By Nathan Marchand
April 25, 2014
Not Jaysnn Kyzer.
From imdb.com
In the writing world, people like it when you compare your work to something else. It helps publishers figure out how to market a book. We here at Children of the Wells would’ve driven them crazy. We honestly weren’t sure how to describe this saga, let alone compare it to anything. We were different from the start. Serialized webfiction written by multiple authors instead of by one. Stories written as complete novellas instead of one chapter at a time.
At first, the only comparison we could make was to comic books, which are serialized stories in a shared universe, but that certainly won’t apply once we implement our new publishing plan.
Then while working on a special project celebrating our first anniversary, I finally figured it out.
Children of the Wells is like the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
The MCU is a shared world—a brand, if you will—comprised of several franchises focusing on different characters. Iron Man has three movies. Thor and Captain America each have two. Films are released periodically throughout the year. All of them have individual stories happening within the universe, yet they’re also loosely interconnected. However, it’s possible to follow only one or two characters and not get lost.
This mirrors what we’ll be doing with CotW. Novellas will be published in their entirety every few months. You won’t have to wait to be spoon-fed pieces of chapters. Think of it as sitting down in a theater to watch Thor: The Dark World and then Captain America: The Winter Soldier a few months later.
But Marvel didn’t stop with the blockbusters. For several years they’ve been producing short films called “Marvel One-Shots” that are included on the DVDs/Blu-Rays. They’ve ranged from three to fifteen minutes long. They fill in a few of the nooks and crannies within the larger narrative of the MCU, often starring secondary characters or introducing new ones. Are they required viewing? For the most part, no. But they do expand the MCU, if only a little.
Soon we will be releasing our own “one-shots” for CotW to celebrate our first anniversary, an anthology entitled Destinies Entwined. It’ll include stories written by each of our staff writers plus our editing guru, Natasha. Each one will tie into one of the novellas published in the last year. It will feature both familiar and new characters. You’ll read about the soldier who took Calea’s arm; the lengths to which the Kyzer family went to have Select children; and a precognitive religious zealot intent on creating a new “kingdom of Elthor,” among other stories.
We hope to have this collection finished by the end of the month. It’ll be available as an eBook download.
Until then, catch up on any novellas you haven’t finished.
Now, if only we could have a big crossover story like The Avengers…
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