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odd_buttonsThe following is an excerpt from Part III of the book Making Shapely Fiction, by Jerome Stern. The first two parts are very much worth reading as well. The book is available in paperback.
Episode
An episode is an incident within a larger narrative. A well-written episode has its own shape -- its own beginning, middle, and end. At the same time it advances the plot and contributes to the work as a whole. Writers have problems when they write episodes that are exciting or entertaining or moving in themselves but don't really add much to the story. The question to ask yourself is this: Has the episode, regardless of its virtues, changed the situation significantly for my readers or for my characters?
The adjectival form, episodic, is a negative term meaning that the narrative consists of a number of stories, rather loosely related to one another that don't develop an accumulated power. Something happens and then something else happens and then something else, but no shape is created. Consequently you'll hear readers say, "I enjoyed it, but I never finished it."
See Stories within Stories.
Episode
An episode is an incident within a larger narrative. A well-written episode has its own shape -- its own beginning, middle, and end. At the same time it advances the plot and contributes to the work as a whole. Writers have problems when they write episodes that are exciting or entertaining or moving in themselves but don't really add much to the story. The question to ask yourself is this: Has the episode, regardless of its virtues, changed the situation significantly for my readers or for my characters?
The adjectival form, episodic, is a negative term meaning that the narrative consists of a number of stories, rather loosely related to one another that don't develop an accumulated power. Something happens and then something else happens and then something else, but no shape is created. Consequently you'll hear readers say, "I enjoyed it, but I never finished it."
See Stories within Stories.