In many ways a serial runs counter to the best interests of the writer: quality writing from the very start, need for an extra-strong grip on the story from the beginning, more danger of losing the reader when the plot starts to flag.
In other words, serials are wicked hard.
On the other hand, learning to ride its dynamic nature, and ride it well, is a challenge that teaches you to
make everything count. And that’s everything from scenes to characters, from words to time spent in front of the keyboard. If there’s a preventative for debilitating writer’s block, it’s a serial on a schedule.
And in the end, the lessons of the serial form carry over well to books. Because it’s nice to get books a) confidently written, b) done, and c) imbued with a story that never lets readers go.
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