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This Quackcast was inspired by a newspost by Tantz. There seems to be this prevailing idea at the moment that serialised storytelling is better than episodic style stories. Tantz informs me that it's one of the many Twitterverse controversies! So let me explain what I mean here: Episodic story telling is when most of the story you're telling can be parcelled into the course of an episode: you can have a strong beginning, middle and satisfying conclusion in the course of your episode, whether that takes the form of a comic chapter, a page, a strip, or a half hour TV show. The Serial style has things stretching over multiple chapters or TV episodes. What we talk about in this Quackcast is that it's an utterly false dichotomy: You do not have to have either or, in fact most projects have elements of BOTH at the same time and it's a little foolish to think that one style could possibly be inherently superior to the other since they're just tools for telling a story. It is up to the creator to pick which one is right for their own work and the context in which it's going to be shown.
This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Belle Starr! A cold sun rising over an alien land, liquid fire spreads across the plain, chasing shadow, banishing darkness, lighting the way for our heroine… Belle Starr! gird your loins for battle, success is the only option!
Topics and shownotes
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Featured comic:
Lost Honey - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/nov/26/featured-comic-lost-honey/
Tantz's newspost on serials and episodes! - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/nov/30/serialized-vs-episodic-storytelling/
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Featured music:
Belle Starr - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Belle_Starr/, by Jeff Salty, rated T.
QUACKCAST 403 - Eat yer serial!
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, Dec. 4, 2018
and the new prudes,
a stupid comedian,
Banes,
Belle Starr,
Eat yer serial!,
featured comic,
featured theme,
Gunwallace,
Lost Honey,
Ozoneocean,
podcast,
Quackcast 403,
Tantz Aerine,
Webcomics community
5 likes!
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Banes at 7:15AM, Dec. 5, 2018
JNP, I've been turning the next page of my comic around in my head for way too long. Weeks! Besides the usual procrastination, I was stuck on a story point and also an ending for the page. If I did the set up on one page and the payoff on the next, people might forget and not get the feel/the question I'm trying to create. After way too much pondering on this, I think I'll just go with a double length page or two-pages-on-one-page. Using that webcomic format advantage!
Ozoneocean at 8:09PM, Dec. 4, 2018
Oh you can easily make a normal comic story page episodic to a degree. They used to do that all the time in newspapers- either a full page comic like The Phantom, or in a comic strip size like Mandrake or Modesty Blaze -all serious story comic popular in Australian publications back in the day. It's always a serial really, but there are enough elements and structure in there that you can be happy with reading the episodic nature of the page. Know what I mean? Intro, middle, pseudo conclusion... followed by "to be continued"
JustNoPoint at 6:26PM, Dec. 4, 2018
The only good ways to have an episodic webcomic page by page is by having a comic strip or those long infinite canvas style pages for stories. So you could fit a start, middle, and end on each page. I feel it’d be extremely difficult to make a page by page episodic that isn’t a strip, otherwise.
Ozoneocean at 5:22PM, Dec. 4, 2018
I like to think of each page as being sort of episodic. But everything in my comics is serialised with a bigger overarching story. You really have to have a mix like that in webcomics I think. Unless you want to go fully episodic, like a non-sequitir comic strip.
JustNoPoint at 12:05PM, Dec. 4, 2018
You guys talked about it in webcomics changed what mine is! While I attempt to make each page give something to a degree it isn't always possible. Sometimes pacing forces a page that has less of a "whole" feeling. If you break my comic into pages it's definitely more akin to a serial. I consider it more episodic by chapters/issues/episodes. While I do post the comics on the web and that's by FAR the major way it is consumed it's always been an animated series in my heart. I just can't afford an animation studio so it's a comic book in my spleen.
mks_monsters at 9:22AM, Dec. 4, 2018
I think it depends on the plot and characters. You have to have some continuity when it comes to story telling even if it is serialised especially if someone had a baby, someone moved away or people got married. I think even if your story is serialised, you do need to have continuity to avoid plot holes.