Very cool.

I know several people who have used Tinderbox in the context of narratology.  And the world-building seminar for nanowrimo will touch on this as well.  But Asian narrative theory in new to me.

Mark Bernstein, thanks. I have had my eye on the NaNoWriMo world developing posts (oops, missed the last two additions). The best way to participate there is by email? Any place for open dialogue?

Ted Goranson, thanks for the contact. I understand the issue with posting images. I wandered into narratology by accident (didn't even know the term until yesterday). So I am not familiar with traditional sensibilities. This or that, your comment of a story's structure vs. its interpretation is the sort of thing that drew me here. What's the best way to keep a discussion?

To add to the dialogue, I used to think "a story is a story, it has a beginning a middle and an end." But the Japanese "4 panel comic" (yonkoma manga) struck me, along with its similarities to kabuki and noh narrative structures. After a few years of puzzling over that "extra block", I remembered a college lecture where the professor mentioned different patterns dialogues and stories tend to take based on culture (my linguistics professor, I think).

Regretfully, I was young and impetuous then, writing that talk off as hot gas (the thought in my head at the time). "Any story or sentence has a beginning, middle and end." Right?

But remembering the professor talk about how Indian narrative tends to be cyclical, Asian narrative tends to be circular, European narrative tends to be linear and (my current hangup) Latin narrative tends to zig-zag ... yup.

And Tinderbox.