Graphing Serial and Parallel Narratives

This is related to the problem of timeline tracking, but it is more general.

Each project is structured around an outline that assumes a kind of linear narrative. Chapter by chapter. Act by act. Start to finish.

The “Series” data structure contains many different “Projects” each of which contain their own outline, storybible, and chapters, but the “Series” data structure is a heap rather than something that sequences stories.

I write stories where I have a common basis of facts and rules with collections of characters that have various premises that drive them. For a scene containing n characters, there are n parallel stories that intersect at particular scene and generally diverge from that point and converge to that point otherwise. I conceptualize the character’s respective narratives as roughly parallel narratives converging in a tree or graph towards the consequences of a common story.

Keeping things sequential is important, but it is is important to have them separated as well. Character A has sequence S_0 occur for them and character B has sequence S_1 occur for them, and S_0 and S_1 intersect at sequential interval S for Characters A and B then diverge again.