Supposedly the chapters of Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad (a book I like a lot), were originally published on their own as stand-alone short stories.
I think the book really hangs together as something much greater than the ol' sum of its parts, and I'm sure the stories went through a process of some kind before they became the chapters of a book, beyond just packaging them together.
But it seems like a win/win for Egan, as she got "two lives" out of the material. It seems like a rewarding way to work, as you get a lot of feedback along the way, and the material gets very heartily "road-tested."
It also seems like, to work like this, one would have to navigate some fairly subtle legal arrangements.
Has anyone here worked that way before? Anything we should know about trying to work that way? I'm asking because I published a small excerpt from a WIP, and I'd like to do more of that, but I also wonder if that wouldn't be a good idea for some reason.
I think the book really hangs together as something much greater than the ol' sum of its parts, and I'm sure the stories went through a process of some kind before they became the chapters of a book, beyond just packaging them together.
But it seems like a win/win for Egan, as she got "two lives" out of the material. It seems like a rewarding way to work, as you get a lot of feedback along the way, and the material gets very heartily "road-tested."
It also seems like, to work like this, one would have to navigate some fairly subtle legal arrangements.
Has anyone here worked that way before? Anything we should know about trying to work that way? I'm asking because I published a small excerpt from a WIP, and I'd like to do more of that, but I also wonder if that wouldn't be a good idea for some reason.