A study analyzing 40,000 stories reveals what Aristotle intuited centuries ago — narratives follow a common, predictable structure consisting of three key elements.
Using computer analysis, researchers Ryan Boyd, Kate Blackburn, and James Pennebaker revealed how language patterns evolved across novels, short stories, romance novels, movies and other narratives. Their findings, published in Science in 2929, identified three consistent components that form narratives: At the beginning, articles and prepositions dominate as authors set the stage. The middle sees a rise in "cognitive tension words" like "think" and "realize" as characters grapple with conflicts. By the end, pronouns and auxiliary verbs increase as the action resolves.
This pattern held true regardless of genre, length, or even quality — highly-rated books and movies followed the same structure as poorly-rated ones. However, the researchers found that non-fiction formats like newspaper articles and TED talks deviated from this pattern, particularly in how they handle cognitive tension.
"We find that all different types of stories — novels, films, short stories, and even amateur writing — trend toward a universal narrative structure," the researchers write in their report. Rather than constraining creativity, they suggest this structure may provide an optimal way for humans to process and share information through stories.
They've created a website where anyone can analyze the narrative patterns of hundreds of published books and movie scripts, or upload their own texts for analysis.
Previously:
• Tell Me a Story cards: illustrated cards that can be arranged into endless tales
[Via Futility Closet]
