A diagram is also a reading

What the lines do, and where they stop

Amounts

A bar compares quantities only when the unit is shared. A fee for recording two spoken words is not two retained words toward a crossing. A count of households is not a count of voters. Calculated gaps are labeled as calculations; they are not additional figures spoken by a character.

Related stories: The Wing, The Last Word

Arrows and alignments

A sequence follows an action or its telling. A network shows a stated relation, not an unseen command structure. Dashed lines mark reported, incomplete, disputed or interpretive connections. Parallel columns do not appoint a final account. Node letters are diagram labels. Color is emphasis only: it marks no truth, authority, faction, danger or canonical status.

A divided authority

The city has departments, employees, competing instructions and failures. A statement issued by an Office, printed in an invitation or voiced by an altered companion belongs to that source. It is not automatically a law governing every scene. A diagram can show a claim and its consequence without making the claim true.

Differences kept in view

The loan slip can reverse the lender and borrower. The hotel remark can be remembered at a door and in a bed. A refused appointment can become a requested one on a receipt. These differences remain beside the scenes that produce them. Resolving them would alter the book this guide accompanies.

Related stories: Nearby, Final Position, Enough, Within Boundaries