Introduction: Design and Patterns in Nonlinear Narratives 7

Basic elements
Points, Lines, Textures 41
Movement and Flow 61
Color 81

pattern
Wave 97
Ripple 123
Winding Line 149
Spiral 181
Radial or burst 207
Nets and Cells 235
Fractal 277
Tsunami? 295

Epilogue: A New Way to Write True Narratives 309
Narratives that Change the Direction and Speed ​​of the Translator's Words and Thoughts 313
320 works covered
Reference 322

Squiggly lines, swirling spirals, radials, meshes, fractals…
A non-linear story that resembles the patterns of nature
How do you create narrative movement and change?

“It transforms narrative theory into a sensual, sensory-overwhelming orgy of pleasure.” —The New Yorker

“This book will completely shake up your thinking.” —Literary Hub

“It gives food for thought to writers, critics, and readers alike.” —The Atlantic

“The best book for writers.” ―Poets&Writers

《A Narrative that Winds, Twists, and Turns》 is a book that explores the possibilities of a new type of writing, the so-called 'nonlinear narrative', that breaks away from the traditional story structure.
Nonlinear stories create narrative movement and change in a way that is different from plots that unfold according to chronological order or cause-and-effect relationships.
For centuries, there has been one path in the novel.
This is the structure of a dramatic arc: “a situation arises, tension builds, reaches a climax, and then subsides.”
The arc structure was not a given when Western novels were first born, but it gradually became established as a convention, and of course, writers have often resisted it.
However, it is also true that a significant number of writers still feel obligated to follow the arc structure.
How should we imagine a new narrative that captures the truth of life? What are the methods?

Jane Allison, a novelist and professor of creative writing, argues that the dramatic arc structure is not the only model for narrative, and that it doesn't fit well with the writing of many women or experimental writers in particular.
He says.
In nature, there are countless other patterns besides the arc structure, patterns that follow other deep movements of life. Why not bring them into the narrative and utilize them as well?
It's not that the traditional lake structure is wrong, it's that we need to be able to imagine that other structures are possible.
According to him, patterns are “the way in which experience takes shape, and the way in which we can replicate the shape of that experience through language.”
What forms does narrative take, resembling shapes like meandering lines, spirals, radials, bursts, meshes, cells, and fractals, and how do they create narrative movement and change? This book is a fascinating journey of exploration.

Design and Pattern Analysis of Nonlinear Stories
An interesting narrative taxonomy and new reading possibilities

Instead of thinking of the "soul" of a novel, or the form that breathes life into it, as an arc, what if we imagined other forms? An arc might make sense in tragedy, but a novel might be something entirely different.
Especially today.
“Today, if the novel is to survive as a species, it is better to utilize everything other than dramatic structure.” (p.22)

The patterns examined in this book are:
Waves, ripples, meanders, spirals, radials or bursts, meshes and cells, fractals, tidal waves.
These are all patterns that exist in nature.
The wave is closest to the arc structure, but here the author examines the narrative by focusing on the interesting flow and sparkle around the wave rather than its peak.
Ripples are a pattern that shows a narrative closer to human experience through small ups and downs rather than large waves that crash all at once.
The narrative, resembling a winding line, progresses along detours and side branches.
The narrative of a spiral moves forward smoothly and steadily around a central point or axis.


Imagine a narrative that delves deep into a character's soul or into the past.
In narratives with a radial or bursting pattern, a strong center holds the fictional world tightly together by gravity.
The narrative of mesh and cellular patterns makes us gaze upon countless fragments or a single spider web.
When reading a narrative with this pattern, the reader's brain makes connections by drawing lines instead of following the flow of the story.
Fractal narratives demonstrate self-replication with differences at various scales.
This narrative is likely to be condensed into a single seed from which the remaining parts will spring.
A tsunami pattern is likely to appear in a narrative that has characteristics of all the patterns mentioned above.
In addition to these patterns, the author covers the basic elements that make up a narrative, such as points, lines, textures, movement and flow of the narrative, and colors, helping to provide a deeper understanding of modern narratives.


Since encountering Sebald's The Immigrants, Jane Allison has been seeking out compelling narratives by writers who take different paths in telling their stories.
He says that the stories, which meander, spiral, burst and scatter, and repeat in a honeycomb-like pattern, “create an inner sense of moving toward something, and leave an impression of a form even after the story is over.”
《A Narrative that Winds, Spins, and Explodes》 is an attempt to reveal the visuality of narrative in terms of design and pattern, and is an interesting narrative classification method and a new form of literary criticism.
It also makes us think about how new writing enables new readings.

Breaking away from the traditional narrative flow
The creative secrets of writers who have reached a writing style that changes the direction and speed of thought.

“There is only one thing that gives the narrative the strongest sense of progress: the reader’s synaptic connections.
Thrown into the narrative, we must struggle and find our way.
“There is no rope to hold on to.” (p.237)

The four stories in Sebald's The Immigrants are connected like a web.
Sebald “weaves a net without immediately revealing what will happen next,” a pattern that the reader can only grasp after finishing the book.
Duras's "The Lover" is a story about two patterns: waves and squiggles, overlapping to create an interference pattern.
Duras spends more than half of the novel dealing with “what lies at the margins of the story, the crumbs of words that interrupt the narrative flow.”
Jamaica Kincaid uses relentless repetition in Mr. Potter to create a sense of spiral.
First-person retrospective narratives, especially those that obsessively focus on something, naturally follow a spiral structure.
All the fragments in Anne Carson's Knox arise from the central theme of her brother's death.
These fragments seem to branch out like fractals, seemingly never ending. … … What correlation is there between specific patterns and the type of story they tell? Why did the authors feel compelled to write that way? How should we, as readers, interpret these decisions?

Author Jane Allison says the stories in the book powerfully illustrate “the core human issues and complexities” in a “least conventional” way.
What is needed to create a true narrative is not to reproduce existing forms, but rather to seek new structures and make the effort and practice to capture our actual experiences, perceptions, sensations, and emotions.
Finding patterns in life and recreating them in language.
With such a critical mind, the author reads the works of writers who create unique and outstanding stories by moving between life and art, with surprising perspectives and reasoning.
This book, "A Narrative that Winds, Twists, and Turns, Explodes, and Advances," will provide freedom of exploration and a wealth of examples for those who wish to write beyond the traditional definition of story, and will be an invaluable source of inspiration and stimulation for those who enjoy reading narratives of various styles.