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Narrative Generation for Suspense: Modeling and Evaluation

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Book cover Interactive Storytelling (ICIDS 2008)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 5334))

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Abstract

Although suspense contributes significantly to the enjoyment of a narrative by its readers, there has been little research on the automated generation of stories that evoke specific cognitive and affective responses in their readers. The goal of this research is to develop and evaluate a system that produces a narrative designed specifically to evoke suspense from the reader. The system takes as input a plan data structure representing the goals of a storyworld’s characters and the actions they perform in pursuit of them. Adapting theories developed by cognitive psychologists, the system uses a plan-based model of narrative comprehension to determine the final content of the story in order to heighten a reader’s level of suspense. This paper outlines the various components of the system and describes an empirical evaluation. The evaluation provides strong support for the claim that the system is effective in generating suspenseful stories.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graphics&OS Group, Software Labs, SAIT, CTO, Samsung Electronics CO., LTD., Giheung-Gu, Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea

    Yun-Gyung Cheong

  2. Liquid Narrative Group, Computer Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

    R. Michael Young

Authors
  1. Yun-Gyung Cheong
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  2. R. Michael Young
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FH Erfurt, University of Applied Sciences, Altonaerstr. 25, 99085, Erfurt, Germany

    Ulrike Spierling

  2. TECFA, FPSE, University of Geneva, CH 1211, Genève 4, Switzerland

    Nicolas Szilas

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Cheong, YG., Young, R.M. (2008). Narrative Generation for Suspense: Modeling and Evaluation. In: Spierling, U., Szilas, N. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5334. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-89454-4_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-89454-4_21

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-89424-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-89454-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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