Nathan Marchand
By Nathan Marchand
April 12, 2013
“Novel Concept” was a name Nick—the author of our current Children of the Wells novella, The Select’s Bodyguard—had used for the “publisher” of his self-published books. Then I snagged it for mine. I told him we should make something of this name, though not so much a publishing house as a network for writers to help promote each other and their works.
So, Nick called a meeting in January of 2012, but it wasn’t quite what I expected. He wanted to make Novel Concept into a web serial. We could promote each other while working together to produce new material. Then Nick shared an idea for a fantasy-based serial. I would tell you about it, but as River Song is fond of saying in Doctor Who, “Spoilers!” Regardless, we latched onto his idea and went crazy.
And quickly relearned about the perils of group projects.
We had worked on serials before, but they were read only by us and our immediate friends. The lack of strict guidelines left room for retcons and rabbit trails. A few writers even tried to hijack the story. We wanted to avoid all that. But when you give a room full of creative people a great idea that offers many, many possibilities and needs definitive rules pinned down so it’ll work, everybody has a different vision. Ideas were pitched: some good, some not-so-good. We never had any heated discussions, but we did have to compromise and let some ideas die. Though it never got to the point of hurting feelings, we disagreed on many things.
It got crazier when Nick and I started writing our stories. Continuity can be a cruel mistress. I’m sure I doubled Nick’s phone bills during the months while I was writing The Fall of the House of Kyzer (which will start serialization in July, by the way). If I wasn’t double-checking details, I was bouncing ideas off him. It didn’t help that Nick’s writing style is vague with details and mine is…not. We hashed through issues of technology, mass production, and magic limitations, to name a few.
Some ideas, however, took longer to pin down, for whatever reason. Like the title of the series. I think we spent more time on that than almost anything else. We sat around with our laptops and smartphones, researching the titles of other fantasy book series to find inspiration. We wanted a thematic title, something that succinctly said what our grandiose saga was about. I’m proud to say that the title Children of the Wells was my idea.
But despite all our brain-wracking discussions and disagreements (or rather, because of them), each meeting was concluded with a viewing of Rifftrax. What’s that, you ask? It’s humorous commentaries for movies, recorded by the guys who used to be on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Tim brought a DVD of their shorts one week to share with everyone, and it became the routine conclusion of all our monthly meetings. Even Natasha warmed up to it after a while, though at first she would just stare at us boys in bewilderment when we watched it. Any tension that may have developed during the meeting was quickly dispelled watching Rifftrax. Laughter is good medicine.
Once you finish reading the serial’s latest chapter, go check out the Rifftrax website (especially since Nick, Tim, and I have this crazy idea of someday recording our own riff track and posting it there).
Yes, we’re a bit crazy. And nerdy. And eccentric. But those sorts of people produce the best stories.
Don't miss a single word of stories as they are published! You'll also receive first notice of special sales and behind-the-scenes information.
