One way of avoiding the dissonance between what the audience thought would happen in a later story, and what does happen in a later story... is to not set up any expectations in the first place.
Star Trek, and The Next Generation are told episode-by-episode. Almost all episodes are self-contained stories, with the only thing carrying over between stories being the characters themselves. And then, the characters don't have any real long-term goals or interpersonal drama carrying through.
So there are no expectations beyond the characters existing next time. That's an easy expectation to live up to, in the next episode.
Some film series are episodic too—think of Indiana Jones. Or Fast & Furious. Nothing changes permanently as a result of one part, at least not stuff that anyone cares about. So fans there aren't hints about what's coming next. And so, fans don't imagine their own stories that would happen next. And then when the sequel comes around, there's no bulldozing their fan-fic, and no let-down that the cool hinted thing wasn't there.
(I mean, Indiana Jones does its best to disappoint in other ways, but not because it's forgotten about the previous film.)
Instead of being left "open-ended," inviting the viewer to imagine what might happen next episode... they are "closed-ended."
Each story ends with the Cosmic Reset Button.
By the end of the episode, of film, or novel, everything's back to the way it was. And the audience can know exactly where they stand next time. Or—in the case of TV broadcast series—they can hop into any episode in any order and they'll never feel they missed something.
Episodic storytelling has its advantages and disadvantages...
Because each episode tells a complete story, the viewer is left satisfied. And, if they like the series, they're happy to enjoy another complete story next time.
The disadvantage is, you don't have hours on hours to build up the drama and suspense and mystery and whatever else you want to use to string the audience along and keep them watching week-to-week. All that's got to fit into 40 minutes. And the thing that keeps people coming back is that they like the characters.
But that's also its strength, as a format. You have to write solid, tight scenes. It has to be interesting all the way through, because you can only fit in the good parts. This is the same reason why novel writers cut things out—scenes, sub-plots, entire characters—to tighten up the narrative, and keep things interesting.
Star Trek Voyager had an over-arching plot about slowly travelling back home, which stayed in the background and poked its head in from time to time. But it wasn't something that weighed heavily on the characters' minds, and so wasn't an ongoing concern pulling on the viewer.
Star Trek Enterprise had 2 seasons with their own over-arching plots, which tied into each episode. But still, each episode was its own self-contained story, with a satisfying conclusion. (It struck a very good balance in my opinion.)
In the old days where everything was episodic, you might have a sprawling epic of a story you want to tell. But you have to cut the fat (boring parts that don't add to the story) to cram it into your 40 minutes runtime.
And you can't just run it over 5 episodes, because the requirements of the format is that each episode can be enjoyed by itself. So edit it down, tighten it up, or that story's getting canned!
With the advent of streaming services, the requirements of the format have changed. And episodic shows have changed with it.
Streaming episodes don't have to fit between adverts; they can be as long as the writer wants them to be. So all the flabby parts that don't need to be there stay in. What's up, Orville season 3?
And streaming series can have as many episodes as the budget allows. So you can take your way-too-long episode script and chop it into 3—who cares? Only now, those flabby boring scenes that don't need to be there take up entire episodes, before the "end" of that arc arrives and things actually happen. Hey there, Andor.
Since Lost started the trend, serialised shows (one longer story told in many parts) are a lot more popular nowadays. These longer stories can really grab your attention with their intricate plots and ongoing suspense over "What's going to happen next?" Although...
Serial writers often forget to make stories interesting as you watch them.
Game of Thrones has a strong over-arching narrative about houses vying for power, back-stabbing ne'er-do-wells, and shocking twists of main characters getting shuffled off the mortal coil. But in the early days, each episode followed one clear thread, ending in a satisfying (or maybe horrifying) conclusion.
As the seasons went on, however, the threads became more spread out. Instead of getting one arc from beginning to end, we would get the middle of 10 different arcs. And, as none of those arcs would end, not a lot of satisfaction would be gotten that way. All you'd have is a tiny bit of progress on all the different arcs, making each individual episode quite uneventful.
...Until the final episode of the season, where everything is--in theory--wrapped up in one go. That's a tall order! And if it isn't handled just right, the whole season, all those threads, all those hours of watch-time can feel like a huge waste of time.
I love slow-burn storytelling. But if the ends don't justify the means (or the ending doesn't justify the slowness of the burn), it's always going to be a let-down. And if the slowness is to the degree of 10 hours of watch-time over 10 weeks of your life... that pay-off better be darned mind-blowing!
The pool of light was luring me in itself but, the glow was blindingly relaxing. Inside the tunnel of light was a blob of a blaze with different patches of light all shining these different colours and.... upon looking closely they all looked kind of like, places, places I had seen before in my life, or places I had never seen before but which looked surprisingly familiar to me. I didn't know where I was going but I did know that I wasn't going there willingly, well, not entirely willingly. I could feel someone pushing me into the portals of light, I tried to see who it was but with gravity in hell and my hair in air, all I could see were my honey brown hair all about the place.
My feet were hooked in the pane of my window as I was trying to force myself away from the pool. But as hard as I was trying to pull myself into my nook, I felt a force almost as strong as mine trying to sling me into the pool. And so I went in there, ecstatically defying Newton's pride and peeked into a portal. It looked like some familiar scene from my past as if I had seen the place but my brain had long resolved to bury any memories pertaining to this place. Intrigued as I was, I was pushed inside rather than me going in with mere self force. I turned back to see who it was but, could only catch a glimpse of the tuft of the honey brown hair. 'Gravity really seems to be on its day off', I thought. Nevertheless, I ventured forth because you don't let a tuft of honey brown hair distract you from flying into a strangely familiar place.
Being pushed into the first portal, I was in awe. I was in a place I knew and in one I didn't. I could feel my brain reaching out into its depths to fish out some memory related to this place but in absolute vain. I walked around the desolate road, alone, with no one around for miles and miles. Dalton Highway. That's it. That's where I am, in Alaska but, how were I to know it? I had never been to America, let alone Alaska. But as I was thinking this, I realised how little I could see. I could barely see my hands and yes, I had my glasses on.
So I was walking, along the desolate road, seeing absolutely nothing, just the clouds , descended from the sky to the ground, looking at the ground, I could see nothing but the gravel below and the white ahead. Walking a few steps ahead, I saw that I was losing my balance and almost twisted my foot twice but, as I had to, I kept walking ahead. I was walking when I fell, but didn't fall onto the ground and the gravel. Oh no no no. I wished I'd have fallen onto the gravel. But instead I fell in a manhole. A long 10 metre manhole with no safety harness and not a soul around to hear my cry. But how was I to know when I didn't even try to reach out. If there is no help in sight, is it even worth crying out for it?. Would any of us ever even talk about our pains if we didn't have anyone to listen to them? Would we even consider it pain? Or think about it in terms of pain? Maybe we would. Maybe we wouldn't. But in that deep pitch of darkness, with the clouds from the heavens above, I didn't have a listener and so I didn't have a voice. People say you need to be a listener to know people but, they never say how much you need a voice to find a listener. Maybe there would have been one listener out there, maybe there wouldn't have been but, I didn't know and I would perhaps never know.
However, as I was approaching my upcoming end, or what I thought was my end, I wasn’t quite ending. Instead, I found myself in the same pool of light as I had originally found my way to the road. I found myself drifting out of some light and into another. This time, I tried to resist. And resisted hard. But I felt the same amount of force that I was exerting to be exerted back at me. I gathered my floating brown hair and let myself be drifted all whilst asking myself, 'Why am I going in there? Will I even make out alive?' but death is an adventure, a mystery, a suspense and what a beautiful, luring suspense is it. You get a definite way out of the mystery but, it is the most definite decision or sometimes, if you are lucky, a compulsion. People like to portray it in the most gruesome sense, as a thief, show it wielding a scythe but, in this case, it was me with the scythe. Death doesn't wield the scythe, it bestows it upon you and you take it for what it is, an honour. But there is something relaxing about having the scythe in your hands, to know that it's you who is in charge of the scything. And so here I was scything myself as I let myself drift into the second portal, into the blinding yet relaxing light.
The next portal was easy to recognise, it was my from my past but I found it in my present. It was weird, I saw this house last when I was 10 and now here I am at 16 and I recognise it instantly. The wood is old and bleak, the metal rusted. I went in and saw the mantelpiece. We had left this one behind in a hurry. How do you leave such an essential element of a room while moving, I thought? Maybe, the things you see everyday become invisible when you begin seeing them everyday and then just render themselves visible when they are no longer there. I move forth and check the stove, recalling the days when my dad was trying to teach me some family recipes, bathing in nostalgia
Chapter 6 of the serialised Dreams AU. Follow the Tags below for the previous parts if you missed them, or check it all out on AO3 if that’s your preferred poison.
Hope you enjoy :)
Wei Wuxian made his way back to their house, hoping he might be able to calm Jiang Cheng down and maybe pull back, or clarify, some of the things he’d said in the heat of his temper. He was so protective of Jiang Cheng, who to all intents had purposes, was his little brother even though they weren’t related by blood, that he hadn’t really thought what he’d said through. And he had hurt Jiang Cheng.
He’d hurt Lan Xichen too, but that he didn’t care about, his brother was his only concern.
Jiang Cheng was already in bed and had his back turned so he faced the wall when Wei Wuxian arrived.
He moved across the room knelt down next to the bed.
“Jiang Cheng”
The other ignored him, but Wei Wuxian could tell he wasn’t asleep as he was too tense.
“Jiang Cheng” he said again; “I know you aren’t sleeping, don’t ignore me”
“Leave me alone, Wei Wuxian” he could hear the upset in Jiang Cheng’s voice and he felt even worse.
“Come Jiang Cheng, lets talk, please. I said some silly things that probably stand further explanation. I was protecting you a little too zealously and I interfered in something that I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry”
“Sometimes it feels like you want to keep me in your shadow forever. That you don’t want me to grow up, that you don’t want me to ever have something before you”
The tearful litany made Wei Wuxian pause, that had never been his intention, but had it seemed to the other like that? Maybe, because of Jiang Cheng’s own insecurities.
“I would never do that to you, A-Cheng” he reached out to stroke a hand over Jiang Cheng’s hair soothingly.
The other sat up, slapping his hand away, “Leave me alone”
“Don’t be like that, didi” Wei Wuxian moved to sit on the edge of his bed and put his hands on Jiang Cheng’s shoulders, “I know I was very wrong to have interfered. You’re right, you are an adult, and able to make your own decisions, whether they worry me or not is my problem to deal with and not yours. You should have that talk with Lan Xichen, I don’t understand the whole Spiritmatch thing and I jumped in with very little information. You should let him tell you himself. I am sorry I attacked you both like that, and that you feel like I’m trying to keep you in my shadow, it’s the last thing I want” he realised the other was crying and he couldn’t bear it, “A-Cheng, don’t do that, its not so bad, honestly it will work out, you’ll see” he folded the other into a soothing hug; Jiang Cheng had unusually met him half way which was probably an indication of how hurt the other was, normally he’d rather punch Wei Wuxian in the shoulder than accept it to cry on.
“Just once it would be nice if someone chose me because it was me, not because I was anyone’s brother or son or fated one, just because I was the choice they wanted to make” Wei Wuxian stroked his back and continued to make soothing noises.
***
The next morning Wei Wuxian was up and away before Jiang Cheng woke up; something Jiang Cheng was thankful for, too embarrassed to face him this morning after his emotional meltdown. He wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Wei Wuxian had arranged it for that very reason, to save Jiang Cheng some face.
He decided to take a quick breakfast in the house and spend the day out in the woods, walking, perhaps practising his sword forms, and generally clearing his head.
Along with the tray of food that was delivered by one of the Wen’s servants was a note from Wen Qing, asking him to make himself available tomorrow for an examination.
He sent a positive response back, finished his meal in peace and disappeared for the day after leaving a brief note for Wei Wuxian explaining he’d be back later in case the other returned before him.
***
Wei Wuxian was on his way back to the house to check on Jiang Cheng when he ran into Mo Xuanyu and Wen Ning. Wei Wuxian was of course now accompanied by his permanent shadow, Lan er-gongzi.
“Hello you two, what are you up to?” Wei Wuxian greeted them.
He’d given some careful consideration overnight, given that they suspected Wen Ning was a half demon, to how he would react on meeting the other. He had decided to treat him as he would anyway, or at least as closely as he could; Wen Ning had risked himself to save Mo Xuanyu yesterday, and that was all he needed to know about the other until something happened to change his mind. Even if he was half demon that wasn’t enough to hold against him because he genuinely seemed like a shy, kind young man.
“Wen Ning is a crack shot archer, he was going to show me some tips at the training range”
“Ah, sounds good, perhaps you could give me some tips too one day soon, Wen Ning” Wei Wuxian offered, which made Wen Ning blush.
“I’m sure Wei-gongzi is too skilled to need my guidance” he looked up as Wei Wuxian patted his shoulder.
“Nonsense, I’m always eager to learn something new. How are you feeling after your injuries yesterday?”
“I’m fine, Jiejie tended to them in the evening and they’re almost healed now”
“You’re very lucky, Wen Qing is a very accomplished healer I understand” Wen Ning nodded, obviously proud of his elder sister.
“She is greatly favoured by Wen-zongzhu, is she not? A great honour” it was the first time Lan Wangji had spoken to the pair and Wen Ning looked a little uncomfortable. Which seemed to be the effect Lan Wangji had on most people as they didn’t know how to deal with his dispassionate nature. Neither did Wei Wuxian really, but he was the type of person who would learn as they went along, it wasn’t something that worried him.
Wen Ning nodded again at Lan Wangji’s statement.
Mo Xuanyu piped up then, as if coming to rescue Wen Ning from his discomfort, “Will you come with us to the range?”
“I may join you later, I want to see what Jiang Cheng is up to first, he hasn’t shown himself yet this morning. Don’t wait for me!” he waved as they moved on towards the accommodations.
They were almost there when Lan Wangji murmured his name softly.
“Wei Ying...”
“No” he turned, to the other and gave him a determined look. “I won’t treat him any differently until it’s proved he doesn’t deserve my trust”
“Ironically better than you treated my brother” he could see the moment Lan Wangji’s soul left his body as he realised he’d put his foot in his mouth again. And although Wei Wuxian accepted the comment was accurate and he didn’t take offence he couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease the other.
“It’s like you’re trying to remain a virgin for the rest of your life, Lan Zhan” Wei Wuxian told him.
“Wei Ying” Lan Wangji exclaimed, scandalised at his comment. Wei Wuxian noted the fact that although the other’s perfect, jade-like face didn’t flush with his embarrassment, his neck and his earlobes did. It was actually quite adorable and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to scratch at Lan Wangji’s chin. Lan Wangji seemed react to the caress like a cat, and Wei Wuxian wouldn’t have been entirely surprised to hear a purr come from the other’s throat.
***
He found the note from Jiang Cheng on his return so they decided to return to the Lan’s house instead and see how Lan Xichen fared with his research.
“Xiongzhang” Lan Wangji greeted his brother as they entered, Lan Xichen didn’t look up.
“Wangji, Wei-gongzi” he acknowledged shortly.
It seemed Wei Wuxian still hadn’t been forgiven for his transgression last night.
Not that he had expected to be yet.
“Have you discovered anything?”
“I’m still looking, something that would go much more smoothly if I was left undisturbed” an annoyed Lan Xichen was almost alien to Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian could tell he didn’t know how to handle his elder brother at the moment.
Wei Wuxian had been the cause, and although he couldn’t magically fix it he could certainly try and help give them the opportunity to fix it themselves.
He moved towards the table and sank to his knees next to it, edging into Lan Xichen’s eyeline. He saw the other redouble his efforts to ignore Wei Wuxian and focus on the text in front of him; but he edged closer and waved the paper, “Zewu-jun, a peace offering”
Lan Xichen finally looked up from the book and fixed him with a look, “There is no need, please do not interfere more than you already have, Wei-gongzi. I can certainly do without your version of assistance”
“Xiongzhang...” Wei Wuxian held his hand up to halt Lan Wangji from coming to his defence; he unfolded the paper and placed it in front of Lan Xichen.
The other looked at it, had almost risen to his feet before he even realised it, then sank back down, pushing the paper away.
“I should finish here” he said finally, and waved a dismissing hand at them both.
“Xiongzhang, you have been here all morning, taking a break for a while will not hurt” Lan Wangji argued.
And Wei Wuxian was able to watch the war in his eyes, eventually his need to talk to Jiang Cheng won out and he closed the book, rose, picked up Shuoyue, and left.
Wei Wuxian was about to open one of the books when there was a knock at the door. He picked them up and shoved them under the bedclothes on one of the beds while Lan Wangji moved to the door; he opened it when he was sure Wei Wuxian had hidden them from sight well enough.
“Luo-guniang” he greeted and stood back to allow her entry.
“Lan er-gongzi, Wei-gongzi” she cupped her hands and bowed, and they returned the salute.
“I have important news. Have you heard yet? One of the disciples from Wu Sect was sent home this morning, she took ill yesterday evening. After a consultation with Wen Qing”
“Took ill?”
“Jin-gongzi saw her leave, he said she looked confused, and drained, like she was completely exhausted. How could it be possible to become so sick in just a few hours and not have the best healer in the land notice anything wrong with you before you did?”
While he had concerns over what she said, Wei Wuxian was also curious to know why she had come to report it to them.
“Why are you telling us?” he asked, his arms folded.
“Wei-gongzi, I didn’t come in off the farm yesterday. It’s obvious more than meets the eye is going on here, we all suspected it from the very night of the feast, and your suddenly becoming bosom friends with Lan er-gongzi and keeping quiet about what you saw yesterday makes it very obvious you’re getting involved in something right up to your knees”
He marvelled at her deductive reasoning; she was a formidable woman, keeping quiet, taking everything in around her, absorbing the available information like a sponge, then acting when she saw it as time.
“I’m neither confirming nor denying any such involvement”
“If you’re not involved you won’t want the rest of the information I have then...” she shrugged and made to walk away, but Wei Wuxian dashed forward and took hold of her arms gently.
“Now, Luo-guniang, don’t be like that. Perhaps you could tell us for completeness” Wei Wuxian suggested, raising his eyebrows in question.
“I will tell you, but when you investigate this, I want to be involved”
“Absolutely not” Lan Wangji said as Wei Wuxian agreed.
Wei Wuxian looked at Lan Wangji, “Lan Zhan, Luo-guniang is a very strong cultivator, and obviously a very clever one, she won’t hold us up”
“There will be no us, if there is danger the only people involved will be Xiongzhang or I, this is our task, not yours, nor Luo-guniang's”
“Am I having these nightmares? Is Luo Qingyang? It’s very much our business too. You don’t get to decide whether we sit and watch or not Lan Zhan, you may say we can’t go with you, but that certainly doesn’t mean I’ll sit and wait for you to come back, I’ll go myself if I have to”
“You won’t, I’ll be with you too” Luo Qingyang confirmed and again the look of frustration crossed Lan Wangji’s face but he must surely know enough about Wei Wuxian’s personality to know the other wouldn’t sit gamely by in a situation like this.
Lan Wangji gave the briefest of nods eventually, his mouth tight.
“A member of the Jin clan has been invited to an examination tonight, I think we should follow them and try to find out what we can about what happens when Wen Qing runs an examination, and see if there’s any link to the state the Wu sect disciple was in when she left for home this morning” Luo Qingyang informed them.
***
Wen Ruohan listened to Wen Qing’s report and the failure of the second test subject. They had a third planned for that evening, but she had doubts about viability of this one too.
“This is all very disappointing” he drummed the fingers of his right hand on the arm of his throne-like chair, and Wen Qing bowed her head.
“I’m sorry, Wen-zongzhu. The failure is mine”
Although he was very disappointed with their lack of progress he was fully aware this was likely to take time, eventually the cultivators here would start to suspect something but he didn’t think that it should be yet, and really what they were looking for was trial and error, like any experiment. If they knew the perfect solution they wouldn’t even need to undertake this part of the plan.
“Nonsense, these things take time, we understood that, I’m merely frustrated and wish to be making progress. It will come though. Perhaps we start testing the cultivators who had the strongest reactions to the dreams”
“I have already arranged for one to be tested tomorrow, Wen-zongzhu, I hope you won’t be disappointed for too much longer” she bowed again; there was a lot of tension in her shoulders, he hoped she wasn’t having second thoughts about her involvement with their work here, it would have some rather dire consequences for everyone involved if she did.
Wen Ruohan resolved to keep a close watch on his star healer.
I know some of you are following it and what started out to be a short story instead seems to be turning into a serialised much longer story which is taking on a life of its own and has now been moved to my new website.
If you have followed the first four chapters, 1 of which was written by the wonderful Carol at https://blondieaka.wordpress.com/ or you would like to…
Yet more from the Lost World* of Richard Littlejohn**, a rosy-tinted memoir of a childhood spent growing up in a happier***, more secure****, more traditional***** Britain.
CHUCKLE as Richard reveals that he doesn't mind a bit of diversity at all, just so long as it's leering at images of African tribeswomen in a copy of National Geographic!
FEEL A CHILL as he talks in detail about the level of nudity found in Health & Efficiency Magazine!
LAUGH as Richard sympathises with the plight of women working in the sex industry today!
GRIMACE as the harrowing account of his childhood struggle with verrucas spins off into how modern councils just don't get on with it any more!
SCREAM INSIDE NOW AND FOR EVERMORE as the words "resident nonce" imprint themselves on your brain and Richard details the early steps of his sexual education!
BE FRANKLY AMAZED AT THE SHEER FUCKING LEVEL OF GALL PUT ON DISPLAY as Richard, a man who wrote an article savaging Lucy Meadows, a transgender teacher that was so awful that after she committed suicide the coroner singled out the Daily Mail in a comment for "...character assassination, having sought to ridicule and humiliate Lucy Meadows and bring into question her right to pursue her career as a teacher”, frowns on "paedo mania" and angry mobs fired up by hysteria generated from irresponsible reporting in the newspapers!
SHAKE ANGRY FISTS AT THE WORLD as the disgusting spread of PC "diversity" is revealed to have even infected the world of potato crisps. You couldn't make it up! Of course, you could always just buy some plain crisps, but you definitely couldn't make it up!
