Vella and the Story Arc

I've been thinking a lot about Vella, Amazon's new episodic product. I wrote a little about it here. That post is about what Vella is, whereas this post is more about the strategy I plan to employ to write an effective series on Vella.

As a very quick reminder, Vella is for "episodic fiction." That means that each individual work will be shorter. Under 5,000 words. There is some speculation that 2,000 to 3,000 words would be ideal. Users will pay per word (in credits) for the stories that they read, and the first three installments will be completely free. After that, the user will buy an installment, and the writer will be paid a percentage of the revenue it generates.

I see a lot of writers thinking about taking an unpublished book and using it for Vella. And that is not a bad idea. Assuming the chapters are of an appropriate length, and there is enough of a hook to push the reader from chapter to chapter, that might work out really well.

There are two issues I see, and the best illustration I can use is the differences between a TV series, a TV mini-series, and a movie.

A novel is much like a movie. There might be some mini-stories, but there is a base story arc, and it is the entirety of the movie. The next thing is that a novel typically has about 75k to 100k words (there are certainly epics that are MUCH longer). Keeping in mind that the first three episodes are free... and that could be 15k words, 15-20% of the book might be free.

A mini-series is somewhat like a movie, but more like an epic novel. It would translate much better to the episodic treatment. The writers have to engage the audience to tune in tomorrow for the next installment. Usually, there is a two hour "intro" to get us hooked on the premise, and invested in the characters (like the three free chapters) and then we have a few nights over a couple of weeks where we invest 10 or 12 hours in the show... much longer than the 2 hour movie. It might be like a 300k to 500k epic. The free 15k word intro is a drop in the bucket.

Then there is the TV show. Every week. Sometimes for a season, other times for a decade.

In a TV show, though, we have several differences. We have the weekly story arc... the episode. We might also have a story that takes the season to unfold. Relationships between the characters may develop over several episodes, or even seasons.

So, we have an overall story arc... like Sam getting home in Quantum Leap. Then, within the episode we have a story arc... like what problem Sam has to solve in order to make the next leap and get closer to home. During the run of the show, there are changes in the relationship between Sam and Al, forming mini-arcs. And the next thing is that each episode teased the next one at the end. We knew where Sam leaped, and the signature line "Oh boy..." told us he had a problem to solve.

I think that the most successful stories on the platform are going to utilize a TV episode model. There will absolutely be stories that will be wildly successful that do not. But the TV episode style could develop into many hundreds of thousands of words, with a miniscule portion of them being "free". It could go on forever, assuming that the premise is strong. If needed, it could even be divided into seasons, allowing multiple types of story arcs, and making more of it free.

Compared to the 2 hours of a movie, or the 12 hours of a mini-series, the 26 hours run (or more) of a single season of a TV show is huge... and shows that go multiple seasons can produce hundreds of hours of episodes. That would translate into millions of words of the story.

The hard part is creating an idea that will support this format. Of course, the hard part of ANY writing is creating the idea that will support the project.

If you enjoyed this, feel free to check out my profile for my other stories. The ones I really like are fiction.

Lucinda's Choice is a thriller involving $20k, a notebook and a mysterious challenge.

Widow's Walk is a story of love, ghosts and nostalgia, written for a contest.

First Date, Again tells of two young lovers reunited by chance after both have lived full lives.

Escape is a series, the first three chapters of the book split apart here into 8 episodes. the remainder can be picked up for free subscribing to my blog.