name: sense description: One of three transversal narrative axes — direction, tension, and cohesion. Why the audience stays with us.
Sense
Sense is the direction-and-tension axis of storymaking. It is what makes a deck go somewhere: the pull between current and desired state, the local question that needs answering, the rhythm of setup and turn.
A deck without Sense is mechanical — accurate, well-evidenced, and forgettable. Sense is what makes the audience want to keep going. It is the answer to the implicit question "why should I keep listening?" at every level.
Where it operates
- Arc: the global pull from opening to close. The arc shape (Hero's Journey, Consultant's Gambit, Sparkline) is the Sense engine.
- Beat: the local function — setup, complication, turn, resolution. Each beat earns its place by giving the next one tension.
- Loop: the felt sequence of premise → tension → resolution within a mini-argument.
- Slide: position in flow; what came before, what comes next.
- Component: hierarchy and emphasis cues (size, contrast, eye-line) that tell the eye what matters.
Failure modes
- Empty Sense. Tension without a Claim underneath — mood, not argument. If you can cut a section and the deck still advances, the Sense was decorative.
- Lost direction. Beats arranged by topic instead of pull. Each beat starts in a new emotional vacuum.
- Sense without Proof. Theatrical setup that never lands evidence. The audience feels manipulated.
Canonical phrasing
Sense is what makes them lean forward. Claim is what they lean toward. Proof is why they don't lean back.