text: #Hello r/Shortstories! For the last four months, we’ve been running a here on the sub. I’ve had the pleasure of watching numerous writers build an entire world from scratch, and I’ve watched their characters grow and develop as they’ve faced different challenges. I’ve seen each and every SerSun participant improve week to week and it’s been a delightful experience. I’m back again to celebrate another writer completing their serial! Let’s take a moment to say to u/mattswritingaccount! He’s been a part of the WP family for quite a long while now and an active participant in our discord. I’ve enjoyed getting to him and he’s a delight to have in the community. &nbsp; *** &nbsp; #Have Skeleton, Will Travel - Written by u/mattswritingaccount If you haven’t yet read the latest installments of his serial, I encourage you to check it out. Take an afternoon, kick your feet up, and dive in. **A brief synopsis from Matt:** Short version? *Have Skeleton, Will Travel* is about the life and times of a wandering skeleton that is new to this whole "undead sentience" thing. Basically, poor Larry was murdered and brought back to life to serve (albeit for a very short amount of time) as one of the mindless servants to a necromancer. When the necro died, Larry for whatever reason didn't dis-animate. And that's where we start things off. It's mainly a fun little look at turning a fantasy world on its head. - - - - - - - - - - - - &nbsp; *** &nbsp; #A Chat with u/mattswritingaccount about Serial Writing So let’s take a few minutes to chat with Matt about his experiences writing a serial. ##**What have you learned throughout the serial writing process?** Well, I did this serial specifically to get some practice with writing humor. It's not a main focus in my personal writing most of the time, so I wanted an outlet to specifically focus on it. I wasn't sure if I could translate some of my oftentimes-dry attempts at humor to the written word. So it definitely was fantastic practice for that. ##**What did you enjoy most about writing this?** There were two things I enjoyed about writing Have Skeleton, Will Travel. For one, I loved seeing everyone's reactions to some of the various scenes within the story. I enjoyed seeing something that I thought would be amusing hit right, and when it hit wrong - it leads me to my second thing. The feedback I got from the other writers, between comments on the threads or via SerSunday Campfire, were ABSOLUTELY invaluable. And that applies to both this writing as well as my other works. One other aspect I enjoyed about the story came from the Campfire presentations. Initially, the first few chapters were read outloud by other readers and it was fun to see how far into the story they got before having to suppress a chuckle. ##**What was the biggest challenge you faced and how did you overcome it?** The biggest challenge, for me, was getting in a humor mindset in the first place. I have a very dry humor honed through way too much exposure to things like Monty Python and the Princess Bride. I wasn't sure if I could DO a humorous piece at all. As to how I overcame it, well... I'm also really stubborn. So I figured darn the torpedoes and just dived in with both feet. ##**What advice would you give to writers who are thinking about writing a serial for the first time?** For one, you definitely want to at least try it. Just like trying a new vegetable when you were a kid, you never know what's going to hit without trying it. If all else fails, you can always just shrug and say, welp, I tried - instead of just wondering "what if" forever. If you're having issues figuring out how to do a serial, you could approach it this way. If you've been on WritingPrompts for a while, you've likely written a short story or three for various prompts. Well, a serial then is nothing more than a 500-850 short story, weekly, with the same characters. As long as there is SOME tieback to the previous versions, you're already set. I HIGHLY encourage people to give it a try. It was a lot of fun that I will definitely be doing again - about the time Larry's ready for round two. &nbsp; *** &nbsp; Thank you so much, Matt, for giving us a peek behind the curtain, as they say. It has been such a joy to watch your story evolve over the past few months. Larry is a character that will stay with a lot of us for a long time. I wish you the best of luck on your future projects. And maybe we’ll see you around Serial Sunday again. &nbsp; *** &nbsp; ###Subreddit News - We’ve recently updated our subreddit rules. Please take a moment to or take a look at our sidebar. - 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.