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Q&A How does the 3 act structure fit in a Non Linear story?

The three-act or five-act structure can still exist even if the elements are not shown in order. It's the effect on the audience which is changed. In the case of Memento, you see the end first, an...

posted 7y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:45Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28725
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:38:33Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28725
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T06:38:33Z (almost 5 years ago)
The three-act or five-act structure can still exist even if the elements are not shown in order. It's the effect on the audience which is changed.

In the case of _Memento,_ you see the end first, and then work backwards through all the successes and setbacks. The "end," the resolution, becomes an inciting event of sorts, because it is where the audience first enters the story. The inciting event in chronological time happens at the end of the film, which retroactively changes how the audience understands the series of events, so it acts as a climax.

In _Pulp Fiction,_ the audience has to hold all the pieces of the narrative in their heads and slot items in chronological order as they appear in the film.

In both movies, once the entire film is done, the events have now all been told to the audience, and the audience can review those events in linear, chronological order, which creates the standard three-/five-act rise-and-fall plot. It's the experience of learning the events out of order, and the retroactive "oh, _now_ that makes sense!" which makes these stories more interesting.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-06-15T11:22:22Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 2