Plot Basics
摘要
This chapter discusses classical narratological notions of plot, beginning with widely accepted causal definitions. It introduces approaches that have been studied in narratology, including classical Aristotelian notions of plot, the narrative arc of Freytag, the Heroic Quest of Campbell, and Propp’s narrative functions. It then turns to AI models of plot, including Plot Units, Doxastic Preferences, Story Intention Graphs, and Narrative Event Chains. The chapter clarifies how LLMs and supplementary methods including common sense knowledge graphs can be used to arrive at some of these representations. While much of the chapter focuses on analysis, examples are also given of generation and summarization. The chapter then compares these different models and suggests some of the ramifications for humanities narratology. A thin plot-related layer is added to NarrativeML.