Oh yeah, I can't believe I didn't mention time loops. Another genre staple, that even more explicitly serves that purpose.I mean, just consider the fact that the top two finished stories on Royal Road (Mother of Learning and Perfect Run) are both explicitly about time loops.
Yes, it's an obvious place to break the books up. But that wasn't my point. My point was that there wasn't a complete story there. It's an issue I concern myself with because that's why I read.
And that's fine. I don't think we're contradicting each other (or trying to); I think we're pretty much making orthogonal points.
So what's the draw of reading fiction if you don't care about the story?
I'm generally much more concerned with scenes, character moments, and dialogue than I am with the overall structure and payoff.
Gotcha. It’s not the structure I care about, but the payoff. Set up and resolution. I’m more interested in plot than character. Good scenes and dialogue, absolutely. Gimme an action-adventure story where there’s a good set up and payoff and I’m happy. But then, I also love New Wave sci-fi and Philip K Dick mindscrew sci-fi. For me, there story has to go somewhere…and not just down to the next floor.
Fair. Web serial fiction is much more like a seasons-long procedural TV series, like a Grey's Anatomy or a NCIS. The individual arcs are fine, but you're more there for the vibe and hanging out with the characters. The pinnacle of this form being, of course, The Wandering Inn.
I just finished Mushoku Tensei. It was originally web-serialized fiction. It seemed to have coherent novel arcs. Maybe it’s more the progression/littpg thing you were saying upthread.
Yea, that could definitely be true; most of the web serials I've read have been in the progression fantasy genre (Wildbow's stuff like Worm and Pact would be the exceptions.)
