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narrative

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    Narrative Structure Entry #0547

    The reason a scandal follows a script

    An unfamiliar event has to be told in a familiar shape to be told quickly. The shape supplies stages that the event has not yet reached.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0547

    The script tells everyone which stage comes next, including the accused. A shared expectation about the next move helps produce it.

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    Narrative Structure Entry #0546

    Why the same plot works in two centuries

    Settings date because they describe conditions. Plots persist because they describe relations between motives, and motives change far more slowly.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0546

    Plot functions are defined over roles, not objects. Replace every object and the structure is untouched.

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    Narrative Structure Entry #0545

    The reason a myth outlives its explanation

    A story and its correction are not transmitted on equal terms. One is memorable, retellable and complete; the other requires the story first.

    Master
    The hidden part #0545

    A story competes on transmissibility, not truth. A correction needs the story to make sense, which puts it permanently a step behind.

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    Narrative Structure Entry #0544

    Why serialisation changes what gets written

    A story published in parts must give each part a reason to be continued. That requirement reshapes the plot, not merely its packaging.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0544

    Instalment boundaries are structural requirements, not packaging. The bound volume erases the marks of the constraint that shaped it.

    Open file
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    Narrative Structure Entry #0543

    The reason a happy ending changes the moral

    A story is not summed but concluded. The final state is used to assign meaning to everything preceding it, including the parts that contradict it.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0543

    An ending is not the last part of a story. It is the instruction for reading the parts that came before it.

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    Narrative Structure Entry #0542

    Why the narrator’s reliability is a structural device

    Doubt about a narrator is not a flaw the reader detects. It is built into the gap between what is said and what the text lets you notice.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0542

    Unreliability is not a trait of the narrator but a gap arranged by the text. The reader is given the materials and left to draw the conclusion.

    Open file