Bridging inferences
Inferring key events in comics Visual stories, like comics and graphic novels, like to challenge their readers a bit. One way they might do so, is by leaving out a key event in the story. Readers see the build-up to an event and the aftermath, and are left to figure out for themselves what the […]
Coherence in visual storytelling
Coherence in visual storytelling Visual stories, like comics and graphic novels, are often thought to be easy to understand. Everyone can read pictures, right? Also, visual stories have so much creativity in them. There cannot be much structure in how they are made, right? No and no. Visual storytelling is far more complicated than that! […]
Co-reference in comics
Co-reference in comics This research delves into questions of co-reference: knowing that two things are the same object/figure. Co-reference is vital for creating a coherent, logical story. See the two images on this page: To understand these as part of one story, readers must relate the figures and events together logically. How do we recognize the […]
Point of view and mental imagery in literature
Point of view and mental imagery in literature This work explores a long-standing debate on how readers of literary texts visualize written events in their mind’s eye using an innovative cross-disciplinary approach. The central question is to what extent language can guide the reader’s imagination, so that specific descriptions of scenes lead to specific mental […]
Mental events in comics
Mental events in visual narratives Stories often show us not only what happens in the storyworld, but also what happens in a character’s mind. Look at the comic on this page: It shows a PhD candidate working day in, day out; busy writing, teaching, reading, and then, graduating! But wait – that event turns out to […]