The Plot and The Interface
According Earl Miner, plot at its most elemental is a narrative device for moving a set of characters through a series of related events. Plot helps a sequential story stand up in the mind as a single entity; a contemplative whole made of structurally related parts: cause and effect chains, points of tension and release, beginnings, middles and ends. Each significant moment or “plot point” in a linear narrative provides a kind of virtual interface for the developing story world, the conflicting and harmonious energies (character desires) moving through the whole of the text.
While plot and interface perform similar roles of providing interaction and cohesion in their respective domains (time and space), they are at odds when it comes to the pleasures of story. Plot focuses the attention of a mostly passive “audience” held captive by an illusion. Plot delights, puzzles, frustrates and excites through a selective revealing and concealing of information over time.
While plot and interface perform similar roles of providing interaction and cohesion in their respective domains (time and space), they are at odds when it comes to the pleasures of story. Plot focuses the attention of a mostly passive “audience” held captive by an illusion. Plot delights, puzzles, frustrates and excites through a selective revealing and concealing of information over time.
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