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Cited by 185Narrative Theory and AnalysisComputational and Text Analysis MethodsDigital Humanities and Scholarship

The narrative arc: Revealing core narrative structures through text analysis

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Boyd, Ryan L., Blackburn, Kate G., Pennebaker, James W.·2020·Science Advances
DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aba2196PMC PMC7413736
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Abstract

We find a consistent, unified narrative structure that can be reliably quantified using modern text analysis methods.

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Crossref · 10.1126/sciadv.aba2196

Cites

38 of 38 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • A computational project examined a corpus containing millions of texts and linked word types to different components of narrative.

    “Recently, a computational project examined a corpus containing millions of texts shed light on this (R. L. Boyd et al., 2020). The investigators linked word types to different components of narrative.”

    From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as R. L. Boyd et al., 2020

    Materials and Methods (Text analytic approach; page not provided) links word categories to staging, plot progression, and cognitive tension. But Materials and Methods (Corpora; page not provided) lists about 61,761 texts across the corpora, not millions, and Summary and Conclusions describes tens of thousands of stories. (LLM, conf=0.90)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The plot develops progressively through the text (using pronouns and auxiliary verbs) and climaxes at the end.

    “The investigators showed that the plot develops progressively through the text (using pronouns and auxiliary verbs) and climaxes at the end.”

    From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as R. L. Boyd et al., 2020

    The Results and Discussion report that words marking plot progression were lowest at the beginning and increased thereafter; the paper identifies pronouns and auxiliary verbs as such markers. But it does not place the climax at the end: the Results and Discussion say cognitive-process words associated with tension were used most midway through the narrative. (LLM, conf=0.90)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Stories start off with low levels of cognitive tension, but they build and climax in the middle.

    “They found that stories start off with low levels of cognitive tension, but they build and climax in the middle.”

    From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as R. L. Boyd et al., 2020

  • Stories generally establish concreteness early on in the text as they stage events and scenes-laying out the backdrop and establishing locations, characters, and their relationships to one another.

    “The analysis shows that stories generally establish concreteness early on in the text as they stage events and scenes—laying out the backdrop and establishing locations, characters, and their relationships to one another.”

    From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as R. L. Boyd et al., 2020

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Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 11

  1. [1]Aristotle, L. J. Potts, Aristotle on the Art of Fiction: An English Translation of Aristotle’s Poetics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1968).
  2. [3]N. Frye, Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (Princeton Univ. Press, 2000).
  3. [6]V. Propp, Morphology of the Folktale (University of Texas Press, 1968).
  4. [14]G. Freytag, E. J. MacEwan, Technique of the Drama: An Exposition of Dramatic Composition and Art; An Authorized Translation from the 6th German Edition (Scholarly Press, 1960).
  5. [17]C. Chung, J. Pennebaker, in Social Communication, K. Fiedler, Ed. (Frontiers of Social Psychology, Psychology Press, 2007), pp. 343–359.
  6. [24]M. A. Khawaja, F. Chen, C. Owen, G. Hickey, in Human-Computer Interaction—INTERACT 2009 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, 2009), pp. 485–489.
  7. [34]P. Regis, A Natural History of the Romance Novel (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007).
  8. [40]D. Gentner, Why Nouns are Learned Before Verbs: Linguistic Relativity Versus Natural Partitioning (257, Illinois University, Center for the Study of Reading, 1982), pp. 1–86.
  9. [42]M. Tomasello, Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (Harvard Univ. Press, 2003).
  10. [48]R. L. Boyd, in Data Analytics in Digital Humanities, S. Hai-Jew, Ed. (Springer International Publishing, 2017), pp. 161–189.
  11. [51]I. Witten, E. Frank, M. Hall, C. Pal, Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques (Morgan Kaufmann, ed. 4, 2017).

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Authors
Boyd, R. L., Blackburn, K. G., & Pennebaker, J. W.
Affiliations
  • Lancaster University (GB)
  • The University of Texas at Austin (US)
Corresponding author
Boyd, Ryan L.
ORCID
Venue
Science Advances
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Published
2020-08-07
Volume
6
Issue
32
Pages
eaba2196-eaba2196
ISSN
2375-2548 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.aba2196
PMC
PMC7413736
OpenAlex
W3041892614
Cited by
185
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 31 · 2025: 36 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 3
FWCI
192.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Science Advances (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
  • Lancaster EPrints (Lancaster University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (IIS-1344257, SES1758835)
  • National Institutes of Health (5R01GM112697-02, 1R01MH117172)
  • John Templeton Foundation (48503, 62256)
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation (15F06718R0006603)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Narrative Theory and Analysis
  • Social Sciences › General Social Sciences › Computational and Text Analysis Methods
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Digital Humanities and Scholarship
Keywords
narrative structure, story arc, traditional stories, staging, cognitive tension, text analysis

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