Ah yes, another one of those Episodics vs Editorials post…how lovely. Yes I’m aware that this has been discussed, debated, abused countless times in the past across the blogosphere; but what am I supposed to do? Bloggers will eventually come across this inevitability; my time just happened to be now (or more specifically, around the time after Gargron’s post was published).
So why put Episodics up for discussion? There are two reasons: (1) a response to Icystorm’s lists of ‘boring repeats’ of K-ON bloggers (where boring is something I wholeheartedly agree with…and yes. I’m one of them) and (2) my constant pursuit of anything new, be it an object, a trick, or methodology; in this case, my style of blogging. Indeed, I’m aware how a significant amount of the masses immediately associate Episodics with aggregator spam, excessively mundane summaries, and original content whose originality is lost as a product of similarity (to other posts) and their multiple instances. Adding to the list, there’s also a very high potential where Episodics cease to be something of the fun stuffs, and in some extreme cases, become the reason why people quit blogging. If anything, I should know that the best since I myself am currently (though temporarily) an Episodic blogger. I have traversed the classical format of Episodics, best described by animanachronism as sonnets…shit didn’t work out since blogging became a drag and sent me to a two-month hiatus; and then I tried a modified version by eliminating summaries. The latter worked out for a while until blogging lost its fluidity and eventually became another drag. Long story short…shit also did not work out; and just in time, since my self-imposed quota of trying things anew just sounded off.
So why go about (sort of..not really) defending Episodics after all the dissecting efforts made to reveal how its shortcomings outweigh any good that comes out of it? The answer is simple…a lot of us seems to have forgotten that Episodic blogging has found its way to becoming the default style for newbie bloggers. I feel uneasy whenever somebody shoots down somebody else just because they’re doing what almost every other newbie is doing. I feel even worse when the aggressor is one of those seniors, folks who have been aniblogging for a while. Way to go…that’s one way to give off a public perception. I don’t mind constructive criticism, or even no criticism at all. I do mind when episodic bloggers get treated like tumors just because they seem to come about everywhere nowadays with redudnant posts.
I’m not asking the bloggers of the editorial genre to change their preferences as to which of the two styles is superior; I simply want you to put some sense of leniency towards them. If any of you absolutely have to treat Episodics as a problem, then at least think of them as a self-solving problem. In a typical case of Episodic blogging, there will be a point of time where weekly routines of posting will become grueling to which any of the three things can happen: (1) blogger quits, (2) blogger reconsiders an alternative to Episodics, and (3) blogger will become a prominent Episodic blogger. Regardless of what the outcome will be, either Episodics will get rid of itself or transcend into one of those exceptional Episodic blogs. Among the three cases, I think the second one is worth mentioning, not to mention how it introduced me to a new concept on all things Episodic and Editorial. I really hate to think of the two as two separate entities; rather, I’d like to think of them as two phases to one system where Episodics become obsolete and be eventually replaced with Editorials. Want proof? Go look around the blogosphere; you’ll find a signficant number of people who do Editorials that have roots as Episodic bloggers.
Bottomline, it looks to me as if the net merits (merits minus shortcomings) of Editorials do exceed the ones of Episodics. In any case, I’m itching to see how it would be like if every blog were Editorials. On the other hand, I strongly believe bashing about unsuspecting Episodic bloggers is incosiderate and/or unmindful. Seeing the ‘light’ of which many of you call Editorials is a wonderful thing, but only when Episodic bloggers realize it by themselves instead of being coerced indirectly through negative criticisms.
And for fairness’ sake a message: to all Episodic bloggers out there (especially the ones who just started out)…do whatever it takes to retain the fun factor in blogging. Just so you know, if Episodics cease to function, why not evolve consider Editorials instead.
Let the conflagration begin…
{ 6 comments }
Good points. I don’t really have anything to say in response. I don’t want to be discouraging. New bloggers are always welcome (unless you’re a douchebag). It’s just that I’d rather see posts with JUST opinions and thoughts rather than a summary added onto it. It makes going through the twenty, thirty, forty posts on a single episode much simpler because then I don’t have to read the same things over and over. Sure, I’ll also end up reading similar opinions over and over, but I’d rather read those than the same facts over and over and over and over…
Episodics are like office water coolers… people gather around them to talk about the show they watched the night before.
The more successful ones (I don’t mean just aggregate traffic and comment volume) will be those who attract the best commenters (those who themselves have interesting things to say about the anime – perhaps non-episodic bloggers themselves who use the opportunity to talk about shows on an episodic basis), and these will be people who I think who network a lot and have good ties within the sphere.
I don’t write episodic posts because I don’t have the skill and stamina to keep things interesting, and I don’t have the energy to get people to gather in my comments section to talk to each other about shows given that twitter, IM, IRC, and forums provide a similar service.
As for editorial blogging, one can really talk about anything – and this freedom is quite enjoyable I imagine for other writers aside from myself.
ghostlightning’s last blog post..Keeping it Real Robot
I’m not really sure if I count as more editorial (?) or more episodic. I think I’m half-half, really. I’ve never followed the “sonnet” model (“Why do you need a summary if your readers need to have seen the episode to understand your comments?” is what I’ve always thought) though, so maybe I lean towards editorials? :-S
As for the newbie bloggers (stop staring at me!) –> episodics trend, I’d say that’s the result of two things:
1) It’s known to work for a few blogs (RandomC, Star Crossed, etc.).
2) You don’t need to think of what to blog about.
fangzhao’s last blog post..The three guys met : an alternate interpretation of School Days
episodic blogging has an actual advantage for the blogger though. It helps you keep up with your blogging. Editorial blogging would probably be better, but..it is hard to write about. However, some bloggers like Fuyu and Xiao (when they’re blogging Shugo Chara at least) write essays for their episodic blogging, putting a lot of thought into them. So I think to some extent episodic and editorial blogging can co-exist together.
warriorhope’s last blog post..07-Ghost-Episode 2
RP Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 8:28 am
I think every episodic blog post has a certain element of editorial in it, so I feel like it’s a little silly to completely separate the two. But I generally agree with what you’re saying.
As a relative noob, I do want to note one thing about episodics. Similar to what warriorhope mentions, because you’re committing yourself to a steady stream of writing, I feel like it’s really the best way to learn and refine your “voice.” And the one thing that really good editorial blogs have is a very distinct voice. While some folks, like ghostlightning, may be naturally gifted and have a compelling voice right from the start, I think for most others (myself included), we find our voice and refine it as we go along.
RP’s last blog post..Kurokami: Black God, episode 12 – Something semi-witty goes here
I would just like to say right away how distracted I got while reading this with Rin in kitty pose staring up at me.
Anyway, my response to the episodic vs. editorial debate is always the same. Episodics everywhere gets boring to read, but it’s often the easiest thing to write, at least for me when I have the fangirl power behind it. Otherwise for editorials you have to come up with one topic and a lot of random observations get ignored (this is why my Shugo Chara posts are waaay too long, everything gets included).
To me the answer is just to write whatever your heart desires and to read whatever you wish to read as well. Though oddly enough I usually read more editorials after a season gets started. I think that’s more because I don’t always watch an episode ASAP and when I do get to it, it feels weird going back to someone’s old post when they’ve done 3 or so since.
FuyuMaiden’s last blog post..Weekly Extra – The Cold from HELL
Awesome points 7. ^^
I guess I can summarize what I believe everyone here is saying in the comments: both episodic and editorial have their pluses and minuses. Some posts have elements of both.
And my stance? I agree with Fuyu. Read what you want. Write what you want. Blogging is free and fun. It’s a hobby. I don’t want anyone to tell me what to do with my hobbies so it’s the same scenario here. In the words of one of the best villains of all time, the Joker: “Why so serious?”
Minnie’s last blog post..Eden of the East Episode 2: “As Long As You Have Money, There’s No Difference Between Adults and Children”
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