Content area
Abstract
This project contains the results of a reader response survey of an original work of narrative fiction. The work was written in single page 'units,' printed without page numbers and distributed to twenty-five readers, twelve of whom received manuscripts that had been shuffled randomly. After reading the manuscript, each participant was asked to respond to two pages of questions concerning such narrative elements as continuity, plot, climax and closure. Eleven readers responded to the survey.
The results indicated that even the sometimes wide disparity between the sequence of events read, and the order of events as they occurred in 'time' did not impair the reader's sense of continuity, plot and climax. However, the data regarding closure was inconclusive.
