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@donna-darling Yep, gotcha.

First of all: this idea is really cool! I love the TV show sort of style. *thumbs up*

 

Let’s look at some thoughts on plotting short stories/’episodes’ for this.

You’ll obviously have the overall plot, which each episode will be leading up toward. By the sounds of it, you’ve got that nailed down all right. It’s keeping the episodes in small parts that’s tricky.

 

This is a struggle that a lot of writers have: keeping short stories short. I’ve written several short stories, so I’ll share my thoughts/methods, but keep in mind that they might not work for you because we’re both individual writers and have different styles, etc.

 

When writing a short story, I like to see it as part of the overall story. Almost like a chapter. Yes it has a beginning and end, but if I write it with the view that there’s other ‘chapters’, I don’t feel as tempted to try include all the details at once. That’s a pro of doing this in episodes–with each episode, it will probably become easier, because there are fewer elements you need to mention. The first few episodes will be introducing the world and the characters, which is harder to keep brief.

In short stories, only include what you absolutely have to include. If your story can’t possibly work without it, keep it in. If it’s just a cool element that doesn’t actually have a core function in the story to impact the plot/theme, keep it out for now–maybe you could use it in a later episode.

Short stories have to be fairly fast paced. Each important scene in the structure will follow right into the next important scene, without any fillers in between. I definitely recommend outlining your episodes with the Three Act Plot Structure (that you can find under the Resources page), if you fill out the details of each of those nine scenes, you will essentially have an entire outline of your short story.

Go watch several episodes of a TV show (maybe not all at once, but over the course of a few weeks 😛 ) and study them. Try to fit them into a story structure and see how they handle the different plot points and character development moments.

 

As for how to come up with the bite-sized ideas in the first place, there are so many options. Brainstorm all the possible ways to stop your characters from reaching the story goal. Add side plots. Mysteries. Betrayals. Set backs. Plot twists. New creatures. New characters. More problems. Foreboding. Etc.

If you ever need help with brainstorming specific ideas, I’d definitely recommend you make another topic on the forum and ask for ideas from these wonderful writers here. (And you can tag me too so I can lend a hand if need be 😉 )

Each episode doesn’t have to forward the main plot very much. It could just be foreboding something, or it could be starting the threads of a mystery that only gets answered in three episodes’ time. It should always be developing the characters though and strengthening their character arcs and the story theme.

 

For your final point about whether readers would forgive simplistic episode plots if you nailed everything else: I don’t think the plots would actually be that simplistic. Even if you can’t get small enough plots, you can split each plot idea into two halves and end one episode halfway through, leave the readers on a cliffhanger, and suck them into reading the next episode too. Obviously it depends on the exact sort of story and style you’ll use, but that’s the overall feel I’m getting from this.

 

That’s all my thoughts for now, but if you have any other questions/if I didn’t explain clearly or anything at all, don’t hesitate to hit me up! 😉