Storylines

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A sequence of related events that form the basis of a narrative
2. A structured path of events and character interactions that create a cohesive narrative experience
3. A connected series of events that together form the plot of a narrative

Etymology: "Storyline" is a plain compound of "story" and "line," with no hidden history behind it. The "story" half comes from Anglo-Norman and Old French "estorie," ultimately from Latin "historia," which is also the source of "history," so the two words are close cousins. The "line" half is the ordinary English word for a long thin mark or a row of things, and in this case it suggests a thread or course along which events run. The compound's earliest and best-documented sense was in film and theatre, where a storyline is the sequence of plot events that runs through a work. The word's meaning has since widened to cover the threads of a television series, a novel, or a game, and the sense of a path that characters' interactions follow fits that pattern closely. Its use in climate science, where the IPCC's 2014 report on mitigation of climate change employed the term, is a separate, more technical application that draws on the same idea of a traceable course.

Synonyms: plots, narratives, themes