# How do I check whether one event in my story outline causes another, and what does causal-network research say about why that matters (Trabasso and van den Broek)?

- id: art_01M5NN8BYYGE25YRBVCGYA2AC2
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
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- categories: T01 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-24T00:34:01.816Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5NN8BYYGE25YRBVCGYA2AC2

The primary Trabasso and van den Broek 1985 paper is paywalled and was not read. Secondary open sources describe its method: derive a causal network by asking whether B would not have occurred in the circumstances described by the text had A not occurred ('necessity in the circumstances'), counting enablement, motivation, psychological and physical causation; events with more causal connections, and events on the causal chain from opening to outcome, are recalled better (as summarised by Fletcher and Bloom 1988 and by Riedl and Young 2010). Riedl and Young also describe the QUEST model's event and goal nodes and five link types (consequence, reason, initiate, outcome, implies) used to judge why-answers. The checklist is simple to apply by hand; the evidence for it is recall of short texts, not quality of full outlines.

The primary Trabasso and van den Broek 1985 paper is paywalled and was not read. Secondary open sources describe its method: derive a causal network by asking whether B would not have occurred in the circumstances described by the text had A not occurred ('necessity in the circumstances'), counting enablement, motivation, psychological and physical causation; events with more causal connections, and events on the causal chain from opening to outcome, are recalled better (as summarised by Fletcher and Bloom 1988 and by Riedl and Young 2010). Riedl and Young also describe the QUEST model's event and goal nodes and five link types (consequence, reason, initiate, outcome, implies) used to judge why-answers. The checklist is simple to apply by hand; the evidence for it is recall of short texts, not quality of full outlines.

Curator qualifications: Fletcher & Bloom 1988 (JML 21, 235-244) pdftotext: 'would not have occurred in the circumstances' 1; Trabasso 23 mentions; 'All rights of reproduction in any form reserved' 1.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1617/R216/Fletcher.pdf",
      "note": "see curator disposition"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://jair.org/index.php/jair/article/download/10669/25501",
      "note": "see curator disposition"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://api.crossref.org/works/10.1016/0749-596X(85)90049-X",
      "note": "see curator disposition"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] The primary Trabasso and van den Broek 1985 paper is paywalled and was not read. Secondary open sources describe its method: derive a causal network by asking whether B would not have occurred in the circumstances described by the text had A not occurred ('necessity in the circumstances'), counting enablement, motivation, psychological and physical causation; events with more causal connections, and events on the causal chain from opening to outcome, are recalled better (as summarised by Fletcher and Bloom 1988 and by Riedl and Young 2010). Riedl and Young also describe the QUEST model's event and goal nodes and five link types (consequence, reason, initiate, outcome, implies) used to judge why-answers. The checklist is simple to apply by hand; the evidence for it is recall of short texts, not quality of full outlines. · locator: see curator disposition · source: https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1617/R216/Fletcher.pdf

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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