text: #Hello r/Shortstories! I’m here to talk about yet *another* author! Let’s give a big congratulations to... ... u/Xacktar! His serial, Captain’s Orders, came to an end just a few weeks ago, with 19 chapters. That’s quite a feat. I’m so happy to have gotten to know Xack over the last couple years. He’s been an active member of the rWP and rSS community for a long time, way before me. You can often find him on the Theme Thursday threads, making everyone laugh, as well as on our discord, where he’s encouraging writers and chatting about random things (. ) Again, congrats Xack! I hope you’ve taken some time to treat yourself to something nice. &nbsp; *** &nbsp; #Captain’s Orders - Written by u/Xacktar **A brief synopsis from Xack:** A socially-inept police cadet gets assigned to the enigmatic, and poorly named, '22th' Precinct. Assisted by a former classmate and an eccentric coroner's assistant, Joe attempts to solve a murder, uncover the truth of the 22th, and keep the public safe from the force of nature that is Captain Boss. *If you haven’t had the chance to read this yet, get ready for some belly laughs! I highly recommend kicking your feet up and making an afternoon of it.* | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | &nbsp; *** &nbsp; #A Chat with u/Xacktar about Serial Writing Let’s take a few minutes to see what Xacktar has to say about writing a serial! ##**What have you learned throughout the serial writing process?** Cutting a story apart into sections made me throw out a lot of my usual habits and forced me to really get into the small bits of sentences and dialogue to keep the tone throughout the piece. Comedy alone is difficult, comedy in a serial was so much so. I'm not sure I succeeded in keeping the levity alive throughout the whole piece, but attempting to do so really pushed me to use new skills and techniques. A fellow redditor /r/Ryter had some great advice about slowly making things 1% more funny and I had to put that in practice a lot over the last few weeks. ##**What did you enjoy most about writing this?** Hearing everyone in Campfire lose their composure after the readings was definitely a highlight. Captain Boss is so much fun to write and twice as fun to read. I love, love, love making him abuse the English language. There is this fine line I have to keep between making his tirades completely off-base while also keeping them understood by the audience. Running in-between that line is always immensely fun, and incredibly satisfying when it plays perfectly to the audience. ##**What was the biggest challenge you faced and how did you overcome it?** Keeping the tone consistent and giving all the characters a moment to shine were my two biggest issues. I attempted to solve the tone issues with the advice from Ryter, which helped but not to the level I had hoped. The character issue was a bit trickier as I'd added a lot of 'third wheels' to a story that, at its core, is all about Joe and Captain Boss. I tried to fix it by spreading out the ending and tying up some of the loose ends with each character, but I think I failed a bit as it left Captain Boss out of the finale. It's something I need to go back and examine at some point in the future so that I can learn from it. ##**What advice would you give to writers who are thinking about writing a serial for the first time?** Having a strong, well-developed character idea helps a bunch with a serial. If you have a character who can cause a lot of change or emotion, it makes it easier to roll with the ever-changing themes and limitations of Serial Sunday. It's a great place to put those characters you never had a story for, you throw them out there into the Serial and the setting and plot and everything else just grows around them. Also, don't be afraid to fail. Things like this are perfect for trying new things and seeing how they fly. The weekly feedback gives you a good idea if your experiments fly or fall so go ahead and push yourself! This is a great place to jump out of your comfort zone and tackle something new! &nbsp; *** &nbsp; Xack, thank you so much for taking the time to talk and share with us. No two writers’ experience or advice is the same, and it’s why I love taking the time to do these. I very much enjoyed watching your writing and characters grow over the last several months, and all the laughs you gave me along the way. Fellow writers and readers, please take a moment to leave u/Xacktar some love in the comments below! You can even ask him questions! Even completely random and silly ones... &nbsp; *** &nbsp; ###Subreddit News - Try your hand at serial writing with - Sharpen your micro-fic skills by participating in our brand new feature, - Have you ever wanted to write a story with another writer? Check out our brand new weekly feature on r/WritingPrompts - You can now post serials to r/Shortstories, outside of Serial Sunday.