narrative arcs
Stories' rising, falling
A narrative arc is the shape of a story's progression from beginning through middle to end—the trajectory of rising action, climax, and resolution.
Stories may contain multiple arcs: a main plot arc, character arcs tracing individual development, and subsidiary arcs for subplots.
The show's first season had a tight narrative arc, Her character arc was the most compelling part of the novel.
The term reflects how storytellers and critics think structurally about fiction.
- denouementStory's final unraveling
- rising actionPlot buildup toward climax
- dramatic tensionAnticipation in storytelling
- falling actionPost-climax narrative decline
- inciting incidentEvent starting main conflict
three-act structure · story beats · catharsis · character development · hero's journey · turning point · climax · tension · ticking clock · storytelling · conflict · suspense · resolution · plot · world-building · oral traditions · redemption arc · screenwriting
- dramaTV drama, acting, television drama, drama school, playwright
- GMingworld building, campaign planning, pacing, rulings, fudging
- storytellingstorytelling, story, tale, narrator, storyteller
- TV specialsspecials, Christmas special, holiday special, Halloween specials, Thanksgiving special
- game designmechanics, level design, game balance, balancing, playtesting
- structuralismLevi-Strauss, structuralism, structural analysis, signifier, signified
narrative arcsplotlessness
Lack of narrative structure
incoherence · formlessness · non-sequiturs · slice of life · disjointedness
narrative arcsanti-narrative
Rejection of conventional storytelling
non-narrative · raw footage · exposition · stream of consciousness · catalog