’t really know the character very well or his situation. For quite a time I didn’t even know his name and went for quite a time thinking that I didn’t need to name him at all.
The relationships with the other characters surprised me a couple of times (because of the unplanned nature) and the unfortunate accident suffered by Caroline wasn’t planned at all and transformed it into a vehicle for me to explore some personal issues, which proved to be very cathartic in many ways.
Yes, I could continue with the story in its present form, but it would be so much better to move on. However, that doesn’t mean I’m abandoning Mike and his world. What I aim to do next is to develop something a little more substantial. Because those plans are still at the very early stages, I don’t want to say too much about them, but I will talk about it more when the time is right.
I hope you have enjoyed reading Story to Nowhere and will enjoy whatever comes next.
Thanks.
There is a great deal of pleasure in writing (and drawing, I suppose though I can’t draw stick figures that are convincing) a serial work without any plan behind it. I’m off on my second one; the previous one wrapped up after a few years and somehow came together as a novel. Anything can happen — but the simple joy of making it up as you go along is great fun.
Now I think about it, there was two years of my time invested in this project, but it doesn’t feel that long.
I think it’s great you were able to take this approach with a novel. I’m trying to write a novel at the moment and felt the need to plot everything out in great detail first. However, it’s a very different style to the STN story.
Did you revise your novel much after you’d written it?
Aw, darn. I was expecting/hoping for so much more.
Really got used to slowly discovering more of Mike’s life, it really seems so premature. But I supposed if that’s what You wanted, it is a fitting moment. Hopefully the next incarnation will come sooner that later.
I’ll miss this “sobering piece” in Your regular repertoire of cats & beans 😉
Sorry to disappoint you. But I’m also pleased that you like it so much that you’re disappointed by it coming to an end.
What I hope to do next will be much richer, but I’m still working out if I can do the idea justice.