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Character profiles indicate which character each storyline represents. Hover over these to read short character bios.
Each character is represented with their own uniquely coloured storyline. The thickness of the storyline is based on the total number of dialogue lines spoken by and to a character for the following chapter on their timeline.
The vertically-aligned white rectangles represent the story chapters. Hover over these to read each chapter summary.
Clovers represent the temporal state of a character in relation to a story chapter. As the character journeys through the story their clover leaf labels reflect changes to four attributes.
What the character is trying to achieve or are told to do in the chapter.
The character's key action, behaviour or state in the chapter.
The underlying reason for the character's action and behaviour.
The polarity of the character's spoken and internal dialogue in the chapter.
Character social interactions are represented using arcs. The colours of these arcs represent the source characters of the social interactions. These are the same colour as their storylines. The thickness of the arcs is based on the total number of dialogue lines spoken by the character to its target(s) for that chapter.
About
This visualisation allows you to explore the evolving individual journeys of characters in novels, in relation to their appearances in and disappearances from the novel's chapters.
The dataset was generated from a real novel and anonymised for the purpose of this user study. In-visualisation access to the full text is unavailable.
Use this menu to understand how to read, interact with, change settings for, and filter, the visualisation elements.
Character Profiles
Character profiles indicate which character each storyline represents. Hover over these to read short character bios.
Storyline Color & Thickness
Each character is represented with their own uniquely coloured storyline. The thickness of the storyline is based on the total number of dialogue lines spoken by and to a character for the following chapter on their timeline.Chapter Boxes
The vertically-aligned white rectangles represent the story chapters. Hover over these to read each chapter summary.Character Clovers
Clovers represent the temporal state of a character in relation to a story chapter. As the character journeys through the story their clover leaf labels reflect changes to four attributes.Salient Goal
What the character is trying to achieve or are told to do in the chapter.Salient Action
The character's key action, behaviour or state in the chapter.Salient Motivation
The underlying reason for the character's action and behaviour.Mean Sentiment
The polarity of the character's spoken and internal dialogue in the chapter.Social Relationships
Character social interactions are represented using arcs. The colours of these arcs represent the source characters of the social interactions. These are the same colour as their storylines. The thickness of the arcs is based on the total number of dialogue lines spoken by the character to its target(s) for that chapter.
Hold left-click and drag to traverse the layout.
Use the scroll wheel to zoom in or out. Double left-click to quickly zoom in on an area.
Left-click chapter boxes to reveal relationships between characters. Left-click an expanded chapter box to close it.
Left-click character profiles to highlight and expand the chapters they appear in. Left-click again to revert to previous state.
Clicking the central square of a character's chapter clover will also achieve the same function.
Left-click a clover leaf or clover leaf label to highlight all instances of the same trait in the story. Left-click again to revert to previous state.
Drag the slider to modify the size of all clovers.