3. Most often, transmedia stories are based not on individual characters or specific plots
but rather complex fictional worlds which can sustain multiple interrelated characters and
their stories. This process of world-building encourages an encyclopedic impulse in both
readers and writers. We are drawn to master what can be known about a world which
always expands beyond our grasp. This is a very different pleasure than we associate with
the closure found in most classically constructed narratives, where we expect to leave the
theatre knowing everything that is required to make sense of a particular story.