How did Charles Dickens influence the serial publication of Vanity Fair?

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William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray, detail of an oil painting by Samuel Laurence; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Charles Dickens did not directly influence the content or writing of Vanity Fair; rather, he influenced the method of publication that William Makepeace Thackeray chose to adopt.

Having observed the immense success of Charles Dickens in releasing his works through monthly installments—a format that established a close relationship between author and reader and encouraged the use of multiple plots—Thackeray adopted this same procedure for his own masterpiece, Vanity Fair (1847–48). By following this established serial model, Thackeray successfully transitioned from his earlier work in journalism and sketch writing to becoming an established novelist on the English scene.1234