Hi all you kind people around here,

I'm looking to get back a bit into the science of narratology. I did study narratology back in university and I even started (and never finished) a PhD, which (among other things) contained a narratological XML annotated version of (German translations of) Shakespeare's Hamlet. So I'm familiar with the basics. But 20 years later, I'm curious, what has happened in narratology ever since. So I'm grateful for any suggestions on current research directions and even books directed to a non academic, public audience (I enjoyed "Save the cat" quite a bit a few years ago).

Thanks in advance!

(hello. before the story, i must say: i am from iran and my english is not very good. so i used google translate to translate my story)

• finally, do not you want to find a better job? this is not worthy of you. only you deserve to lead (the head of the packaging department said this while laughing)

i did not know why he liked to make fun of me so much. or maybe i knew. he could never bear my success in anything. it was as if he was afraid that i would be superior to him and occupy his position. or, for example, to be the boss of all the workers in the packaging department. what should i say now? all my nights and days were full of fear and anxiety. i did not know what to do. on the other hand, i wanted to escape from this situation. on the other hand, i was afraid that if i resigned from this job, i would not be able to find a job. finally, there is little good work in our city. of course, this was not a good thing either. in fact, it was not a good thing at all. but whatever it was, it was work. they were paid at the end of each month. now what should i say ?? what do you think i said? i did not say anything. i just laughed and lowered my head in embarrassment.

20 years have passed since that story. the man died 8 years ago and someone else is in charge of the ward. there have been three changes in my life over the last twenty years: 1- i am twenty years older 2- i am married 3- the person in charge of the new packaging department mocks and humiliates me.

Do you have a good definition of character's agency? Do you know if I can use the word "agency" meaning "what the character actually does"? Thank you!

Dies anyone have some reading recommendations for beginning a study in narratology? I've recently been looking into it, along with some other fields, for my graduate studies, and would like to read over some primers and foundational works to help make the decision. I have some basic critical theory, and a background in literature and philosophy, but it's safe to say anything to technical to the field will probably be over my head.

I've always had trouble coming up with characters during the writing process which is really problematic considering that character is probably the most important element of stories! My question is: given a story concept and themes, how do you conjure up a pov character who is the "right fit" for your story? I know that good main characters are ones who have the greatest or most interesting stake in the plot and whose development arc mirrors the thematic statement of the story, but how do you figure out who they are, what their job/life/personality is like? Etc

Kind of a follow up question, but assuming there is a "right or strongest choice" for a given concept and theme, what does that thought train or process of elimination look like? Could it be possibly condensed into a hard and fast rule or set of rules? (My addiction to pop story structure and character development books is showing, but oh well)

What are your guys backgrounds? Are people here hobbyists? Are there any professors among us?

Would it be good to have professors to do AMAs?

Hi!

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I am a computational narratologist, about to start my PhD in generative narratology. I would love for this community to be more active.

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What kind of posts would people like to see here? Does anyone know how a niche community like this could be marketed better?

I really need this book for my master's thesis, but I can't find the full text anywhere online. I live in Brazil and there are no bookstores selling this book here, nor I can find it at any of my university libraries. I also tried libgen, so I'm running out of options here. Does anyone can help me?

In a novel I'm working with (Caitlín R Kiernan's the Drowning Girl) a paragraph begins with "So, I'm driving in my Honda, and it could be Massachusetts or Connecticut, and it could be summer or November." This pairing of the declarative "I'm driving" with the two conditional subclauses is important because this passage deals with a doubled memory. The narrator is a schizophrenic woman who is attempting to deal with false memories, all of which are subjectively true to her. So this paragraph, which continues this branching of reality allows for a superimposition of the fictional real of the text. Is superimposed or doubled mimesis the right way to describe this? Or is there better terminology? Can anyone recommend any scholarship on this topic?

(Cross-posted to AskLiteraryStudies)

I'm curious because I was recently playing a prequel story to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 where the main character is an average mercenary who through flukes of fate ends up travelling with an incredibly powerful emperor, the legendary hero-prince and their living weapon heroine. I really enjoyed this style of story-telling because it allowed them to explore a few fairly traditional narrative concept from a somewhat different perspective. To put it simply, it was akin to having the Harry Potter series told from Hermione Granger's perspective.

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The fact they managed to achieve that while still making the main character feel strong for the simple feat of 'hanging in there' and managing to make a difference just felt like such a refreshing take on action to me.

Objective aspect of a story

This includes the aspects of a story that are not subjective. This includes, lighting, dialogue, imagery etc

Subjective aspect of a story

The parts of a story that is subjective. Symbolism, foreshadowing, fourth wall breaks not explicitly conveyed to the audience etc.

In stories whether implicitly or explicitly things are suggested to be logical or make sense.

Rigid logic of a story

In a piece of literature a character or the narrator may try to argue something from its premises.

An example of this would be where a character in the story argues that Artificial intelligences with replicas of our brains as their own could feel because they are replicas. If you agree with this then an example you would agree with would be that Artificial intelligences that have replicas of our brains as ours cannot feel because they are only replicas. In no fictional world is it either not true or not false (depending on for views) that those premises imply that conclusion, as logic is universal. It is therefore rigid

Fluid logic of a story

This is where something that makes sense in that given world and follow logically from the conditions in that given world.

Events or happenings or ideas etc can either make sense or not make sense in the fictional world regardless of whether it makes sense in the "real world". The Matrix trilogy and the Die Hard movies are examples of this. In both cases neither are stating or implying that these things happen in the real world and they don't make the mistake of arguing or implying things that make no sense like with the example I gave above. The completely unrealistic events of diehard are implied to be realistic or possible in the die hard universe and they are not wrong in implying it, as after after all it is a fictional world and they make the rules. It is therefore fluid.

I have created a character named The Rauschmonstrum. He is a shape-shifting monster with magical powers. I intend for him to be used in a way where a community is built around creating experimental works based around him, mostly through inserting him into finished, public domain work.

I have written about my ideas regarding his usage here. www.rauschmonstrum.com

Hey folks, I run a podcast over at Sounds Like An Earful and I'm beginning to experiment a little more with the structure & format of my show - getting a little more playful with how stories are presented to listeners. I also enjoy experimenting with music as a way to help tell stories.

If anyone here has any interest in being either a guest or chatting about interesting possible avenues to explore with storytelling in an exclusively audio-based format, let me know! Would love to chat.