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One literary technique I've always loved is the inclusion of multiple stories within a single narrative structure. The best example I can think of is "Holes," which actually has three stories seamlessly woven together. Stephen King's "It" does this, too, although not as well.
One thing I don't mean by this is flashbacks of any kind. For example, in Lord of the Rings you learn a lot of things that happened in the past, but these flashbacks serve the main story. Nor do I mean tales told within the context of the story, such as in "Watership Downs."
I'm not sure where the line is between such things, but most stories could be easily categorized as one or the other.
What makes this technique powerful? What types of stories does it work best with, and what are the emotional effects it can achieve? What has to be done to execute it well? And what are some other good examples?
posted
So you mean separate stories, not just the story from different perspectives?
I really love Catherine Neville's novels, "The Eight," and "The Magic Circle." Those come most quickly to mind.
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quote:So you mean separate stories, not just the story from different perspectives?
I really love Catherine Neville's novels, "The Eight," and "The Magic Circle." Those come most quickly to mind.
Yes, although two totally disconnected perspectives that meet up at the end would probably qualify. Can't think of an example right now, but I've read several like that.
Haven't read any Neville; I'll check her out.
As for the stories being separate, they do need to connect somehow, but there's a sense that one is story A, one is story B, and they meet at one particular point. At least, that's when the technique has the greatest impact on me.
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Neil Gaiman tends to do stories within stories. I love that. It's a great devise for a person like me who adores stories.
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The movie was excellent. I thought they did a great jopb with the stoires-within the story, but I am not sure how someone who had not read the book would feel.
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I saw the movie first and it encouraged me to read the book. I was amazed at how well they pulled off the Sachar feel. It was really great.
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There's this series called The Indian in the Cupboard, and the last book in the series that I read, the name escapes me... The story was about the main character's ancestor and told her story as well as his. The best part was when he met her... So cool.
The internet tells me it was called "The Mystery of the Cupboard". Smart internet... (pets it)
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What about Return of the King, where you jump from Frodo and Sam to the rest of the Fellowship and back?
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There is a story like this that is nagging at me, but I can't remember it. Oooh, I hate that.
Wait! I have it!!!!
Mark Helperin does this. "A Soldier of the Great War." (one of my top ten favorite books, I think)(today's list, anyway)
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Blacwolve: I think the point is that those are all the same story.
In "Holes" the three stories all happen at totally different times with different characters, and you only find out how they are even related at the very end.
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Godfather II is a good example in film, although I haven't seen the whole thing straight through.
The Return of the King isn't what I mean, for the reason PSI gave. The stories don't have to happen at different times, but in RotK they're really forks of the same story.
I think the critical criteria are that neither story relies on the other until they "meet," and from that point on they're the same story.
This is driving me crazy because I read a book just like you're describing very recently and I can't remember what it is. I hate it when this happens.
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Truthfully, many books use this tactic, but the difference is how long it takes for the stories to meet.
Actually, Ender's Game is close to this, if only because Ender's actions don't affect Val and Peter's story (except for the whole saving the planet they live on thing) and Val and Peter's actions are seperate from Ender until the very end of the story. I always thought of it as different stories, but they aren't really. That's tough to say.
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Strictly speaking, Ender's Game wouldn't really qualify because it forks off from the same beginning, and they cross several times. But there is a satisfaction to the Locke/Demo story as a distinct identity. I would imagine techniques that worked in EG would work in the more strictly distinct stories.
I'm not even really sure why I'm interested, except that the ability to switch from one story to another without breaking the reader out of the narrative indicates good writing.
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Xenocide does this too, now that I think of it. On the one hand you have the story of the people of Path, and on the other the conflict with the Starways Congress.
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Good point - it's an even better example. Although the connection between the two is clear almost from the beginning, the characters don't interact for most of the book.
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There's also Ships of Earth while we're on OSC stories.
Gravity's Rainbow does this with about 70 different stories, but I never can figure what's going on in that book starting from page one, multiple stories don't help, but I don't think I'd be any better off without them, especially now that I'm reading another Pynchon book.
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Sean Russell's new fantasy series does this two-story thing. It is more interwoven than separate. More like people being reborn into the present story.
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Russell does more than 2 stories...he has 3 main characters in the present, and they become "involved with "sririts from the past who are still acting out their old loves and hates...so it's like 6 stories..unless all you were counting was the present and the past...
I like his writing too...his Far East duology was great, the best I have read from him so far.
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A Song of Ice and Fire does this to some degree, since Dany's story is almost completely separate from the goings-on in the Seven Kingdoms. Though I guess those stories were the same in the past, before the beginning of the first novel.
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He sort of revisits the idea in Timequake, although that mixes essays with stories in a weird little jumble. I can't remember if there are ongoing stories intertwined, or just discrete chapters.
Another candidate might be Dhalgren (Samuel R. Delany), although I can't quite recall how fractured it was or where those fractures were located.
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quote: Good point - it's an even better example. Although the connection between the two is clear almost from the beginning, the characters don't interact for most of the book.
I guess I'm just really dense then....
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posted
This kind of structure IS pretty common on TV, actually -- as has been pointed out, you see double plots on any show with an ensemble cast, from Buffy to Seinfeld to the Simpsons to NYPD Blue.
It's rarer in novels, although rather precious and beautiful when it happens.
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The best Seinfelds were when the two story lines came together well. George the Marine Biologist pulling Kramer's golf ball from the whale, for example.
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It's not like this is an official category. Really, I hold up Holes as the prime example so far. In Timeline, weren't the stories sequential from a narrative standpoint?
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Liz: I don't know, but Isle of Battle took a while, so I would guess next year, maybe...
I read a book, a long time ago, that did this but in a very different manner. I don't remember what the book was, just that it told the story from several people's viewpoints, and it was really the same story, see from different ends...but you didn't realize it until the climax of the story....
It was weird, because they were opposing each other, but you never realized it, and you were rooting for both...until you found out they were opposing each other.
I have seen other authors try the same thing, and fail...but I can't remember any details now, it's too late....
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posted
No, it was definitely one story. From when the novel begins they are both taking place at the same amount of time from the beginning of the novel. Not at the same place in time, but same amount of days and hours and this won't make any sense at all to anyone who hasn't read the book and this is very hard to put into words because Crichton creates such wacky stories, but no I gotta disagree.
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