How do I condense my story when it's episodic?

[JoshRaid]

I want to condense my story to it's shortest version because I can't possibly keep all of it. But it's episodic at the start and has little real story.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Getting rid of any unimportant subplots and side characters is a good starting place. Having the story only follow one characters is a great way to limit the amount of content you'd have to create for the story.

But, what do you mean by episodic? Are the plotlines disconnected but part of a larger world or can the plotlines be consumed out of order?

[TheLemmaLlama]

An episodic series may not have an overarching story, but each 'episode' should still have a 'story' in some way, or some sense of direction; it should head towards some conclusion, even if it's the punchline of a joke. I don't think I've ever seen an interesting work that's completely directionless.

So then, you can condense each 'episode', which you do the same way as condensing any other story (identify the 'plot' of the episode and make sure every scene progresses it or contributes necessary information to understand it, preferably both). I suggest doing this anyway, because a tight/condensed story is not only less work for you but also more engaging for the reader because there are no boring/unnecessary bits.

If after this you still feel like your overall series is too long, you'll just have to throw away some episodes wholesale. If your series is completely episodic, it shouldn't matter too much which episodes you throw out since it won't interfere with continuity.

[smokesalty]

You need to pick out what is most important to the overall story. You will likely have to do editing if you're condensing especially if you want scenes to naturally flow into one another. Each episode will have it's own conflict and resolution (it can also have an overarching plot across the episodes)

[JoshRaid]

The plotlines cannot be consumed out of order, but they are all separate sort of episodes in their own right, just building off of previous events. One episode might have a character develop, the next will have have the consequences of said character development. Stuff like that.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Ah, so no 'overall story' in the traditional sense but there is continuity and the status quo does shift :]

In that case, I'd say:
- identify your favourite episodes; the ones that you absolutely can't cut out no matter what that you're super excited about getting around to. Episodes you feel are the absolute high points of your series.
- ask yourself what state the world has to be in so that it makes sense for those episodes to happen. For instance, if an episode relies on a character having undergone character develop in a certain way.
- figure out how to reach those world-states in as few episodes as possible. If an episode doesn't contribute to shifting the world to world-state required by one of your key episodes, cut it

[IndigoShirtProd]

Oh, if that's the case, then I think you've already gotten the advice you need. Just cut out scenes, characters, and subplots that are unimportant to the main plot, and go from there.

[JoshRaid]

There kind of is an overall story, but the story is rather thin at the start until the main characters get to their final goal and the story gets more complicated.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Ah, then I guess the only way to 'condense' your story would be to make it more 'story dense' and that might have to mean making the start less 'thin'. Is there a particular reason you need your main characters to get their goal later on in the story instead of just starting the story at that point?

I personally enjoy a story that starts off slow and takes its time building up the world and characters before poopoo hits the fan, but if you really 'can't possibly keep all of it', then that's probably the first thing that'll have to go

[JoshRaid]

I have an episode that's sort of pointless, but it has a fun and creative premise so I don't want to cut it, and it's the only episode to be that way.

Also the in-universe reason is that the main character was told by his king to stop and help everyone that might need it so they're being slowed down that way, and there's a sinister reason for him to make that demand in-universe.

Out of universe, it's because I wanted them to go on an avatar-style journey through the world, also because there's a massive twist that happens when they get there that changes the plot, and I definitely don't want to shatter the readers expectations before they're even set.

[TheLemmaLlama]

I have an episode that's sort of pointless, but it has a fun and creative premise so I don't want to cut it, and it's the only episode to be that way.

Hm, I'd say remove it from your main series and make it an extra. (e.g. stick it on at the end of an arc where it won't interrupt the story flow, but specify that chronologically it happens earlier in the story between episodes X and Y)

Also the in-universe reason is that the main character was told by his king to stop and help everyone that might need it so they're being slowed down that way, and there's a sinister reason for him to make that demand in-universe.

Out of universe, it's because I wanted them to go on an avatar-style journey through the world, also because there's a massive twist that happens when they get there that changes the plot, and I definitely don't want to shatter the readers expectations before they're even set.

Yeah, that makes sense The best I got is to treat this section with 'thin story' before your big reveal like a series with continuity but no direction and apply my previous comment:

• identify your favourite episodes; the ones that you absolutely can't cut out no matter what that you're super excited about getting around to. Episodes you feel are the absolute high points of your series.
• ask yourself what state the world has to be in so that it makes sense for those episodes to happen. For instance, if an episode relies on a character having undergone character develop in a certain way.
• figure out how to reach those world-states in as few episodes as possible. If an episode doesn't contribute to shifting the world to world-state required by one of your key episodes, cut it

If you need to have a minimum number of episodes to establish your readers' expectations, I'm afraid there's not much you can do about that. There comes a point where you have to choose between comprimising your vision or accepting that the most faithful implementation of your vision is going to be long and accepting that commitment

[miniscule]

Some really awesome points here from the other users.

Personally, I believe that each episode should be thematic in nature, and should serve to drive the story forward in some way. You'd be surprised at how a theme or event could potentially change the trajectory of the story with just a few moments of ideation that would really help to set your comic apart from the others.

A good way to do this is to study episodic comics such as PunisherMAX or Deadly Class and analyze TV shows such as The Wire, Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad.

[system]

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