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Samenvatting Interactive Storytelling – College aantekeningen +
Knowledge clips
HC1
Knowledge clips
Use of the word ‘story’: as an excuse, incident, explanation but also for example
Instagram Stories. But what is the right definition for storytelling?
In the literature, there are a lot of different definitions for storytelling.
- Koenitz argues that it is very difficult to come up with a definition for storytelling
and narratives.
- Juul (2005): ‘The term narrative has such a wide range of contradictory
meanings and associations for different people and in different theories that it is
practically meaningless unless specified in great detail’. → so specifyingis very
important!
(See slide for different definitions by different authors, slide 7, minute 9.15).
How do we define narrative in our course:
The narrative is subdivided in two parts:
1. Story (histoire): Mainly, what it is about. What is really, despite what you see on
paper, happening. It is about the chronological sequence of events on a timeline.
The fabula is about what has really happened in real life regardless of what we
see on a screen, paper etc. Regardless of how it’s being told. It’s the plot, story or
fabula.
2. Discourse (récit): ‘the how’. How the story is being told/presented/represented.
It’s the result of the act of narration. Sujet.
, 2
o Focalization: something you choose when you tell a story. Do you see a
story through the eyes of a particular person?
The term narrative includes both a story and its telling (discourse).
A narrative consists of a:
- Story: a chronological, cause-and-effect chain of events occurring within a
specific duration and a specific spatial field, and perceived and experienced by a
subject of consciousness.
o Event 1 → Event 2 → Event 3 → Event 4 , it’s chronological. Real life is
chronological. That is why a story is chronological as well. When an event
is happening, something else is happening because of that. That’s the
cause-effect chain. The events don’t stand on their own, they heavily
depend on each other.
o Specificity: there’s always place and time connected.
o Subject of consciousness: There is someone who is experiencing the event
consciously. This subject is also performing actions that lead to other
actions.
Knowledge clip 2 (25.30)
Story level (what has actual happened) – we have the story plot. This is a sequence of
events on a specific timeline. It begins at point A and ends at point X. There are events
happening, usually with a character involved. And they involve a timeline. All these
events are causally connected (A cause-and-effect chain of events).
Discourse structure – how the narrative events are ordered. We have this chronological
follow-up of events (in real life it’s always chronological). When you tell a story, you can
choose the order yourself.
- In medias res: the story begins somewhere in the middle
- You can also use things such as flashbacks and flashforwards
Story structure:
- Freytag’s dramatic arc (pyramid) (handbook p. 19-21) – different phases in a
story:
o A story starts with an exposition (someone living his life)
o At some point, an inciting incident happens
o Triggers the main character to come into action
o Crisis
o Climax: the top of the pyramid where something very important happens
that makes the tension drop.
o Falling action
o Denouement: The end ‘live happily ever after’
, 3
- Heroes journey: Monomyth → Someone has to go on a particular journey to (for
example) save his country. After this, he comes back and grows into (for
example) adulthood. He comes back as a changed person who dealt with a certain
problem.
- African storytelling: Goes round and round and round.
- Labov and Waletzky’s (1967) story structure:
1. Orientation: Opening of the storyworld. Who/what/where/when.
2. Complicating actions: Sequence of unfolding events, moving the story forward.
Things are happening that cause a change
3. Critical event: Tellable event, central in the story. Why the story is told in the first
place.
a. Tellability (critical event): The story has to be tellable. This has to do with
newsworthiness. There should be something in the story that is the event
that makes the story worth telling. It justifies telling the story. You should
always look for a tellable event.
4. The resolution: the outcome. Could be a happy ending or not.
5. Evaluation: Comments on the significance and meaning of the events. The take-
home message.
o Evaluation: The narrator’s comments on the significance and meaning of
the events. Answering questions like: ‘what does this all mean?’ , ‘so
what?’.
▪ Functions to make the point of the narrative clear, the take-home
message.
i. Explicitly present in the narrative.
6. Coda: Transition to the here and now.
Story structure: Kernels vs. satellites
- Kernel event: obligatory event that guarantees the story’s coherence/logic |
essential content of the story | part of a story’s identity | initiates, increases or
concludes an uncertainty, so it advances or outlines a sequence of
transformations. You can’t do without a kernel event. It’s necessary
- Satellite events: happen down the road, but can be omitted easier than kernel
events. They won’t change the basic story. They are not that important to the
core of the story. It serves to embellish the basic plot | content that can be
omitted without changing the identity of the story | amplify or fill in the outline of
a sequence by maintaining, retarding or prolonging the kernel events they
accompany or surround.
, 4
The blocks in the illustration above are the kernel events and the dots are the satellite
events.
Discourse structure: The order in which the events are being told. It evokes emotions.
Playing with the order of events to trigger different kinds of emotions. The structural
effect theory is just about this.
- Discourse structure evoking suspense
- Discourse structure evoking surprise
- Discourse structure evoking curiosity
Knowledge clip 3: Narrative elements (54.30)
- Characters: A continuum from flat to round
o Flat: One who has only one distinctive characteristic, exists only to exhibit
that characteristic, and is incapable of varying from that characteristic.
o Round: A round character is many faceted and capable of change
- Character roles: Hero, villain, donor, helper etc. (Propp’s morphology).
Propp’s Morphology: Characters have different roles to play
- Harry potter = Hero – needs to defeat the villain (Voldemort). Harry is helped by
his helpers (Ron + Hermione). Dumbledore (dispatcher & donor) sends the hero
on a mission.
Narrative element: Voice (genette)
- Voice is about the narrator. Who is the one who tells the story?
- 1. Intradiegetic narrator: narrator is in the story. Narrator is a character | First
person perspective (speaking with ‘I’)
- 2. Extradiegetic narrator: Narrator is niet in het verhaal. Hij hangt boven het
verhaal. (3rd person perspective).
Epic narrative form
- The events are told
- Diegesis: narration/telling
- Focus on physical aspects and action
- Examples: Star wars, adventure games
Samenvatting Interactive Storytelling – College aantekeningen +
Knowledge clips
HC1
Knowledge clips
Use of the word ‘story’: as an excuse, incident, explanation but also for example
Instagram Stories. But what is the right definition for storytelling?
In the literature, there are a lot of different definitions for storytelling.
- Koenitz argues that it is very difficult to come up with a definition for storytelling
and narratives.
- Juul (2005): ‘The term narrative has such a wide range of contradictory
meanings and associations for different people and in different theories that it is
practically meaningless unless specified in great detail’. → so specifyingis very
important!
(See slide for different definitions by different authors, slide 7, minute 9.15).
How do we define narrative in our course:
The narrative is subdivided in two parts:
1. Story (histoire): Mainly, what it is about. What is really, despite what you see on
paper, happening. It is about the chronological sequence of events on a timeline.
The fabula is about what has really happened in real life regardless of what we
see on a screen, paper etc. Regardless of how it’s being told. It’s the plot, story or
fabula.
2. Discourse (récit): ‘the how’. How the story is being told/presented/represented.
It’s the result of the act of narration. Sujet.
, 2
o Focalization: something you choose when you tell a story. Do you see a
story through the eyes of a particular person?
The term narrative includes both a story and its telling (discourse).
A narrative consists of a:
- Story: a chronological, cause-and-effect chain of events occurring within a
specific duration and a specific spatial field, and perceived and experienced by a
subject of consciousness.
o Event 1 → Event 2 → Event 3 → Event 4 , it’s chronological. Real life is
chronological. That is why a story is chronological as well. When an event
is happening, something else is happening because of that. That’s the
cause-effect chain. The events don’t stand on their own, they heavily
depend on each other.
o Specificity: there’s always place and time connected.
o Subject of consciousness: There is someone who is experiencing the event
consciously. This subject is also performing actions that lead to other
actions.
Knowledge clip 2 (25.30)
Story level (what has actual happened) – we have the story plot. This is a sequence of
events on a specific timeline. It begins at point A and ends at point X. There are events
happening, usually with a character involved. And they involve a timeline. All these
events are causally connected (A cause-and-effect chain of events).
Discourse structure – how the narrative events are ordered. We have this chronological
follow-up of events (in real life it’s always chronological). When you tell a story, you can
choose the order yourself.
- In medias res: the story begins somewhere in the middle
- You can also use things such as flashbacks and flashforwards
Story structure:
- Freytag’s dramatic arc (pyramid) (handbook p. 19-21) – different phases in a
story:
o A story starts with an exposition (someone living his life)
o At some point, an inciting incident happens
o Triggers the main character to come into action
o Crisis
o Climax: the top of the pyramid where something very important happens
that makes the tension drop.
o Falling action
o Denouement: The end ‘live happily ever after’
, 3
- Heroes journey: Monomyth → Someone has to go on a particular journey to (for
example) save his country. After this, he comes back and grows into (for
example) adulthood. He comes back as a changed person who dealt with a certain
problem.
- African storytelling: Goes round and round and round.
- Labov and Waletzky’s (1967) story structure:
1. Orientation: Opening of the storyworld. Who/what/where/when.
2. Complicating actions: Sequence of unfolding events, moving the story forward.
Things are happening that cause a change
3. Critical event: Tellable event, central in the story. Why the story is told in the first
place.
a. Tellability (critical event): The story has to be tellable. This has to do with
newsworthiness. There should be something in the story that is the event
that makes the story worth telling. It justifies telling the story. You should
always look for a tellable event.
4. The resolution: the outcome. Could be a happy ending or not.
5. Evaluation: Comments on the significance and meaning of the events. The take-
home message.
o Evaluation: The narrator’s comments on the significance and meaning of
the events. Answering questions like: ‘what does this all mean?’ , ‘so
what?’.
▪ Functions to make the point of the narrative clear, the take-home
message.
i. Explicitly present in the narrative.
6. Coda: Transition to the here and now.
Story structure: Kernels vs. satellites
- Kernel event: obligatory event that guarantees the story’s coherence/logic |
essential content of the story | part of a story’s identity | initiates, increases or
concludes an uncertainty, so it advances or outlines a sequence of
transformations. You can’t do without a kernel event. It’s necessary
- Satellite events: happen down the road, but can be omitted easier than kernel
events. They won’t change the basic story. They are not that important to the
core of the story. It serves to embellish the basic plot | content that can be
omitted without changing the identity of the story | amplify or fill in the outline of
a sequence by maintaining, retarding or prolonging the kernel events they
accompany or surround.
, 4
The blocks in the illustration above are the kernel events and the dots are the satellite
events.
Discourse structure: The order in which the events are being told. It evokes emotions.
Playing with the order of events to trigger different kinds of emotions. The structural
effect theory is just about this.
- Discourse structure evoking suspense
- Discourse structure evoking surprise
- Discourse structure evoking curiosity
Knowledge clip 3: Narrative elements (54.30)
- Characters: A continuum from flat to round
o Flat: One who has only one distinctive characteristic, exists only to exhibit
that characteristic, and is incapable of varying from that characteristic.
o Round: A round character is many faceted and capable of change
- Character roles: Hero, villain, donor, helper etc. (Propp’s morphology).
Propp’s Morphology: Characters have different roles to play
- Harry potter = Hero – needs to defeat the villain (Voldemort). Harry is helped by
his helpers (Ron + Hermione). Dumbledore (dispatcher & donor) sends the hero
on a mission.
Narrative element: Voice (genette)
- Voice is about the narrator. Who is the one who tells the story?
- 1. Intradiegetic narrator: narrator is in the story. Narrator is a character | First
person perspective (speaking with ‘I’)
- 2. Extradiegetic narrator: Narrator is niet in het verhaal. Hij hangt boven het
verhaal. (3rd person perspective).
Epic narrative form
- The events are told
- Diegesis: narration/telling
- Focus on physical aspects and action
- Examples: Star wars, adventure games
