: Re: Avoiding episodic writing I'm working on a novel that will have at least three distinct sections in three distinct locations (the two main characters start in the first location, travel through

@LarsenBagley300

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I tend to write my novels as way more episodic than this (to the point that they are episodic short stories with connected characters... and the antagonist of the final couple of chapters is nominally present in chapters where they aren't the villain of that chapter).

There are some books that are even less connected than that, such as the Encyclopedia Brown series, which had ten stories with only the titular protagonist and his best friend, Sally, being part of the story in all 10 chapters. Often though there were recurring antagonists or clients of the boy detective that would be present in similarly numbered chapters in the book. For example, the first chapter would be Brown solving a case that his father, the police chief of the town, was having trouble with over the course of dinner (always before desert) and chapters 2 and 3 would feature the antagonist of neighborhood bully Bugs Meanie, with chapter 2 usually being a crime caused solely by Meanie and Chapter 3 featuring a crime Meanie pulled off with his bully gang "The Tigers". There was a final recurring antagonist named Wilford Wiggens who usually was once a book but had no specifically set chapter number devoted to him. His schtick was conning neighborhood kids with get rich quick schemes that Brown, Sally, and a one off kid acting as the client for that story all agreed was a rather suspect claim. Wiggins was noted for his attention to detail with his numerous examples and would give the demonstrations knowing Brown was there trying to reveal the con because not showing it would tip off the crowd that there was some scam... even if they couldn't say what it was.

At best, your story sounds like a Star Wars film (the first two trilogies) which George Lucas had stated he would try to include three distinct environments into each film for the story's bulk (especially noticable in the first trilogy. Emipre is the most straight forward with icy Hoth in the first act, swampy Degobah in the second, and Bespin's Cloud City, which shifts between Urban Palacial and Industrial plant depending on the Hero's perceived feeling of threat (Compare the droid shop where C-3PO is blasted by the unseen threat to the hall the shop door closes on before Chewbacca can see into the shop).

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