Narrative in story telling - Linear and Non-Linear

Linear Narrative –

Linear, meaning going in a straight line or almost straight refers to the way and order a story is told. Linear narratives are stories that take this on and are told from beginning to end with a middle included hence being called a linear narrative. The story follows along a straight line/path of which the story is told in order.

The way of story telling using linear narrative almost seems like common sense to a lot but it can a lot more intricate and complex than it first seems. The story has to best suit the narrative as well as generally build with tension and make a progression of interest in the reader.

An example of a linear narrative would be if you told someone about how your days was. You’d want to start with everything in chronological order, opening with a line with first tells your reader what you’re going to talk and then go on to explain and tell how your day was in order.

Non-Linear Narrative –

What we did with single strand and multi-strand narratives can be applied here. Single would imply one whereas multi implies more than once. The same is seen here, linear means the story follows in order so Non-linear must mean that the story doesn’t go in complete order and doesn’t go from start to finish chronologically.

Non-linear narratives are used in stories that usually start at the middle of the story. From the start of the book or film that uses a non-linear narrative, you’re put straight into the action and conflict which will then double-back to the beginning of the film where you’ll start to understand and begin to know what everything was that you saw at the start. These sort of stories often employ the use of flashbacks and their counter part, ‘flashforwards’ in order to keep the reader on their toes and interested as the writer tells their story.