Not long ago I had a conversation with a new author about what it means when a story is “episodic.”
Maybe some of you might be wondering what it means too.
Episodic is like TV shows. Sitcoms. Week to week the characters are the same but the situations are different. Old comedy shows epitomized episodic writing. The characterization even changed in order to “fit the bit” for that week. The show may not even even mentioned a problem that was introduced in last week’s show.
But shows like Fraser and Friends, even Seinfeld smoothed that out by having continuing story lines and consistent characterization.
Each show was different as if time passed and last week’s issue was over and done.The comedy bits were developed out of characterization rather than out of an idea.
In novel writing, episodic would look like each scene introducing and resolving an issue without it advancing the plot. Without threading that issue through the rest of the book.
The opposite of episodic would be the introduce a problem in a scene and thread it through every scene over and over without advancing the plot or solving the problem.
Episodic might also mean that the story and character problems are not interlocking and related. So when the hero is on the page he’s working out an issue that has nothing to do with the story or the main story problem and question….
Here’s a great definition of episodic: containing or consisting of a series of loosely connected parts or events.
We know that in a novel the problems need to be connected to the character journey.
Other issues and problems can be related to the sub plot or a story layer with another character.
Happy Writing!
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Best-selling, award-winning author Rachel Hauck loves a great story. She excels in seeing the deeper layers of a story.
With a love for teaching and mentoring, Rachel comes alongside writers to help them craft their novel. A worship leader, board member of ACFW and popular writing teacher, Rachel is the author of over 17 novels. She lives in Florida with her husband and dog.
Contact her at: Rachel@mybooktherapy.com. Her latest release is Once Upon A Prince. Go forth and write!
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