Writing Long-Distance Love - Blog

In November, I will be releasing a new series on Channillo called Long-Distance Love. The format for this short series is postcard length excerpts mailed between Andrew, a business assistant to a wealthy friend, and Jenna, a linguistic anthropologist. As the two of them travel the world separately, they meet via a postcard happenstance. They then find that they enjoy each other's company and become long-distance penpals, getting to know each other over many years. 

The format for the series is different than anything I've ever written before. It's short and choppy due to the time delay between when a postcard could theoretically be mailed and delivered. What makes this series challenging to write but also really rewarding, is how I'm writing the content. As always, I am not really planning the content I’m wingin’ it. I am writing three to six postcards a writing session about a general topic, and then I switch projects. How I am struggling is because I am writing them out of order. This process makes it difficult to remember where and when the two characters are. Writing this way is also incredibly freeing! I can write what I want when I want, and in the mood I am in, matching my writing to that tone. As with anything, this also makes it more difficult because I have to be very careful that I don't reveal that the characters know information about one another that they haven't talked about yet. 

I am toying with the idea of making a map or timeline on one of the walls in my office. So I know what I've already revealed, I'm thinking of printing out each postcard and connecting them with string. Think detective movies with a yarn map using suspect photos on a raggedy corkboard under a flickering light. Has anyone else ever written like this and have any tips? I'm very open to suggestions. 

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I am falling in love with Andrew and Jenna, and their relationship is still growing from something platonic to something more profound. Being that they are long distance, and have never met in person, there is no physical romance between the two of them. Neither of them is asexual necessarily, but at least for right now I'm happy keeping them physically apart. I don't know if I will ever have them meet, or if I do if I will write it. That would break the flow and format of the series, and I'm not sure how I would write it. It might be a sweet side short story, or even just sharing the postcards after their meeting. One day I may expand their correspondence into letters which are a more extended format, but for right now they are still strangers. 

I plan to release one or two sets of postcards a week, but I'm not sure if I will publish one postcard a day, or one day with a handful of entries. I don't want to make people head over to Channillo to read five sentences three days a week, but I also don't want the format getting lengthier.  Because this is not premiering until November, I guess I still have time. If you have suggestions on how I should handle this, please let me know. Thanks as always for sticking with me, and for making Everyday Adventures such a success! Let's make Long-Distance Love just successful, and just as long running. Here's to 200 entries with Andrew and Jenna!

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