Quote:
Originally Posted by E.M.DuBois
I think I’m missing quite a bit of the conversation because I don’t understand the difference between “Episodic” fiction and a “series.” I know it’s probably a pain to do, but could someone point out the definitions/differences to me? With the exception of comic books, it seems like everyone’s talking about the same thing. Because I seem people talking about combining and others comparing that to complete series, like the Dark Tower, which would be way too long to combine into a single novel (physically, I mean, but completely doable as an e-book.) Is “Episodic” fiction like when someone publishes installments that could better be labelled as “Chapters” and combined into a book?
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The confusion is due to me not explaining, because I really didn't understand the formats and differentiations myself. Sorry for that.
I don't tend to read series and have only just started because:
a: I have so many of them and
b: I recently tried a book from the self promotion forum that was advertised as an episode of a larger cycle
I don't mind an open-ended series where each book tells a complete story following a set of characters (the Sherlock Holmes stories or most of TV before The X-Files).
But I would not be willing to try an episodic story (there is a single overarching struggle and each book builds on the last) unless I knew there was going to be some sort of conclusion (The Lord of the Rings, f'rinstance).
The book in the self promotions section sounded like it would be right up my alley. But I only bought it after the author confirmed that he would be wrapping it up at book six. So then I started wondering if these authors would be better served if they clearly labelled these stories as '1 (of 6)' from the get go.
Like many members here, I also read comics. But even there I for the most part avoided on-going superhero stories in favor of mini-series that had a definite ending.
I'll read 100 Bullets, that ended at issue 100, but have avoided The Walking Dead (which seems like something I would enjoy) as it just seems to shamble on forever (pardon the pun).