The Netflix Effect

“Great Expectations” was serialized in the the periodical “All the Year Round” from December 1860 to August 1861. As far as we know, Charles Dickens wasn't harassed by fans for not giving up the whole thing at once. Not that he could have, he wrote it as he went along, only being ahead on the weekly installations by about a month.

A fashionable Charles Dickens

George R.R. Martin has been working on the sprawling “A Song of Fire and Ice” saga since 1996. “A Feast for Crows,” the fourth book in the series, was published in 2005. The next installment, “A Dance With Dragons,” was published six years later in 2011 and Martin has given no indication when the final two books in the series will be done.

Fans are upset with him. They want the whole epic story, and they want it now. Martin, for his part, has responded by not producing any new novels in the series and stating that they be out when he's good and ready.

Writers must have beards.

Dickens was fortunate – he didn't have the Netflix effect to deal with.

Netflix streams programing to our computers or television sets. Much of the programming available on Netflix are complete episodes of old television programs, and even original programs. So, if you want to watch all episodes of “Breaking Bad” in one sitting, you can. Netflix upped the ante with new episodes of “Arrested Development” and original series like “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black.”

So not only are we in a new era of epic storytelling with the creation of hundreds of hours of television, but it is all delivered to us instantly. That gives the illusion that the creative process is almost as instantaneous. Nothing about creating a work is instant, but the public wants its appetite fed.

It's convenient to blame Netflix for this, but the process started years ago with the release on DVD of seasons of televisions series. Except if you bought the set, you were probably a fan to begin with and probably already watched the show. With Netflix, you can sample something, then watch the whole thing from beginning to end. My wife does this, I don't have the patience. I generally like my television episodes to be self-contained stories. Large story arcs force me to become vested in characters I may or may not want to dedicate time to. I'm not against the idea, though, mostly when it comes to what I read. I must admit to having enjoyed the Matt Helm series by DonaldHamilton. (And the fact that the last one was written 30 years ago, so I don't have to wait for the next one to come out.) I was the kind of kid who would go to the public library to check out the book the teacher was reading in class. I hated to wait. I read all the Encyclopedia Brown series at once, and read the first three “Dune” books one after the other.

As I was writing my first book, “Blind Man's Bluff,” all I could wonder is why anyone would want to write a series featuring the same characters. I was so sick of my creation by the time I finished that I didn't want to speak to them anymore.

But then I started my second novel, “Time in the World.” The intention was to write just one and be done. A funny thing happened, though. It turned out there was more to the story than I had thought. I found that I liked the characters and the “world” I had created. As soon as I finished, I wrote out a detailed outline for two more books and made a couple of changes to foreshadow what I had planned.

With this book, I didn't give much thought to trying to sell it to a publisher – I didn't think any would take a chance on a time travel series from a new writer. So I published it by myself without high expectations. I thought it was pretty decent for what it was. But then I became pleasantly surprised that people have liked it. So much that I've been confronted by the Netflix effect.

“Loved the book,” was the essence of numerous comments. “Is the next one done yet?”

The answer, of course, is no. It's not done. I haven't even really started it and as a new fiction writer, I kind of feel like I'm letting momentum slip away. It'll be at least a year – and that's being optimistic – before I can have “Time Stand Still” done and out. The reason is because I'm working on a different project; one that's been on my radar for two years and one that I'll be shopping around for a publisher and agent and all that jazz. (It's that good.)

The trouble is that it's been slow going on getting it done. Lots of different responsibilities have been pulling at me and I've missed a couple of my self-imposed deadlines. Meanwhile, I get phone calls imploring me to finish my sequel.

“I've got to know what happens before I die,” one woman told me.

I'm flattered, and humbled. There's a part of me saying I should accommodate the few fans I've been able to acquire and put my current project on hold. The obstinate part of me, though, wants to complete what I've started before moving on to the next thing.

What would you do?