So You Wanna Write a Web-Serial?
Part 2 of 3
Episodes are the cellular building blocks of the web serial. Handy bite-sized stories in and of themselves. This self-sufficiency — that is the episode’s ability to be part of, but also independent of the greater story — is also a potential pit-fall when designing a web serial.
Web-serial authors enter into a deal of expectation with their readership. The author promises to post a new episode every seven days whilst the reader commits to returning for each new installment; even though these instalments are, in effect, nothing more than a fragment of a greater narrative. This is never more apparent than when episodes are read contiguously.
In other forms of storytelling scenes flow and change size as required by the dictates of plot and pacing. Conversely, episodes are always of the same length. Week in week out. Imagine a novel if every scene, every chapter had the same exact word count. It would feel disjointed and possess a plodding, rhythmic pace guaranteed to jar the reader’s sensibilities.
So how to avoid this when writing web serials?
Well, for starters you could embrace the episode for what it is and ignore any concerns about a larger narrative. Celebrate each episode as a weekly pithy short story and become an adherent to the Status Quo formula of serialization.
The Status Quo Formula
Its modus operandi is that each episode will showcase a new threat to your characters status-quo, but the readers and writer both know this threat will be resolved (and the characters reset to precisely how they were at the beginning of the episode) by the final full-stop.
In the Status Quo formula characters are dependable. They will never change and readers are comfortable with this knowledge. This is why archetypes work so well in this format. It’s all about the familiar and the best way to make something familiar is to repeat it. Is to repeat it. Ad infinitum. And, yes this is why the Status Quo formula will always grow stale … yes, The Simpsons I’m looking at you!
So if web-serials are to compete with the longer and more traditional forms of narrative they need to deliver something more than just repetition.
The Quest Formula
This a is a step away from the Status Quo based series. In this form of episodic storytelling the protagonist’s goal is explicit. This gives the illusion of forward momentum. In truth this is nothing more than a cunning sleight of hand. Often the Quest serial is just the Status Quo formula repackaged with a little pay-off at the end of each episode. That pay-off could take the form of a cliff-hanger, the deepening of a mystery or a itsy-bitsy piece of revelation. All designed to give the impression there is a coherent, larger narrative at play here … and yes, Lost, I’m looking at you!
The advantage of the Quest formula is it comes complete with conflict. The protagonist has to achieve A, B and C and the bad guy will try and stick X in their way. The characters can be tested on weekly basis, affording the opportunity to shed an iota more light on what makes them tick. The Quest formula can be exciting but runs the risk of becoming too linear. After all, the story’s ending is written in its job description. That said, the ending could be postponed indefinitely – or at least for as long as there is interest in the series. This approach may be commercially viable but goes against the promise the writer made to their readers at the beginning of the serial … and you can guarantee by Season Seventeen readers would have wised up to this cynical trick.
So what is the balance between the weekly resetting of the Status-Quo and the linear trajectory of the Quest series?
Here lies the true art of writing a web-serial.
In Episodic I stated the arbitrary publishing of chunks of a novel does not constitute episodic storytelling. Yet, there is no reason why a web-series could not aspire to possess all the grand qualities of a novel: Sweeping character arcs. Multiple and intertwined storylines. Plot twists. Grandiose themes.
So, for the Web-serial writer who wants the lot I present …
The Smart Arse Formula
In the Smart Arse formula it’s important to understand the larger narrative of your story. To know where it’s going. This doesn’t mean there’s no room for pantsing, but when it comes to releasing instalments each one needs to be carefully packaged. Being a Smart Arse involves taking your larger narrative and knowing precisely how each episodic chunk contributes.
Just as you would when writing a scene for a novel ask yourself about an episode: how does it drive the plot forward? How does it demonstrate character development? But always take care to provide the reader with the rewards and pay-offs intrinsic to the episodic device.
The end result of being a Smart Arse web-serial writer is your completed product can be comfortably read as a whole. True, there may be an element of rhythm due to the size of each episode, but if each episode has a purpose the story is carried along regardless. The disadvantage of being a Smart Arse is that on a week to week basis the reader may struggle to recall multiple story-lines, plot strands and character point of views.
I will address these issues next month in the final part of So you wanna write a web serial?
In which I’ll talk about trouble shooting your web-series.
This, Jason, is a fantastic post. It has me all inspired to get started!
Thanks for your support over the last two posts Rob. I look forward to your series. What’s the pitch?
So examples of the ‘smart arse’ formula would be something like True Blood? I’m curious to try this method with my wrestling story and modify the format a bit. Stay tuned for my article this month.
Depending on what next year looks like I might have a go at this myself!
Come and play Stacey. There’s a good bunch of folks over at #TuesdaySerial.
I wonder where you’d peg my Possible Origins serial, sir. I hadn’t thought about such functional classifications.
Jeeze, you make it so orderly.
I just throw things together and see if they stick. Then again your stories are more creative and finer detailed than mine.
Tempted to do a new mini-serial. I miss having something scheduled to do as far as writing. Fantastic points, Jase.