Structures of a Story: Playing with time

In case you've missed it, we're currently in a series discussing different types and elements of narrative structure. So far, we've looked at structures which rise and fall, add some extra wiggles along the way, and circle back to home. We also took some time last month to explore beat sheets. For our last two posts of the series, I'm going to talk you through a couple of ways to add complexity to your narrative structure, such as messing with chronology.

Once you've gotten comfortable working with narrative structure, you may want to add some more advanced elements to mix things up and make your story feel less predictable. One interesting way to do this is by breaking away from linear time. Most stories naturally fall into a chronological form: X happens, then Y, and finally Z. However, sometimes it's more effective to rearrange events so that they have more punch.

There are several ways you can implement non-linear complications in your writing, with differing levels of complexity. You might diverge from the main timeline in isolated scenes at key points using a flashback or flashforward, or use them as a framing device. Alternatively, if you really want a challenge you could make the whole story a non-chronological narrative. The important thing to remember when you're shuffling the order of events around is that your chosen narrative structure applies to the events in the order that they are told, not the order in which they occur, so it'll be a lot easier to write non-linearly if you figure out how you're ordering things early on in the process.

Flashbacks and flashforwards

A flashback is a common technique where a scene that took place in the past is inserted into the narrative to provide new contextual information. Flashforwards, which are much less common, do the same thing but with a scene from the future, and establish dramatic irony where the reader now knows things the characters in the "present" time don't know yet. In both cases, the benefit to you as a writer is having more control over the flow of information, so that you can deploy it at the point in the story where it will have the greatest effect.

The key element to keep in mind with these techniques is timing them well. You might be using flashbacks regularly to string out exposition in more digestible chunks or just saving one important scene of backstory, but you'll need to be aware of big reveals that will recontextualise the story and place those accordingly. The midpoint, for example, is a good point to disclose information that changes the story's meaning. If using a flashforward, on the other hand, you could think about where you want to raise tension by teasing events that happen later in the story. The main benefit of moving scenes out of chronological order is to make their contents more meaningful, so you want to be deliberate about where you put them.

Framing the story

You're sure to be familiar with the framing device where the main narrative is being told to the readers or audience after the fact; it's especially popular in films and in classic literature. Note that a framing device is distinct from simply using past-tense narration because it includes scenes from the time of the telling, not just the narration itself, to establish a "now" and "then". Quite often, the story is being told by a main character, but it might also be structured as a completely different character discovering someone else's story.

This framing technique incorporates a lot of the effects of a flashforward, in that you could reveal details from the future which might alter the way the bulk of the narrative is interpreted, but with a higher level of consistency and lower likelihood of earth-shattering reveals. What this technique is particularly good at doing, though, is placing the story in a specific emotional context, often through a sense of inevitability and retrospection; this makes it especially effective for tragic or nostalgic stories.

Non-chronological narrative

The techniques we've already looked at in this post assume that you have a main narrative that flows from start to finish with some bits that jump briefly to another time. But what if the main narrative itself isn't chronological?

You could tell a story backwards, for instance, starting from the end and moving towards the beginning. This is a useful way to structure stories where you want to put the most emphasis on discovering why characters acted in a certain way or experienced a certain event, or where the consequences of the climactic event are more relevant than the lead-up to it. The focus of these narratives is on gathering information and piecing together the past like a puzzle, rather than following a sequence of actions.

Alternatively, you could jump around the timeline with no prescribed order. This is chaotic and inherently disconcerting for readers, so you have to be very confident in your ordering of events and ability to signpost when scenes occur related to each other. If done well, though, it makes for an immersive and thoughtful experience and makes us consider causality in a new way. A jumbled-up structure like this could be relevant for stories involving time travel as well, since characters aren't experiencing time or consequences in the same way.