Abstract:

Interactive narrative is a narrative form based on the interactivity of the media. The user can not
only accept the narrative text created by the author, but also react to the text to form new narrative content.
Different from the uni-directional communication in tronditional media narrative, the user’s participant
changes the flowing line of text meaning. As a resut, interactive narrative is characterized by bi-directional
communication structure. Seymour Chatman interprets the uni-directional narrative communication structure
in depth on the basis of the three traditional narrative factors‘ author’‘ work’ and‘ audience’, pointing out
that between the real author and the real reader, there is a detailed‘ narrative text’ composed by the implied
author, narrator, narrate and implied reader. The real author controls text connotation. Further, by adapting
existing structure model, Udi Ben-Arie suggests bi-directional communication-narrative structure that explicits
the change of audience in digital media. Besides recepting the narrative creator’s intention, the audience
reacts to the text, takes part in meaning making and changes narrative sysem. Accordingly, the proposor
divided the interactive narrative communication structure into initiating interaction phase-IIP and returning
interaction phase-RIP. Interactive narrative is multi-linear, hyper-textual and dynamic, while the narrator
and narrative process are complicated. As a representative theory model, the Bi-directional communication
structure clearly interprets every participant role and link in communication procedure,depicts the whole process
of interactive narrative, dissects the restrictions for each role,which will supply practicable theory framework
guidance for analysis to digital interactive work and facilitate the further research on interactive narrative theory.