I’ve been tickled by the way the storyline in The Propagational Library series has developed; it’s caught me by surprise several times, and I like how it’s grown in scope (as I see the whole thing, even what’s not actually written) beyond my original intentions. But if all goes well, the upcoming installment of the series — that is, the one I post this Saturday — will be the last. (Because each installment/chapter is a first draft, my progress in a given writing session can affect how well my predictions for it bear out, hence the uncertainty.)

And then, eventually, I shall have some decisions to make about the story.

As posted at RAMH, the whole tale will consist of thirteen chapters, comprising no more — probably — than 30,000 words. (This doesn’t count related material outside the story itself, primarily blog posts about it.) I can just leave it as it stands, of course, just as if it were any other series of blog posts. (At that length, it’s too short for publication in most media, and in any case I’d never submit it in its present rough form.) I can bundle up Part 2 for offline reading, just as I did Part 1, two months ago. I see no reason to remove any of the series for good.

But I can think of several reasons to put at least some of it behind a password-protected “wall,” after a decent interval of open availability. That’s probably what I’ll end up doing, in the hope that some day I’ll revisit The Librarian’s adventures, and fashion them into something longer, better written, altogether more complete.

I’ve started a couple other stories in the meantime, and I’d like to get on with them (and/or something else), but I need my Saturdays back for that to happen. So after this week, I’ll just let The Propagational Library sit for a little while. And let my subconscious stew about the story’s future…

…whatever that turns out to be.