abstract:This essay proposes a set of terms for considering serial narratives across media, by focusing on the defining quality of seriality: the rhythmic, compositional, and sequential relationship between one object and a subsequent, apparently similar object. The six terms—iteration, multiplicity, momentum, world-building, personnel, and design—address the methods by which serial installments relate to one another, and build stories, environments, and expectations over time. These elements operate not as necessities but as options for enunciating the structures and experiences that serials provide for their audiences; some serials may choose to minimize or work against these elements. Drawing on examples from television, the novel, cinema, podcasts, and comics, the argument makes a case for the centrality of a collection of characteristics that together articulate the narrative strategies that installment-publication continues to privilege. Serials that resist these six elements most persistently represent examples of "minimalist seriality"; serials that embrace them most robustly represent examples of "maximalist seriality." The essay concludes with the broader claim that all serials, whatever their era or context, essentially contain both "Victorian" and "Modernist" energies—the interplay between a sustained, immersive, imaginative investment and the interruptive, fragmented effect of distinct installments.

中文翻译：

---

连续叙事的六要素

摘要：本文提出了一组用于考虑跨媒体系列叙事的术语，重点关注连续性的定义质量：一个物体与随后的、明显相似的物体之间的节奏、组成和顺序关系。六个术语——迭代、多重性、动量、世界构建、人员和设计——解决了系列分期付款相互关联的方法，以及随着时间的推移构建故事、环境和期望的方法。这些元素不是必需品，而是作为表达连续剧为其观众提供的结构和体验的选项；一些连续剧可能会选择最小化或反对这些元素。借鉴电视、小说、电影、播客和漫画中的例子，该论点证明了一系列特征的核心地位，这些特征共同阐明了分期出版继续享有特权的叙事策略。抵制这六种元素的连续剧最持久地代表了“极简连续剧”的例子；包含它们的连续剧最有力地代表了“最大化连续剧”的例子。这篇文章以更广泛的主张结束，即所有连续剧，无论其时代或背景如何，本质上都包含“维多利亚时代”和“现代主义”能量——持续、身临其境、富有想象力的投资与不同分期付款的中断、碎片化效果之间的相互作用。抵制这六种元素的连续剧最持久地代表了“极简连续剧”的例子；拥抱它们的连续剧最有力地代表了“最大化连续剧”的例子。这篇文章以更广泛的主张结束，即所有连续剧，无论其时代或背景如何，本质上都包含“维多利亚时代”和“现代主义”能量——持续、身临其境、富有想象力的投资与不同分期付款的中断、碎片化效果之间的相互作用。抵制这六种元素的连续剧最持久地代表了“极简连续剧”的例子；拥抱它们的连续剧最有力地代表了“最大化连续剧”的例子。这篇文章以更广泛的主张结束，即所有连续剧，无论其时代或背景如何，本质上都包含“维多利亚时代”和“现代主义”能量——持续、身临其境、富有想象力的投资与不同分期付款的中断、碎片化效果之间的相互作用。