Creators don’t like people saying that only 1 episode matters in their never-ending chronicles or series. It’s usually the first episode that matters, some people say. The creator says, it all matters (They also tell the picky fans to get a life. But that was about another matter, something more inherent in the series, the details, and not the broad outline.)
Scope. Some like their series done and dusted in one episode. It’s neat and tidy that way, no loose ends, no speculations, no assuming things about characters and plot.
Some like their series to never end. That’s true scope. One part after the other that continues the story on and on. The thrill of the chase.
Obviously, creators enjoy setting up a narrative, a propelling, never ending scope for their story. It’s the major arc. Creators love the thrill of filling in the detail and working out the finer things that link to the next episode and the next one and so on. Hard work, but thrilling.
Creators love series and so do audiences, but a few like it all done in one film, book, or whatever medium it’s in.
Did I sound like someone in the camp of those few, who like the story done in one reading, watching, or listening (if by audio), when I said in a previous post that I could be satisfied with only one Star Wars experience/movie/literature tie-in? That Star Wars: A New Hope would do. Yes, in one contemplative moment I may just need the one film/book/audio Star Wars experience.
Yet we don’t live in a publishing world where one book/movie about one thing is all there is. There can be several stories about one thing. For example, stories about adventure, with an angle. Or what happens to the boy who gets lost down a chute? Does it lead him on adventures in another world?
The nature of publishing is the scope of the key character, the wider story, a general or specific theme. Where does it lead? What’s going to happen? It won’t necessarily end. Until the author dies, or says that’s the end of the series. But then puts out another book.
Quite a few commercial publishers want to know that prospective writers/authors have something more in them than just one book about their central character, theme, story, etc. They want to know if your book can be turned into a series or there is potential to do this.
In that vein, I was reminded tonight of a character in another episode–apart from the one I thought I could be satisfied with–and I acknowledged I enjoyed this character. In the end, saying one book or movie is enough, isn’t real at all. It’s a thought. Just a thought.
