Exchange of Realities

Some people like their stories short and sweet, but many don’t. We’ve all seen examples of this, whether it’s a novel series you could build a play-fort out of, a TV show that just won’t end, a webcomic that takes a month to archive-trawl or a game that’s been going strong for the last eight years. It might be intimidating from the outside, but clearly someone’s interested in it.

Photo by hbrinkman

Why do such long stories? People claim a lot of reasons for this. Detractors will often talk about “Cash cows” or “Cottage industries”, and it’s hard not to blame them; there are a lot of series which were obviously stretched for stretching’s own sake and spun off because there was still value. Some people just don’t feel comfortable starting a new world when they have a perfectly good old one, or don’t want to let go of their primary characters.

Of course, there are other benefits to having a long story, ones that don’t carry overtones of selling out. Don’t believe me? Keep reading.

One is world development. In a short, self-contained game or a single novel, there’s only so much detail you can go into; people will complain if there’s too high a detail to story ratio, calling it “just an excuse to show off your pet project”. On the other hand, the more plot you’re going through, the more setting detail you can add without compromising the plot: setting ratio. Similarly, a longer narrative is likely to hit more locations and times over its course, providing even more ready reasons to go into detail.

Similarly, a longer narrative has more room for accommodating individual character plotlines. When you’ve got limited time in which to work, focusing on side characters sticks out more, as their stories take up a greater fraction of the plotline. But in a long-running story, any given individual plotline is a smaller fraction of the overall length, and as a result doesn’t stick out as much.

There’s also attachment. While this can be an author/GM thing, that isn’t always the case. The audience gets attached as well; some people to the characters, some to the world, some to the overall feel that the stories give. Sure, readers can reread, but it isn’t the same, and most gamers just don’t have the rereading option. I’ve found myself to have this problem a lot when playing video games; I’ll get near the end and just stop short, since I don’t want to finish. I doubt I’m alone.

Sometimes a story just can’t be told in a short space. There’s too much to fit in: details that make it make sense, obstacles that need to be overcome, dynamics to express, places to visit…. well, you get the idea. What could be summarized as a simple quest kicks into overdrive, and next thing you know you have a trilogy or a four-year game.

And sometimes it’s clear that there’s still something there. It’s easy to mistake this for the cottage industry phenomenon or the author trying to squeeze water from a stone at a distance, but they aren’t quite the same thing. There’s still a story left in this world, a strong one that leaps up and begs to be told; it would be a shame not to tell it.

But just because a story seems like it should be long doesn’t mean it has to be. Tomorrow: what can go wrong with an extended narrative?