Need opinions: how to organize an anthology · 11:07pm Nov 21st, 2022
Ok, let's get some reader input on this one.
So far, the stories in the Anecdotes of Heart anthology I've been writing has been in chronological order in-universe, (not very hard since there's only been two), but since I'm using it as a space to dump any and all remaining ideas about my characters, inevitably there's going to be some written out of a chronological order eventually. When that happens, there's two options. Which of these do you guys think is a better organizational choice?
Option 1: Just post each new short story normally. The text I've been putting at the top of each chapter (denoting the amount of time that has passed since chapter 20 of Magic of the Heart) will be the reader's guide to where it fits.
Option 2: Fimfiction lets you drag entire chapters into different positions. I could potentially put a new chapter where it goes in the timeline on release. Followers should still be able to see which one is new because fimfic hides and/or checks off chapters that have already been read, and new readers can just read the stories in a chronological order instead of the order they were written.
People who read a lot on this site, which of these makes more sense. I do a lot of writing but not much reading here, so I'm not sure.
~PRB
I'd go with option one, I've never seen anybody use the second.
I've seen both used and while I prefer the organization of the later it's annoying when you're seeing unreads in the middle... but for first time readers it's much appreciated.
So in my opinion it depends on personal opinion.
I think option one is a good way to approach posting chapters. As you said, the text at the top of each chapter lets the reader know the timeline. And I think it’s interesting to perhaps see stories that might be farther in the future.
I would say option one.
I think I like the idea of putting them in chronological order. Sure, it can be annoying when it updates in the middle, but at the same time, it would feel more like a journal, even though you'd never have the time to chronicle the entire life of a thousands-year-old being and her friends, I think keeping them in chronological order would add to the feeling of thumbing through a journal.
Since you are writing and putting these up as you create them I would recommend Option 1. The reason for this is the same as a larger body of an author's works. Often, despite it being out of chronological order, stories will build on each other in the written order.
I think for ease of readability for us it would be best to go for option 1
Maybe when the entire series is over you could go back and flip everything in order if you wanted?
Though I wouldn't mind if you were to put it in order, like you said, the website will let us know which chapter is unread. Perhaps Phonton, the one who is supposed to be reading this book, is flipping to random chapters and that's why it's "out of order" for us?
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I don't plan to ever formally conclude Anecdotes of Heart. It'll always be left open, and I'll add new ideas to it if I have them. If I ever run out, I'll just stop adding to it until more ideas appear, if they ever do.
And yeah, that's what I was thinking. The Anecdotes book, in-universe, is established to be tens-of-thousands of pages long, so Photon is definitely just selecting stories to read from a text he can't possibly read all of.
I've experienced option two multiple times and can say it depends on the material. For Anecdotes, it should work nicely. If you need to do it, it's fine with me.