Feeling lost? Find a map.

Ohler’s Chapter 9 from Digital Storytelling in the Classroom (2008) might be the single best compilation of story mapping ideas ever written.

(Fig.1. Google Images, 2012)

Why are story maps useful? What do story maps look like? Which type of story map is best for creators of DSTs to use? Three common questions, all answered by Ohler at various points in his book.

The reader might recall from Ohler Chapter 3, that story maps can take many forms. And the reader might remember too that story maps are useful in a way that story boarding really isn’t. Instead of a focus on scene sequences like story boards typically do, story mapping attempts to map the flow of emotion - and the affect of conflict and growth on the story’s central character (pg.80, para.1). Chapter 9 presents several story mapping ideas – from Aristotle's Story Map to present-day Treasure Maps.

(Fig.2. Aristotle's "Peripeteia" Basic Story Map, Ohler, 2008).

Story Maps might be thought of as writers' tools; and like a mechanics' tool chest, there is no one-best-tool in the drawer. And true masters know their art, most often lies in the choice and application of their tools.