

Man in Hole – Turning novels’ plots into data points - yurn
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/02/04/man-in-hole/

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johnloeber
This was a really great read:

(1) I think the data-driven humanities are very interesting. The professor
certainly gets at some rather deep questions regarding plot, and it's nice to
see the structure of the bait-and-tease page-turner quantified.

(2) There's a passage about artificial intelligence and using computers to
construct stories. I thought the following quotation on that was pure gold,
hitting a truth that may be uncomfortable to those of us who consider
themselves artists and creators, but which we will certainly have to engage in
the future:

 _It should be obvious to all writers that parts of “the craft” are deeply
schematic; if you feel threatened by a machine, there’s probably something
suspect about your humanism. We should resist the precious notion that there’s
something inimitable about the whole enterprise of storytelling._

