Preamble

Some people would say, a piece of software would come with a statement about the version they are right now. For example, a gamer would notice that the latest version of Minecraft is 1.15.2. Assuming that Microsoft (the owner of Minecraft's intellectual property) is using the same semantic versioning that most modern developer adhere to, we could explain that:

  1. The Minecraft is on its first major release.
  2. It's on the 15th minor release which will only increase when there's a new feature that's backward compatible.
  3. Lastly, it's been patched twice for this minor release.

This kinds of versioning would greatly help the developer/user of the software to determine whether their data/save files are compatible with the current version that Microsoft gave us. Of course, that's only possible if the developer of these software uses the semantic versioning correctly.

Now, onto the Narrative Versioning, which is a system for organizing a creator's narrative. The motivation of this system's creation is totally utilitarian, where it's made to solve the organization in my currently active web novel. This page will describe the specification for this system as formal as possible. Note, it is by no means perfect, knowing it's made by an ESL.

Specification

Below is listed the recommended requirements for using Narrative Versioning. Requirements were made based upon the writer's personal and imperfect reasoning. Despite that, it's a good point to start the conversation on whether one's art should use narrative versioning, or not. Here be the requirements:

  1. A narrative that assumes a main plot-thread, without branches that could be chosen by the conscious decision of the reader. For example, Choose Your Own Adventure books.
  2. The plot progresses forward and anything that doesn't abide that is categorized as side story.

After the requirements were met, the writer's shall obey these rules when "numbering" or "versioning" their works. Below are the rules of versioning a "chapter".

  1. A "chapter", is considered to be a part of a whole narrative that's sectioned based on the desire of the writer. For example, a writer may break their narrative by the real time that has passed in their fictional world, while others would break it up by themes and the current objective of a character.
  2. A "chapter" shall be numbered with the format of MAJOR.MINOR.MICRO, where each part represents a positive integer that also includes 0. For example, a chapter could be numbered 10.11.2.
  3. Continuing from rule 2, MAJOR, MINOR, and MICRO is called part(s).
  4. Continuing from rule 3, it will be referred that MAJOR will be more significant than MINOR, MINOR is more significant than MICRO, and by logic MAJOR is more significant than MICRO.
  5. Continuing from rule 4, for brevity, a version may be shortened or trimmed into the most significant non-zero part of the version. For example, 3.12.0 could be shortened into 3.12. Although, 3.0.12 shall not be shortened into 3.0, because it could remove the information of MICRO.
  6. Continuing from rule 3, the MAJOR part of the version is an indicator of how far the narrative have gone, relative to the narrative pace implied by the creator. The creator shall increment this part by 1 for every chapter which directly pushes the plot forward. For example, increment this part when the main character did something however small that would pushes the plot forward.
  7. Continuing from rule 3 & 6, MINOR part of the version is an indicator of a side-story that have an impact towards the main plot that's mentioned in the MAJOR part. The creator shall increment this part by 1 for every chapter which indirectly pushes the plot forwards. For example, increment this part when a side character is telling a story about how they helped the characters described in the MAJOR part.
  8. Continuing from rule 3, MICRO part of the version is an indicator of a side-story that have little to no relevance towards the main plot. The creator shall increment this part for every chapter which doesn't pushes the plot forwards. For example, increment this part when a main character is describing the content and history of a brown bowl.
  9. Continuing from rule 2, MICRO part of the version shall not be set to 0 when MAJOR and MINOR is also 0.

Author's Note

I hope this concept would help you in organizing your narrative expression. The main expectation would be a better experience for the reader when skimming or remembering a plot point when they're reading the book.

For those who are interested in using this versioning system, thank you for supporting this idea. The author want to remind the reader however, that the versioning system is not a "one size fit all" solution and should not be used as a counter point when arguing about the structure of a creator's narrative. This system shouldn't hold any merit beyond the utilitarian nature of its inception which is to organize a creator's narrative.

Thank you for reading, hope you love it.