Episodic or Progressive Storytelling

This is something I see a lot of debate about, especially when it comes to writing (heck, the anime and non-anime fans debate this a lot), and as a fellow writer myself, I just want to ask you guys this question.

Which do you think makes for a better kind of storytelling technique? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Furthermore, what do you normally go for when you are writing?

I use episodic for my webcomic, and I'll use progressive for my 'in developement hell' graphic novel.

For comedies, episodic are the standards, mostly because the lack of focus on a consistent storyline. Also I think it's the easier one as you don't have to plan the whole story you're writing.

The progressive storytelling's biggest problem that you have to know where the whole story goes. There's more possibility for a serious storyline, character development, but again, poor planning ends up in ass pulls or ruined foreshadowing, and of course, plot-holes, and you can't always blame an executive who just wanted to make sure your work will sell well. If you're serializing a work, you can't rewrite the old parts after you realized they won't work and you changed your mind. And there's a good reason why my graphic novel has a long way before it can be serialized (besides an Art Evolution for me (the main reason behind the webcomic), or finding a good illustrator).

Also there's many crossover of the two, eg. works that always close the ending but the smaller parts (episodes) does have relation to each other.

Progress storytelling all they way! But it's also the harder one to do. Progressive storytelling is what really exposes the talent of a writer. It takes a talented writer to make all the foreshadowing pay off, have everything click into place, and have all the plot threads resolved, even and especially the ones that the readers themselves forgot.

I prefer progressive stories, though an episodic style does have its strengths. It can be great for world building or developing and understanding a large cast of characters. Like Zl said, its great for comedies. I find I don't really dislike the episodic style except when it occurs on show that have an ostensible 'plot' that never actually gets any closer to a resolution...

However, even with its strengths, my favorite moments of any episodic work are when they begin to take on more progressive elements. Like shiro said above, it says something about the ability of the writer. You take all the fun back story and character interactions that are possible in a series of unlimited episodes and distill them into a single work that hopefully creates the same sense of connection. The end result, when done well of course, is usually more satisfying.

There is something about progressive that just seems more sophisticated and engaging than episodic. I am even most attracted to graphic forms that incorporate some degree of progressive development into them (ie, "The Sandman" or "Adventure Time").

I personally feel like episodic storytelling has lost a lot of its justification as it's become easier to catch up on the previous installments of a serial work, although that still varies a lot depending on medium.

Progressive storytelling seems to be the default in prose, whereas in sequential art most stories are episodic (western comics) or heavily arc-based (manga). I myself prefer progressive storytelling, but there's something even more to be said for a work that appears to start out fairly episodic or light on plot that gradually turns hot to have a more continuous plot.

Like Adventure Time?

edited 1st Feb '14 7:47:09 AM by demarquis

Exactly. Adventure Time is an excellent example of a work starting out episodic and simple, and gradually revealing a larger plot and world.

The big problem with that is running the risk of alienating those members of the audience who preferred it the way it was.

Maybe but it is formula that worked for that series and it allows them to establish the world, characters, etc.