Anti-Math: a simple notation system for story plots

Here's a really brief look at Anti-Math, via two sample panels out of the hundred or so in the booklet:

		Entropy.

The caption of this one is "Entropy". The star represents a person whose motives are satisfied, or whose virtue is high. The crescent moon is a second person arriving on the scene, whose motives are unsatisfied or whose virtue is low. In the last frame, the moon has improved its state by diminishing the star.

	Symmetry breaking	The game!

This one is captioned "The game!" In a neutral universe, one element 'breaks symmetry' by doing something controversial, giving the other element the opportunity to display some heroism...

There's really only one other important symbol in the system-- a plus sign that represents 'things' (as opposed to persons). It can be written inside or outside a circle (inside, it usually means a thought or idea).

This is a painting that inspired Anti-Math's original badguy-symbol (a looming monster):
[Pic source]

Ascii-art and etext one-liner versions

My basic symbols are:

  circle   = o =  person
  plus     = + =  thing
  star     = * =  good person/ good mood
  crescent = ) =  bad person/ bad mood

...along with the time-frame conventions of comic strips.  I've collected
several hundred distinct linguistic nuances using combinations of just
these few.

Ascii-art hardly does it justice (blur your eyes... and then close them! 
;^/  ...but here's some samples:


     =============================================================
     |                           |                               |
     |                 ,!.       |       ,!.           ,!.       |
     |   _+m"m+_       j't       |       j't           j't       |
     |  Jp     qh  K=-=:: -=->   |   K=-=:: -=->   K=-=:: -=->   |
     |  O       O   "=i.: [-'    |    "=i.: [-'     "=i.: [-'    |
     |  Yb     dY    /;:":.\     |     /;:":.\       /;:":.\     |
     |   "Y5m2Y"    ;}'   '(,    |    ;}'   '(,     ;}'   '(,    |
     |                           |                               |
     =============================================================

      a bored person                      contact high!
               and a happy person


     =============================================================
     |                           |                               |
     |                  4hy_     |       4hy_          4hy_      |
     |   _+m"m+_         T 'h    |        T 'h          T 'h     |
     |  Jp     qh        2  3i   |        2  3i         2  3i    |
     |  O       O       ,Y  3I   |       ,Y  3I        ,Y  3I    |
     |  Yb     dY  ZksnY'  ,Y/   |  ZksnY'  ,Y/   ZksnY'  ,Y/    |
     |   "Y5m2Y"    'YbnndYY     |   'YbnndYY      'YbnndYY      |
     |                           |                               |
     =============================================================

                                           bring-down
                                             bummer
                                         ('contact low')


     ============================================================
     |                           |                              |
     |      ,!.                  |                    ,!.       |
     |      j't       _+m"m+_    |     _+m"m+_        j't       |
     |  K=-=:: -=->  Jp     qh   |    Jp     qh   K=-=:: -=->   |
     |   "=i.: [-'   O       O   |    O       O    "=i.: [-'    |
     |    /;:":.\    Yb     dY   |    Yb     dY     /;:":.\     |
     |   ;}'   '(,    "Y5m2Y"    |     "Y5m2Y"     ;}'   '(,    |
     |                           |                              |
     ============================================================

                                            rip-off
                                            zero sum


     =============================================================
     |                           |                               |
     |                           |       ,!.           ,!.       |
     |    _+m"m+_     _+m"m+_    |       j't           j't       |
     |   Jp     qh   Jp     qh   |   K=-=:: -=->   K=-=:: -=->   |
     |   O       O   O       O   |    "=i.: [-'     "=i.: [-'    |
     |   Yb     dY   Yb     dY   |     /;:":.\       /;:":.\     |
     |    "Y5m2Y"     "Y5m2Y"    |    ;}'   '(,     ;}'   '(,    |
     |                           |                               |
     =============================================================

                                         the magic of love!


     =============================================================
     |                           |                               |
     |       4hy_         4hy_   |       ,!.           ,!.       |
     |        T 'h         T 'h  |       j't           j't       |
     |        2  3i        2  3i |   K=-=:: -=->   K=-=:: -=->   |
     |       ,Y  3I       ,Y  3I |    "=i.: [-'     "=i.: [-'    |
     |  ZksnY'  ,Y/  ZksnY'  ,Y/ |     /;:":.\       /;:":.\     |
     |   'YbnndYY     'YbnndYY   |    ;}'   '(,     ;}'   '(,    |
     |                           |                               |
     =============================================================

                                     the healing magic of love



     ============================================================
     |                           |                              |
     |      ,!.          4hy_    |                              |
     |      j't           T 'h   |     _+m"m+_      _+m"m+_     |
     |  K=-=:: -=->       2  3i  |    Jp     qh    Jp     qh    |
     |   "=i.: [-'       ,Y  3I  |    O       O    O       O    |
     |    /;:":.\   ZksnY'  ,Y/  |    Yb     dY    Yb     dY    |
     |   ;}'   '(,   'YbnndYY    |     "Y5m2Y"      "Y5m2Y"     |
     |                           |                              |
     ============================================================

                                             entropy


Here's a synopsis of the first ten pages, as ascii one-liners (the
'translations' here are mostly simpler than those in the booklet/
webpages):

)            bad person, bad feeling [jump]

o            neutral person

*            good person, good feeling

)|*|)|*      roller coaster

_|o|)|*      growth via suffering

_|_|_|_      fill in the blanks

_            consciousness without content [jump]

~_           the black goddess

_|_          time

_|~_         change

~_|_         changing back

_|~_|_|~_    cycles

_|o|_        brief existence [jump]

o            consciousness with content

_|o|o|_      duration

o|_          death

_|o          birth

o|o|_|o      gap

~o|oo        mitosis [jump]

~o| ~o| ~o|o failure of will

~_|o         ex nihilo creation

~_o_|oo      the creation of eve

~_o|_        death by misadventure

~o|_         suicide

oo|o_o|oo    trip

~oo|o_o      send away [jump]

~o_|oo       summon

~oo|o_       murder

~o~o|__      double suicide

_|o|*        progress [jump]

*o           hero and fan

o|*|o        peak experience

~o|*         Gatsby

*|*|*|*      winning streak

o|o|*|_      Belushi

*|*|*|o      run down

o|*|o|*      easy living

~_oo|**      magic! [jump]

*o|o*|*o     tennis

o*|oo        oops

*o|*_~o      too hot

oo|o_~o|*_   benefits of being unpopular

)            [dup] [jump]

o)           okay and not okay

)|_          clears up

_|)|o|_      clears up and then goes away

o|)|o        slips

o|)|o|)      running rough

~_o|)        bad childhood [jump]

~o|)         bad seed

o)|))        contagious

))|o)        recovered

o)|~o_)|~)_  chase

o)|)o|o)     argument

*)           good and bad [jump]

*|o)         decay

))|**        miracle

*_|*)|oo     entropy

oo|o)|*)     the game!