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Writing in episodic release format



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Fri Aug 12, 2016 10:05 pm
Lumi says...



I'd just like to start a discussion about different views on writing in episodic release format. This could mean writing material with the intent of storyboarding and pitching to a company (i.e. Toei, FOX, Netflix Independent), writing with the intent of releasing your novel in serial formats, or maybe webcomic writing (which I'm currently trying myself!)

All formats above fall under the category--and plenty more do as well. On a grander scale, you could see series of novels fit into this section, though I'm not a fan of the writer dream of the fantasy trilogy.

I write all of my fiction in episodic form with mind to how much is revealed, how the pace carries between episodes, and how the pace and content carries itself within the episode itself because that matters so, so much.

I personally see this as a more careful and meticulous form of structuring your fiction since there are parameters to consider beyond the formulaic

exposition --> rising action --> climax --> falling action

mantra.

How do you see it, and do you prefer this style? Or the old-fashioned chapter and part style?
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Sun Aug 14, 2016 6:29 am
Rosendorn says...



Episodic formatting is something I want to get better at— graphic novel end goal— but is also something that very much goes against my preferred planning style because I tend to be of the "make it up as I go along" camp and episodic format kind of demands a certain level of plotting.

It's been tempting to just write the whole script then revise later, but every time I run into episodic writers, they never seem to really do that. It's like they don't really know what they're doing and just jump in live.

Now, of course, I've actually had that semi-work with a current major project of mine (with a co-writer and a certain amount of ridiculous coincidence), but I don't know if I trust myself enough to jump into that level of early instalment weirdness by not having a fully drafted thing done before I actually dive into the drawing of it.

So I guess that's my main "o.0" whenever I entertain the thought of serial writing. How in the world does one go about revising it when nobody seems to ever have a first draft?
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Fri Aug 19, 2016 11:41 pm
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Kale says...



I am so sad more people aren't discussing this. So here I am.

I love serials and serial writing, and the way I see it, having a serial structure ensures that at least something interesting happens in each installment that advances the overall plot.

I don't think each installment necessarily needs to follow a strict act structure though, especially where exposition and falling action are concerned.

If a series has been running for a while, exposition should already be present in some form at the start of the installment. Drawing on established continuity is something I think deserves more attention than it's usually given, and it's a great way to avoid constant usage of the episodic reset button.

There's also how one event may resolve multiple threads of conflict, or how not all conflicts can be immediately resolved, which I find a lot more satisfying and realistic than each conflict having it's own separate resolution.

I've started writing longer works serially, and it's made the process of writing a novel-length work a lot simpler. I find looking at things in a serial sense helps keep my overall plot focused because it's easy to look at a chapter and ask "What does this accomplish by itself?" and see how much is fluff and how much is substance.

I also find it a lot of fun, so that also helps with the writing process.
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Sat Aug 20, 2016 2:19 am
Rosendorn says...



Wouldn't another thing episodic format allow for is more... one event impacting multiple events and characters a lot more easily? Like, one thing I'm in love with about Fullmetal Alchemist is how the perspective changes are so seamless, and how you can follow around different people without any jarring transition between them.

I'm very curious what you mean about single events tying up multiple plot threads, because while I'm sure I've seen it, I'm having a hard time imagining examples of it and would like to gain some grasp of what this means.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Sat Aug 20, 2016 4:48 am
Lumi says...



I've started writing longer works serially, and it's made the process of writing a novel-length work a lot simpler. I find looking at things in a serial sense helps keep my overall plot focused because it's easy to look at a chapter and ask "What does this accomplish by itself?" and see how much is fluff and how much is substance.


This. This for days.

And Alex has the right of it, I feel. In the project I'm working on serially now, a full section of the book ends with a Marvel Credit scene of a woman who was kidnapped almost four-five chapters ago sending a distress signal through ley lines, and it's going to hurl in the protag and antag casts to the same locale for the third party objective.

I really like Marvel Credit scenes.

The point is that when you're untied to a very rigid and demanding linear fashion in your writing, you have a better chance to say If this event causes serial x to happen, then it likely sets off plot 92 that'll last until the fourth quarter.

I'm hard-pressed to find a way the style hinders the writing process.
I am a forest fire and an ocean, and I will burn you just as much
as I will drown everything you have inside.
-Shinji Moon


I am the property of Rydia, please return me to her ship.
  








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