# Stories with good unorthodox structure **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114 "2016-04-13T19:43:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/21 "2016-04-14T13:34:55Z")
Law and Order:Criminal Intent episode The Maltese Cross. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/22 "2016-04-14T13:36:40Z")
I can’t remember the title or even the details but I once read a neat Sci fi short story where the story you were reading was basically like an alien virus and the implication was that by reading it you were allowing it to multiply. I remember it being really cool and well done. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/23 "2016-04-14T15:14:41Z")
The structure is routine, but the set up of Norman Spinrad’s **The Iron Dream** is definitely unique. Once you open the book, the actual title is revealed as **Lords of the Swastika** by noted space opera author Adolph Hitler, who, as the biography indicates, “dabbled in radical politics” before emigrating to the US and becoming an SF artist and writer. The narrative is a parody both of Sword and Sorcery novels and the entire Nazi movement. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/24 "2016-04-14T19:48:26Z")
**Irreversible**. Thirteen scenes in reverse chronological order. Various techniques (and some of the imagery) make the movie uncomfortable to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/25 "2016-04-14T20:19:28Z")
Iain Pears does this a lot. _An Instance of the Fingerpost_ is a Restoration-era Rashomon-like novel, in which the same story is told by several unreliable narrators. Even more strikingly, his latest novel _Arcadia_, a time travel extravaganza, has ten different story strands - apparently he’s made an app so that readers can track them all! (I read the book without the app, and it was fun anyway): > **[Why you need an app to understand my novel](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/20/novel-use-for-app-iain-pears-arcadia)** > > Iain Pears has always written complex books – his latest, Arcadia, has 10 separate story strands. To make his readers’ lives easier, he turned to interactive technology ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/26 "2016-04-14T22:44:11Z")
The first chapter of Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury” consists of the impressions and memories of a mentally retarded man. Hence, the “narrative” jumps around to different times in his life. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/27 "2016-04-14T23:16:49Z")
Steven King had a novel whos name escapes me (but some nice Doper will probably provide) which is told from beginning to end in dialog, no chapters, no paragraphs (outside of the dialog anyway) that I can recall. it was interestingly done. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/28 "2016-04-15T03:19:44Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > _Rashomon_ the Japanese movie does the same thing, about 47 years earlier than Pears. I haven’t seen _Rashomon_, but reading the synopsis I think what _Fingerpost_ accomplished is much harder. Firstly because the narrators hardly ever overtly contradict each other - just wrap the same events in an entirely different interpretation - and second because the actual meaning of the story changes at each step, till what started as just a murder mystery ends up being about espionage, national politics and religious freedom. I’m sure Rashomon’s a good film too. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/29 "2016-04-15T04:26:09Z")
Actually I found \*Rashomon \*a bit tedious, once you’ve got the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/30 "2016-04-15T04:57:11Z")
Time’s Arrow (novel) by Martin Amis tell sthe story of a man’s life as viewed in reverse (e.g., you recieve raw materials from the toilet, up your bum, process them into foodstuffs in your gut, spit them out, wrap them, take them to the store to exchange them for money.) ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/31 "2016-04-15T05:04:04Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Iain Pears’ “An Instance of the Fingerpost” tells the exact same story four times, from the point of view of four different characters. But it does it in such a way that each new character adds a level of depth that the previous narrators know nothing of (also, some, possibly all of them are liars) so that it’s a different story each time A dense read but absolutely riveting. +1 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/32 "2016-04-15T14:25:03Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I haven’t seen _Rashomon_, but reading the synopsis I think what _Fingerpost_ accomplished is much harder. Firstly because the narrators hardly ever overtly contradict each other - just wrap the same events in an entirely different interpretation - and second because the actual meaning of the story changes at each step, till what started as just a murder mystery ends up being about espionage, national politics and religious freedom. > > I’m sure Rashomon’s a good film too. If you liked _Fingerpost_, you should check out _Arcadia_ if you haven’t already. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/33 "2016-04-15T17:50:30Z")
National Lampoon had a story named something like “Don’t Give Away the Beginning” which was a good story, but had the paragraphs printed in reverse order. It was about 1979. All of their back issues were on [archives.org](http://archives.org) but has been taken down for copyright reasons. I don’t know where to find it now. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/34 "2016-04-15T18:48:15Z")
“Repent Harlequin” said the ticktockman, a short story by Harlan Ellison. It starts in the middle, then jumps around a lot. It’s also got a great title. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/35 "2016-04-15T18:51:58Z")
Urusla K LeGuin’s _The Dispossessed_ switches between “present” and “flashback” in alternate chapters. It’s confusing at first. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/36 "2016-04-15T19:35:50Z")
Going all the way back _The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman_, while ostensibly the autobiography of the title character, goes off on so many digressions and musings that the birth of the character isn’t portrayed until Volume III and very little of the book covers his life. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/37 "2016-04-15T20:54:56Z")
The video game Bioshock: Infinite has a pretty interesting story structure. It plays a big off of the future and the past and dimensions and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/38 "2016-04-15T22:12:49Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > If you liked _Fingerpost_, you should check out _Arcadia_ if you haven’t already. Just put it on hold from the library 🙂 I’m glad to see someone has mentioned _The Disposessed_ too. One of the really nice things about the structure of that book is that the theory the physicist protagonist is working on in the course of the book is “the Theory of Simultanaity” - ie, working out how to get around the restrictions that space-time imposes on us. So the fact that his life is being shown as if his childhood and adulthood are happening at the exact same time is directly relevant to the whole theme of the book. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/39 "2016-04-16T12:59:13Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > _Cloud Atlas_ and _If on a winter’s night a traveler_ are both wonderful books with entirely non-standard structure. The book Cloud Atlas has a structure where you get in the 1st story then the 2nd then the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th until you reach the middle and then you go back from the 6th to the 5th to the 4th etc all the way back to the 1st so that the structure is symmetrical, right? How does it link up those narratives and go from one to the next? How come the movie didn’t follow that structure? Was it better or worse for it? > [@Princhester](#): > > The _Illuminatus!_ trilogy by Wilson and Shea is the single most non-sequential book I’ve ever read or heard of. Not only does it contain multiple interweaving storylines told out of order, it switches between them, sometimes even mid-paragraph. It’s actually quite remarkable that you can, due to the differing voices etc, figure out who is speaking and what is going on. > > It is, as myself and others have said, one of the only books I’ve come across that - marketing hype aside - actually changed the way I think. How did it change the way you think? Is there any rhyme to the way it switches between the storylines? > [@zimaane](#): > > “Repent Harlequin” said the ticktockman, a short story by Harlan Ellison. It starts in the middle, then jumps around a lot. What’s in the middle? How does it seem to determine what to jump around to? Have there been reverse forms of the Hero’s Journey? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114/40 "2016-04-16T14:06:47Z")
The Captive, a movie with Ryan Reynolds. I wouldn’t call it a great movie, but it jumps in time so much that I really had no idea what was going on until I read the plot outline online. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-good-unorthodox-structure/752114.md?page=3)