Page Added — Serialized Fiction

While I know most readers view this site through the lens of WordPress/Jetpack Reader, I like to tweak with the site as I go along to make it more user-friendly for those who swing by to see things up front, close and personal.

In preparation for having an anticipated longer-running bit of serialized fiction, I have created a landing page for those folks who don’t want to scroll though my posts to find individual episodes for a given series.

Swing by and let me know what you think, if you are so inclined. It just so happens that I also added a navigation element linking to this page as well, in case, you know, you want to catch up with one of these stories.

This is a larger effort of mine to try and tweak WordPress to made things more reader-friendly without overhauling the site (and breaking functionality) like using a theme like Fictioneer would do. Don’t get me wrong, I wish I had the ability to have some of those features, but then I would have to give up WordPress.com community integration to do so (among other things).

Also, you will notice that I took the series name, Sunny Day Parasol Co. off of the titles of the episodic novella I’ve been publishing (and I am just winding up). It is, unfortunately, necessary in the interest of listing an uncluttered episode list on the new page. The series title did not add much value, and looked ugly for archival purposes. You’ll see what I mean if you visit the new page, the episode links look much cleaner for the removal and is a lesson for me (already on my mind, actually) for how to handle Vengeance, My Heart.

Any constructive feedback about these elements is welcome and helpful. Comment below or on the new page if you have something that bothers you (like the missing comment box, now fixed) or catches your eye.

michael raven

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16 responses to “Page Added — Serialized Fiction”

  1. Chico’s Mom Avatar
    Chico’s Mom

    The links worked great. Looks great. The only issue I had (and I think this is a me issue) I wasn’t able to like anything. But that’s always the case when I’m directed to go outside a standard page. Someone suggested logging in. The app rarely gives me the option to log in.

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      Yeah, that’s a problem with Jetpack overlaying their own rules on the browser (I assume you navigated from there). You actually have to Share it with you preferred browser and then things behave more or less as intended. I’m not sure why apps insist on having their own gimped version of the system browser in-app. It tends to break things (quite a few apps do this, and only a handful let you choose what to do when you follow links from within the app, so it is par for the course).

      Reply
      1. Chico’s Mom Avatar
        Chico’s Mom

        Per your chat yesterday, at first, I liked the writing prompts. But after time, I’ve noticed they are recycled. There is rarely anything new.

        Reply
        1. michael raven Avatar
          michael raven

          I follow someone (not currently active) would point out just when a prompt or variation was last used and use it as an excuse to rail against the lack of imagination by either the team or the AI, and then she’d try to subvert the prompt — sometimes successfully, others not as much.

          I tried to have fun with it for a very short spell, but that got tedious really quickly.

          I’m not sure why it is given such a high priority other than there are obviously folks who don’t agree with my/our assessment. It’s more popular than I would have expected.

          Reply
          1. Chico’s Mom Avatar
            Chico’s Mom

            It is super popular.

          2. michael raven Avatar
            michael raven

            I’m actually confused as to the “why” they are so popular. They’re not very interesting questions.

          3. Chico’s Mom Avatar
            Chico’s Mom

            When you figure that one out, please post your knowledge. 🤔

          4. michael raven Avatar
            michael raven

            I will, certainly.

  2. shredbobted Avatar
    shredbobted

    I think putting work into organizing posts for the reader is rewarding, although I’m still trying to figure it out. The idea of a Table of Contents, lots of links, the last one leading back to the first so that you create a circular orbit for each collection . . . it’s sort of fun. I think there probably are themes that work better for that. I’ll go check yours out!

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      I’ve found the bog-standard Twenty Twenty-Five theme does it just fine. It’s mostly the logic you need to set up to make it work (and a little knowhow in the WordPress coding options). None of that functionality is plugins, just knowing the tools I have at my disposal. Post-to-post is largely copy-paste-modify. The next serial will be more complicated (multiple posts per “episode”), but still will follow the same kind of internal logic.

      There are no functional plugins for novel structure other than allowing you to present the chapter as a PDF, but then Reader users won’t see that (as I was kindly reminded this morning). The only prepared solution I found was the Fictioneer theme, which so dramatically modifies the WordPress structure that it probably will only be directly downloadable. But it works, slick as shit (once you understand the logic and syntax).

      But, I can walk your through sometime if you’re interested in restructuring your next tale to work within the boundaries presented by standard WP installs. Lemme know.

      Still learning though!

      Reply
  3. shredbobted Avatar
    shredbobted

    Yep, that looks great. And it’s much appreciated. I think as we go on working on web serial-styled fiction this sort of groundwork will be rewarding for both us and our readers. Hopefully with a growing readership for all. I can dream, right?

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      Readership would be swell. Not sure if it is in the cards for me…

      Reply
      1. shredbobted Avatar
        shredbobted

        It’s already happening, ha ha so there! You can’t stop us now.

        Reply
        1. michael raven Avatar
          michael raven

          Good! Keep it up.

          Reply
  4. Jennifer Patino Avatar
    Jennifer Patino

    It looks good. Helps to have it all in one place like that.

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      Thank you, I’m still trying to figure out how best to handle these kinds of things (I have been for 20 years, LOL). But I’m getting closer (I think).

      Reply

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