# A question of formating: writting so that each chatper is in episode.



## Logos&Eidos (Feb 10, 2015)

I grew up on Television Sci-fi and watched Anime that I could find, I also read a lot of comics mostly Star Wars. This has given me a love and predisposition towards Episodic story telling. In the novel that I am planning to write I want to write each chapter as though it was it's own mini-story with a beginning middle and end, with the novel being one effectively "season" of content. I'd like the length of each novel to be twenty six a common number of episodes for anime series.

Is there anything that I should know about this approach, has something like this been before, what are the tools of the serial fiction trade.


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## FarmerBrown (Feb 11, 2015)

I met this gal at a bookfest: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22060342-trolls-for-dust-season-one?from_search=true
_Trolls for Dust , Season One_by Pixie Beldona

It's an interesting concept, and I'm not sure if this is the kind of example you're looking for, but I'd say there's potential if done correctly.


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## 2WayParadox (Feb 11, 2015)

Write. Publish. Repeat. - Johhny Truant, Sean Platt & David Wayne Wright

The authors of this book about self-publishing have several running series of short books, based on the concept of tv-series. They talk about it here and there throughout the book. So if you want to see the concept fleshed out and read up on some of the marketing/pricing surrounding it, I would strongly recommend this. There's also a ton of information on self-publishing and writing in general in there.


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## goldhawk (Feb 11, 2015)

Charles Dickens started by writing serials where each instalment was a mini-story and ended with a cliffhanger. Yes, it's been done before.


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## Logos&Eidos (Feb 12, 2015)

FarmerBrown said:


> I met this gal at a bookfest: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22060342-trolls-for-dust-season-one?from_search=true
> _Trolls for Dust , Season One_by Pixie Beldona
> 
> It's an interesting concept, and I'm not sure if this is the kind of example you're looking for, but I'd say there's potential if done correctly.



My idea is for a novel with the chapters begin a series of sequential short stories, akin to comic book issues or television episodes.   



2WayParadox said:


> Write. Publish. Repeat. - Johhny Truant, Sean Platt & David Wayne Wright
> 
> The authors of this book about self-publishing have several running series of short books, based on the concept of tv-series. They talk about it here and there throughout the book. So if you want to see the concept fleshed out and read up on some of the marketing/pricing surrounding it, I would strongly recommend this. There's also a ton of information on self-publishing and writing in general in there.



Thank you for the link.


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## 2WayParadox (Feb 12, 2015)

It does require a decent rate of output, if you don't want your readers to lose interest. 1 episode per week could be a must.


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## RonCNieto (Feb 12, 2015)

Hi! 

It's been done before. Dickens, as mentioned, sure. But there seems to be an attempt to a serial revival going on right now, so it might be the right moment to try it out. 

My two cents, for what they are worth: even if you release by "episodes", you should plot your entire novel in advance. Then, you should plot each chapter following the same method you used for the entire work. Are you familiar with writing beats? (There's more to it than the three-act structure; if you're interested, let me know and I'll point you to a good start). Each chapter should have all the basic beats, and then you need to engineer it so the chapters become the full novel beats. Smoothly. It may feel like playing Tetris sometimes *laughs*

Also, as mentioned, you need to keep a steady output. To account for slow writing days, and for the revising needed if you write yourself into a corner, I wouldn't start publishing until you have several chapters done (ideally, a whole Act). Trust me on that one--I tried to wing it recently, and it wasn't pretty. 

Hope some of my rambling was useful. Let us know what you decide!


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## Logos&Eidos (Feb 12, 2015)

RonCNieto said:


> Hi!
> 
> It's been done before. Dickens, as mentioned, sure. But there seems to be an attempt to a serial revival going on right now, so it might be the right moment to try it out.
> 
> ...



I have heard the term story beats before, but am still not entirely what they are. You know until you mentioned i hadn't actually considered releasing my WIP as serial.


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## 2WayParadox (Feb 12, 2015)

It's a kind of outlining where you plot out scenes into beats, which are things that are supposed to happen or supposed to be expressed etc. At least that's what I think it is.


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## goldhawk (Feb 12, 2015)

Logos&Eidos said:


> I have heard the term story beats before, but am still not entirely what they are. You know until you mentioned i hadn't actually considered releasing my WIP as serial.



They are specific elements that should be included in every story. Or that's what their proponents advocate.  And they also about pacing and timing, hence "beat".


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## spectre (Feb 13, 2015)

isn't Aesop's fables like that in terms of seasons of content? or the odyssey? sort of like scenes upon themselves, that's basically what an epic is.


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## RonCNieto (Feb 14, 2015)

Think of it like this: 

We're used to the definition of stories having a beginning, a middle and an ending. Story beats are highlights that help you figure out what happens in each of those parts, and how long each part should be in relation to the whole story to avoid any particular part from dragging or floundering.I'm sure you can think of examples of unending intros, eternal middles where nothing happens and abrupt endingss: all those stories have unbalanced story beats.  

There are several ways to plot the story: 

-Structured around the characters. For example, take a reluctant scoundrel and make him a successful general and hero. In this case, the beats would be the events that change his outlook in life and give him a reason to change and become a leader. 
-Structured around the plot (for example, the main character is your regular Joe but *then* he's unjustly accused of something and *then* he has to discover the true evil guys and *this* climaxes in an epic battle where he saves the day and becomes an acclaimed hero). 

I began using beats last year, and it solved a lot of my plotting problems  If you're interested, you can check out the Excel sheets in the website below, where you can sort of input your total word goal and it calculates the length of each beat and of other important story points. There are posts with more detailed info, too--and yes, I know I'm sending you to a romance site, but don't dish it because the genre  I promise her beat sheets are solid and can be used to write anything at all! 

Worksheets for Writers | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author

Let me know if that helped! If you want to talk about it some more, I'm up for it too.


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