The Fledgling Project

In January of 2007, we began posting the serialized form of a new novel, "Fledgling"

From the original FAQ:

Why are we doing this?

First, if we are ever to write the much-requested "next book after I Dare," we'll need insight into Theo's character. The way we gain such insight is to write a novel from that character's viewpoint. Conflict of Honors began as exactly this sort of character study.

Also? Fledgling is a "side book." A "side book" is a book that is coincidental to the main action of a series, which is expected to be of little interest, except to stalwart fans -- and to the authors. To put this in perspective, both Local Custom and Scout's Progress are side books, falling outside the main thrust of the Agent of Change sequence.

Where did you get the idea to serialize?

Good question. The concept first came to our attention a couple years back when Elizabeth Moon, among other writers, proposed the Storyteller's Bowl -- a cooperative site that would allow writers to put out a virtual "storyteller's bowl" or busker's hat. The idea was that a story would be told to a certain point -- and then stop until coins were placed in the hat, encouraging the storyteller to continue with the tale.

While that project never took off, the concept continued to intrigue writers. Lawrence Watt-Evans is serializing new novels in his Ethshar series. Diane Duane is doing something similar with The Big Meow. In the meantime, Don Sakers took the idea off in another direction entirely .

A podcast discussion of the storyteller bowl concept, with Diane Duane, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, hosted by Chris Meadows is available here. Click on Episode 3.