Does Not Illustrate: Exponential Plot Delay

Current image just looks like a square fractal with a girl and a tortoise. It does not show a plot slowing down the further it progresses. Personally, I think this should be BUPKIS.

BUPKIS

BUPKIS

There was a previous image pickin thread that voted keep:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1299029960049300100

But I agree BUPKIS as the current had to be explained for me to get it and before that I was utterly confused by it.

BUPKIS.

BUPKIS. I mean, it is cool to represent Zeno’s Paradox in image form, but out of context it looks like a simple pattern.

Edited by CanuckMcDuck1 on May 8th 2024 at 7:57:12 AM

Shame. It's a nice image.

BUPKIS.

+1 for BUPKIS

BUPKIS

I actually vote to keep it as a Visual Pun conveying an endless journey.

It's not a pun though and if you are unfamiliar with Zeno's paradox it's just confusing.

Why not just a downward exponential curve with "story progress" and "duration of the work" on the axes?

(eta like a cool, fun and not made in excel version of this)

Edited by Synchronicity on May 10th 2024 at 6:09:16 AM

That might work if it was photoshopped well enough.

But going further in the work doesn't set story progress back... if it's going to be a line graph, it should start as an upward sloping line and then curve towards the horizontal.

I think by "story progress" it means "rate at which the story progresses". Though it could stand to be a bit more clear.

I myself was considering a bar with a series of little story vignettes on top which grow more elongated as the bar progresses to convey the idea of the plot slowing down. (Graph illustrations are a bit overused on this wiki, so I figured adding some visuals would make it a little more interest, à la 11th-Hour Superpower.)

Edited by jandn2014 on May 10th 2024 at 7:20:32 AM

Well, here's a try. Top has a white background, bottom is transparent. I made it in Gimp, so I can adjust the text and placement (I just learned how to do color gradients, so sorry if it's not too sophisticated).

17.1

Edited by Earnest on May 10th 2024 at 6:26:54 AM

What's the point of attaching The End to infinity? The whole point of infinity is that it never ends.

They don't usually have a "start", either. The intent is to show a convoluted middle that's cycling over and over before eventually rushing to an ending. If it's just the symbol that doesn't work, the other idea I'd had is a three leaf "clover" of cycling circles with captions like Status Quo Is God, Side Quest, and Kudzu Plot. Kind of like the Airbender symbol◊ from Avatar.

That might work.

Ok, here goes... huh, I think I should have gone with this one first. I was a little unsure about using a gradient before, but here I think it really helps reinforce the the branching and resetting.

This is true fortunately someone else in this thread is putting more thought in their diagrams than me

I like that ^

Edited by Synchronicity on May 11th 2024 at 2:27:31 PM

21

21

21. Isn't that the opposite of what we want? The laconic says "The plot advancement slows down exponentially, the closer it gets to the resolution." But if 80% of the plot happens in the last chapter, that must mean the plot advancement is speeding up exponentially the closer it gets to the resolution.