Is there a name for this sort of story structure?

[AG31]

Normally I like the (non-erotica) books that I like because I enjoy spending time with the MCs. This works for literary fiction, thrillers, mysteries, whatever.

The other day I read a book that had me hooked by page 7, not because I liked the characters, they never did become vivid for me, but because I didn't know what the book was up to. Was it a romance? The MCs were divorced, was it a murder mystery? Part of it takes place before the murder(s). Part of it takes place during the week of collecting impact statements after ethe murder is caught. It's loaded with people and events whose important details aren't revealed until maybe a hundred pages after they're introduced.

In short, I kept reading because I wanted to know what it was about. I did skim the last third.

Is there a name for this sort of structure? I was hooked, yes, but I won't pick up one of her books again.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Bait?

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Page turner

 

[AG31]

Page turner

I don't think so. It was a very slow read, no points where you looked for the next thing. Instead you were surprised by the next thing. You had to keep turning the pages to figure out the over-arching plan.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Six characters in search of an author? Or too many ideas, needs an editor?

The fact that you skimmed the last third sums it up pretty much. When I find books like that, that are being a bit too clever for their own good, I read the last chapter to find out the resolution. If that makes no sense, and it very often doesn't, I'll read the second last chapter. That way, I can leave out the waffle in the middle.

 

[AG31]

Six characters in search of an author? Or too many ideas, needs an editor?

The fact that you skimmed the last third sums it up pretty much. When I find books like that, that are being a bit too clever for their own good, I read the last chapter to find out the resolution. If that makes no sense, and it very often doesn't, I'll read the second last chapter. That way, I can leave out the waffle in the middle.

Excellent approach!

 

[barefootgirl69]

I'm intrigued about what book you were reading.

 

[AG31]

I'm intrigued about what book you were reading.

The Death of Us by Abigail Dean

 

[AG31]

I'm intrigued about what book you were reading.

If you do take a look at it, would you come back to this thread and tell us what you thought?

 

[lovecraft68]

The Death of Us by Abigail Dean

I looked it up. Seems interesting but I'll probably let it go as reading between the lines I'm sure I know what happens that night and why the marriage fell apart. I'm not in a place to put myself through that these days.

I wrote something I shouldn't have a couple of weeks ago and if I think about it, I get myself worked up in bad ways

 

[Britva415]

It's loaded with people and events whose important details aren't revealed until maybe a hundred pages after they're introduced. […]
Is there a name for this sort of structure?

It almost sounds like there was an “infodump.”

Beyond that, did the “structure” seem similar to anything else you’ve ever read? Is there a pattern it belongs to?

Just asking because it doesn’t sound like something there is a name for, structurally. It just sounds kind of clumsy and uncompelling.

 

[AG31]

It almost sounds like there was an “infodump.”

Beyond that, did the “structure” seem similar to anything else you’ve ever read? Is there a pattern it belongs to?

Just asking because it doesn’t sound like something there is a name for, structurally. It just sounds kind of clumsy and uncompelling.

No, the opposite of an info dump. The info is dribbled out 50 pages by 50 pages.

I think I may have read such a structure. It didn't seem totally new. But I can't be sure It's certainly not familiar.

 

[PennameWombat]

<snip>

In short, I kept reading because I wanted to know what it was about. I did skim the last third.

Is there a name for this sort of structure? I was hooked, yes, but I won't pick up one of her books again.

From this overall thread, sounds to me like the author read a writing advice article on "foreshadowing" and just took that to heart with a maniacal passion.

I saw a bit of this in "Revelation Space," by Alastair Reynolds, a rather highly regarded Welsh science fiction author. But about halfway, various members of the MC's little team started to have doubts and, well, there was much hinting and discussion. It was quite annoying. I only finished because I liked the basic premise, and I wanted to analyze his technique. The ending essentially rolled out more or less how I'd guessed it would. I'd tried a couple of others, oddly, this was the third, the first one ("Pushing Ice") I'd enjoyed enough to try these others. But two out of three duds (for me) ended that.

 

[JGittes]

I haven't read the book, but I looked up a few reviews and somewhat detailed commentaries.

I believe the basic event is a home invasion in the 1990s that results in significant trauma to the victims, a wife and husband. Nearly three decades later, the perpetrator is caught and brought to trial. The structure of the novel is two separate POV stories, one each from the husband and wife.

The husband’s perspective is told in real time, from the trial. His recollections of their marriage are all in hindsight from his present-day perspective, with his wife (former wife) known only from his viewpoint.

The wife's version unfolds as a historical timeline of her entire relationship with her husband from before the attack through the trial. She is recounting this story to her attacker, as if in the form of a victim impact statement.

Again, I haven't read the novel, and I'm not sure how the two stories are interwoven, but it appears to have the potential for two unreliable narrators, resulting in a Rashomon effect.

 

[Britva415]

From this overall thread, sounds to me like the author read a writing advice article on "foreshadowing" and just took that to heart with a maniacal passion.

I saw a bit of this in "Revelation Space," by Alastair Reynolds, a rather highly regarded Welsh science fiction author. But about halfway, various members of the MC's little team started to have doubts and, well, there was much hinting and discussion. It was quite annoying. I only finished because I liked the basic premise, and I wanted to analyze his technique. The ending essentially rolled out more or less how I'd guessed it would.

This sounds like the opposite of what was asked about. You kept reading even though you had a damn good idea where it was going, whereas OP kept reading in order to find out what would happen or what kind of story it would even turn out to be. An absence of any foreshadowing, you might say.

 

[MillieDynamite]

What about badly written story structure?

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Normally I like the (non-erotica) books that I like because I enjoy spending time with the MCs. This works for literary fiction, thrillers, mysteries, whatever.

The other day I read a book that had me hooked by page 7, not because I liked the characters, they never did become vivid for me, but because I didn't know what the book was up to. Was it a romance? The MCs were divorced, was it a murder mystery? Part of it takes place before the murder(s). Part of it takes place during the week of collecting impact statements after ethe murder is caught. It's loaded with people and events whose important details aren't revealed until maybe a hundred pages after they're introduced.

In short, I kept reading because I wanted to know what it was about. I did skim the last third.

Is there a name for this sort of structure? I was hooked, yes, but I won't pick up one of her books again.

I think people like Agatha Christie, Sir Author Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, James Patterson, etc. call them Murder Mysteries.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Doesn't sound like she wrote the way any of them did, though.

I think people like Agatha Christie, Sir Author Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, James Patterson, etc. call them Murder Mysteries.

 

[MrHereWriting]

Normally I like the (non-erotica) books that I like because I enjoy spending time with the MCs. This works for literary fiction, thrillers, mysteries, whatever.

The other day I read a book that had me hooked by page 7, not because I liked the characters, they never did become vivid for me, but because I didn't know what the book was up to. Was it a romance? The MCs were divorced, was it a murder mystery? Part of it takes place before the murder(s). Part of it takes place during the week of collecting impact statements after ethe murder is caught. It's loaded with people and events whose important details aren't revealed until maybe a hundred pages after they're introduced.

In short, I kept reading because I wanted to know what it was about. I did skim the last third.

Is there a name for this sort of structure? I was hooked, yes, but I won't pick up one of her books again.

Murder Mysteries, Romances, that's genre, not structure.

Structure is how the story is told/delivered, e.g., 3-Act, 5-Act, Heroes Journey, Kishotenketsu, Unconventional (Multiple Narratives, Nonlinear, Parallel Storylines, and more), Dan Harmon's Story Circle, 7-pont Structure and a whole lot more.

This sounds like a character/narrative driven story, from what you've said.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Murder Mysteries, Romances, that's genre, not structure.

Structure is how the story is told/delivered, e.g., 3-Act, 5-Act, Heroes Journey, Kishotenketsu, Unconventional (Multiple Narratives, Nonlinear, Parallel Storylines, and more), Dan Harmon's Story Circle, 7-pont Structure and a whole lot more.

This sounds like a character/narrative driven story, from what you've said.

Misread the question. Wouldn't that be a mosaic or delayed exposition structure?

 

[MrHereWriting]

Misread the question. Wouldn't that be a mosaic or delayed exposition structure?

Sounds like it.

Edit: I looked up the genre, and it falls into the broad range of thriller, suspense, psychological thriller, crime, mystery, etc., which Delayed and Mosaic works well with. And, sounds like a dual narrative about two people interviewing lots of of perspectives, so it's a bit of both.

There are no rules (well, there shouldn't be) to writing, so an author can tell their story however they like in as many ways they like. Trying to classify works into single categories is unnecessary, although there's nothing wrong with curiosity when it comes to these things.

If these discussions give people a better understanding of their interests, good.