Charles Dickens and his books

When the internet has become popular for selling downloads of novels chapter by chapter, or Amazon is selling chapters on Kindle it is a practice that Charles Dickens started as a popular format for selling his fiction in periodicals. Unlike other authors of the time he would publish one chapter at a time before penning the next. It made the practice of "cliffhanger"s most popular.

Charles Dickens experienced a rough childhood from a working class background. At a time his father was in debters prison because he chose to live beyond his means and could not meet the obligation. At the age of 12 he was first hired out to paste labels on boot polish for 6 shillings a week. That was enough to pay for his room and board and help support the family. The hard and cruel work conditions in the factory made quite an impression on Charles and shows in many of his works.

In May 1827 Dickens began work in the law office of Ellis and Blackmore as a clerk. He moved through positions as a junior clerk, articled clerk and qualified for admission to the Bar. Here he gleaned knowledge of legal processes of the period. It appeared that each position he held was for further background for his writing.

In 1834 he became a political journalist and he traveled and reported on parliamentary debate and to cover election campaigns. This is when he first 'sketches' appeared in periodicals and formed his first collection or pieces "Sketches by Boz". This was published in 1836 and led to the serialization of "The Pickwick Papers", his first novel in March of 1836.