Research
Investigating how story structures cross disciplinary boundaries — connecting creative writing with mathematical and scientific frameworks.
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PhD Research→
An interdisciplinary doctorate from the University of Melbourne exploring what makes stories compelling, using formalisable methods from Knowledge Representation.
Models
The Baby Cried 2009
The short story ‘The baby cried, the mummy picked it up’ was Keith Devlin’s example of how complex the most simple story can be to interpret. This work takes it a step further, showing why progressive interpretation is critical to accurate interpretation.
Little Red Riding Hood as a Dictator Would Tell It
Model of the first paragraph of the story as told by H.I. Phillips.
Little Red Riding Hood de la Mare
Model of the first paragraph of Walter de la Mare’s version, for comparison with the other Red Riding Hood story.
‘And Now His Watch is Ended’
Model of a scene from Game of Thrones.
Three Scenes from Guardians of the Galaxy
This analysis focuses on high-level structure to understand how analogy emerges and connects remote situations.
Analogical Structure in Guardians of the Galaxy
A clean version of that process, in which the layout details are erased.
Publications
About
I write stories. I’m currently working on a science fiction novel, and am secretive about it.
Professionally, I analyse the structure of stories, often to understand what makes them compelling. I hold an interdisciplinary PhD from the University of Melbourne on this topic. To demonstrate some of the narrative structures involved, I drew on my skills as a fiction writer to design an analytical model, drawing diagrams using techniques familiar to computer scientists. The result could lend a different angle to some long-standing problems in artificial intelligence.
I participate in communities concerned with interpretation in context, situation theory, quantum interaction, intelligent narrative technologies, symmetry and form. I’ve been on the Advisory Board of the International Society for the Study of Symmetry (ISIS-Symmetry) since 2004.