FAQ | In Search of Asylum

When is Asylum coming back?

Truthfully, I don’t know. Asylum is undergoing some pretty big changes, changes I didn’t think it had in it. I’ve always wanted to write books, and with the rise of self-pub, there are so many avenues out there, it’s hard to know which one is right for any given work.

The draft of Asylum available on this site was written with web serial pacing in mind. It’s long and rambly, and is intended to be, as a hyper-focused look in daily life at Asylum. It was extremely useful as a draft, but I’ve discovered along the way that there’s a tighter, tidier story to be mined out of this work.

So that’s what I’m working on right now. You’ll see teasers of the WIP, calls for beta reading, and updates on what the plan is, once I figure that out. Right now, I’m seriously considering querying once the streamlined draft of Asylum is complete. We might go the self-published e-book route. I just don’t know yet. But once we figure it out, this will be the place to go for updates.

Thank you so much for going on this journey with us. I can’t wait to announce the next step!

About the Authors

Asylum is written in a partnered style, with some POVs done by R. Wright and others by C. Wright, and lots of drafting chatter and smoothing in between. We have been writing together for about 15 years, with work on Asylum beginning in October of 2013. We both have mundane jobs to keep the lights on, but in a perfect world, we’d be free to sit around and write together all day, with occasional interruptions from the cats and the need for more coffee.

We still waste a lot of time on Tumblr and Twitter though. 😛

What is a web serial?

Much like the magazine and newspaper serials of old, web serials are stories that are meant to be presented in installments, rather than as a single novel. While a novel is restricted to the flow and pace of traditional printed media, a web serial can take its time making its way through the plot, offering asides and supplemental material along the way without necessarily interrupting the main flow of the story. It offers the reader a wider range of options for consumption, and the writers a wider range of expression.

TL;DR It’s a web comic, done in words instead of with pictures. But seriously, this is a novel. Reading is sort of what we’re here for.

What’s with all the dashes?

Asylum is written in tandem. The dashes are a function of our writing style, used in the drafting stage to indicate to one another that a section is done. I’m slowly phasing them out of the reading, but if you are curious: double dashes indicate a change in author, and therefor a POV; single dashes are also a POV change, but by the same author. There’s a little bit of a learning curve as I figure where divisions are extraneous and where they are necessary, so bear with me. And feel free to make suggestions in the comments!

Do I have to read X to understand the story?

Asylum itself is meant to be a stand alone, with only possible flipping to the language section of the Appendix for understanding (and even then, I’ve done my best to keep the inclusions to a minimum, whose meaning can be guessed at by context clues). Other books in the collection are also meant to be stand alone, with easter eggs and cameos strewn here and there for fun. Further installments of Asylum will of course build on the first book, but should be able to be read independent of other books in the collection (though you will be missing out on some character background, but nothing plot relevant). All supplemental materials (Outtakes, Shorts, etc.) are just for fun, and are of dubious canon standing anyways.

Can I help promote Asylum?

You certainly can! Likes, reblogs, retweets and so on are always appreciated, and, if you like, spread the word with this lovely banner!