Many of the most popular and influential books on writing drama and fiction focus on plot structure—and rightly so, for without structure narratives could not function. Considerably less emphasis has been placed on understanding serialized narratives and how their structures differ from non-serialized narratives. Over the next few entries in this blog, I intend to articulate some of my ideas and observations about serialized narratives. But first I shall preface those future entries by positing some terms.
The first term I would like to introduce is supercomposition. A supercomposition is an artwork composed of smaller artworks, or subcompositions. An important feature of supercompositions is that their subcompositions can also be conceptualized as full, self-standing works in their own rite. For example, the Star Wars Saga is a supercomposition so far composed of seven subcompositions—specifically, feature films—and these seven films can be analyzed individually or cumulatively. The film A New Hope is a subcomposition of the Star Wars Saga, and the Star Wars Saga is a supercomposition of A New Hope. To further complicate things, the subcompositions of a given supercomposition can be supercompositions themselves; sticking with Star Wars, the Star Wars Saga is a supercomposition but is also a subcomposition of the larger Star Wars multimedia hyperseries.
What is a hyperseries? It is related to three other words I’d also like to discuss: subseries, superseries, and metaseries. Of these, subseries is the one I most frequently encounter. Superseries is less commonly used, but it exists as a logical complement to subseries. One occasionally encounters the word metaseries, but I’ve mostly seen it used as a synonym of superseries, and I would like to differentiate the two terms. Hyperseries is a word I’ve never encountered outside of my own work, but it’s such a straightforward etymological construction that I’m hesitant to claim it as my creation.
I shall now posit my recommended definitions for the aforementioned terms, in order of complexity:
- As stated before, subseries and superseries complement each other. A subseries is a division of a larger series of works, and a superseries is a series that is divided into smaller segments. For example, the Super Mario Bros. video game series is a subseries of the larger Super Mario series, which is superordinate to several subseries, including Super Mario Bros., Super Mario World, and Super Mario Galaxy, among others.
- A hyperseries is a more complex variant of a series. The difference between a hyperseries and simpler series lies in the manner in which the constituent works of the series relate to each other. The works that constitute a traditional series can be arranged in a sequence according to some internal scheme; chronological order most often serves as this organizing principle, even if the chronology of a given supercomposition is relatively complex. A hyperseries, on the other hand, cannot be conceptualized as a single sequence but rather is conceptualized as a collection of related sequences that diverge and perhaps recombine but all stem from a single point, or initiation. Hyperseries often include spin-off works in addition to their main entries. As indicated before, I consider the Star Wars multimedia project to be a hyperseries. While all works in the grander narrative of Star Wars relate back in some way to A New Hope, the initiation of both the Star Wars Saga and Star Wars as a larger narrative entity, the series nevertheless splits into several narrative strands. For instance, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a spin-off of the Star Wars Saga but is not a part of it, although Rogue One and the Star Wars Saga are both subcompositions of Star Wars, the multimedia hyperseries. I will further describe hyperseries and spin-offs, using Star Wars as an example, in a later post.
- A metaseries is like a hyperseries in that it contains multiple related sequences of works, but it is different in that a metaseries contains two or more initiations. Metaseries are relatively rare, but they do exist. One of the most popular and influential metaseries of all time is the DC Universe. The DC Universe consists of a vast network of interrelated narratives, but the constituent works do not all extend from the same initiation. For instance, Superman and Batman both existed independently of each other and starred as the main characters of popular comic book series before DC Comics made any intimations that the two characters might exist in the same fictional universe. As such, Action Comics #1 can be considered the initiation of the Superman superseries, Detective Comics #27 can be considered the initiation of the Batman superseries, and those two issues can be considered two of the many initiations of the DC Universe.
I’d like to conclude by introducing one final term related to supercompositions, defining element. A single narrative is defined by its premise, but supercompositions often include sequences of narratives, so these supercompositions need to possess some commonality that links the subcompositions together under the banner of the supercomposition; this commonality is the defining element. It can be almost anything: a character, an object, a setting, or even a shared theme or style. The hierarchical nature of supercompositions extends to defining elements, as well. The Marvel Cinematic Universe film hyperseries is defined by its fictional universe, but the Iron Man film series, a subcomposition of the MCU, is defined by its protagonist: Tony Stark, or Iron Man. Since supercompositions grow over time, a supercomposition’s defining element can over time change to something different or expand to become more inclusive. Star Wars is an example of this phenomenon, and I’ll detail the manner in which this expansion occurred in a later post.
Having now defined these terms, I will use them in future articles. In upcoming posts, I shall provide more examples of the aforementioned terms and present some frameworks through which to view supercompositions, as well as discuss the manner in which supercompositions end.
