People, who are not authors, often think writing is easy. You just sit down, type some stuff out, and voila, a story ready to publish. The reality is that there is so much to consider when writing.
Over the millennia that writing has been a form of communication, certain styles and patterns have emerged. These are now referred to as narrative devices. Framing is one such device.
Imagine slapping a bare painting or portrait to the wall. It feels a bit out of place. Part of a museum curator’s job is to choose an artistically appropriate frame that will draw attention to the painting and enhance the work within. Narrative framing does something very similar for a story.
What Is a Framing Device?
A framing device is a narrative structure. Just as poems have structures, a novel can have a framing structure.
If a frame opens within the novel, then it will likely close in the opposite to the order it opened. For example, A, B, C…C, B, A. This is how Frankenstein and Cloud Atlas work. However, not all frames are used this cleanly.
In Frankenstein, the story starts towards the climax scene where a sea captain discovers Victor Frankenstein out in the arctic. The story then moves to Victor’s point of view as he describes his life from what he sees as the beginning. Then it opens a new section in the creature’s point of view as he describes his experiences of life and motivations for chasing Victor.
Next, the story begins to close up as it returns to Victor who explains what led him to end up on the ship. And finally, it ends with the ship captain explaining the closing events of what happens when the creature catches up with Victor.
Framing Device Definition
Narrative framing is a literary technique that structures the story within a framework, specifically impacting the reader’s experience of the story. It lays the foundation for point of view, context, or perspective of the story. And it adds depth to the story.
As you can see from the example of Frankenstein, it is best described as when there is a story within a story, or nesting stories. The frame story could offer a different perspective on the same story, explore a different point in the timeline, or provide crucial context and insight into the inner stories.
Framing Device Meaning
Framing devices are used to add clarity to a story. In this case, the story won’t make sense without the frame. Or the framing breaks the main story into smaller sections.
They can be used to increase or decrease tension. If the person narrating is an older version of the person in the story, you know they survived to tell the tale like in Odysseus and Titanic.
However, if the narrator is Death or some other omniscient being, then it can add tension as the reader feels like the protagonist likely didn’t survive considering they aren’t the narrator. Some stories have added a twist by having their ghost be the narrator, but it is only discovered at the end.
Framing devices can cause the reader to doubt the reliability of the narrator and therefore the accuracy of the framed story. For example, if the narrator is old and telling about their glory days, their recall may not be entirely accurate. Or if the narrator has an agenda.
Framing can let the reader know what the setting is or help them understand the motivations of the characters within the inner story. Using multiple points of view as the frames, like in Frankenstein, can help the reader see the story from different eyes.
The framing device can also set the tone, mood, or theme of the true story being told. Allowing the reader to see the story through the lens of another person with their own interpretations and reactions can guide the reader into interpreting the story in the way the author wants them to. Or mislead them.
What Is Framing in Writing?
Framing is often used in the traditional sense where a narrator is telling a story, whether it be a made-up story or a story of their past life. However, it can also be used in a more modern sense where it challenges more traditional methods and structures of storytelling.
- The narrator that frames the story is either an outside unbiased observer or a character who is part of the story. In the case of Frankenstein, the sea captain is more of an unbiased observer, and then Frankenstein and the creature are both a part of the story.
- Someone finds a piece of media (book, letter, journal, text, email, etc.) with the story within it.
- Someone dreams of the story. (This has become cliche and often frustrates the reader. The frame story can mitigate this.)
Framing Device in Literature Examples
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (2019)
The frame story is about Zachary discovering a book in a university library. He then reads and interprets the book engaging the reader in a story within the story. In fact, there are six books creating a series of converging narratives.
The Arabian Nights (1706-1721)
This collection of works by many names has changed over the years, but one thing hasn’t- the frame story. In the frame story, The King has determined all women are adulterous, so he kills his brides the next day.
However, Scheherazade has a plan. She tells a story to the king, stopping before the end each night for 1001 successive nights in order to avoid execution.
This frame story always has a happy ending with Scheherazade being pardoned, though the reason is sometimes different. This work is one of the earliest to prove the power of hooks and show how to hold a collection of stories together with a frame story.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973)
This work is metafictionally presented by a fan whose father told him the story when he was trapped with pneumonia in his bed for about a month, and it became his favorite novel. Then, he grew up and wrote an abridgement of it and became involved in writing the screenplay and some legal battles around it.
While the story known and loved is within the pages, the frame story is a very interesting read and adds a lot to the purpose and meaning of the inner story. It makes you question what is real and what is just all made up.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2005)
Death frames the life story of a young girl living in Nazi Germany. Using a third-party narrator, Zusak is able to show the events and lives of various victims of the war.
Using Death, in particular, brings home the theme of mortality throughout the novel, as many of the main characters don’t survive the vagaries of the war.
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2004)
Six connected stories nested within others according to time period. It begins with a story from mid-nineteenth century Pacific, then in 1930s Belgium someone reads the journal of the main character in the previous story, then in 1975 California the main character reads the letters of the previous character and so forth.
Each character influences the next character in the book, including future times, then the stories begin moving back again in time, finishing each.
The framing stories are used in a kind of “butterfly effect” and create an overarching story and theme.
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (2012)
The story begins with the first chapter in the present time and most of the rest of the novel is a flashback of how he got into the position he’s in. Then, the novel ends by returning to the present and showing the outcome of his choices.
This is one way to increase the tension by framing the story with the climax scene.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (1847)
The opening frame is from Mr. Lockwood’s point of view, who is a new tenant that comes to visit his landlord at Heathcliff, and he reads the diary of Catherine.
Then, the nested story is Nelly’s, the current housekeeper, telling him about her experiences from when she first came to the house with Catherine.
The closing frame happens after Lockwood moves away, when he comes back for a visit and Nelly, who is now the housekeeper for Wuthering Heights, catches him up on the story of what happened after he left up until the present.
This framing structure uses the present with the internal story as a large flashback, but it also has the story filtered through two non-participants.
Tips For Using the Framing Technique in Writing
Here are seven tips for using the framing technique in writing:
- The framing device should have an effect on the story or vice versa. If it can be removed without changing the story, then it is unnecessary. So, tie the two closely together, at least at the beginning and end.
- A framing device can be a flashback, but a flashback isn’t a framing device.
- The framing device should be at both the front end of the story and the back, otherwise it is just a prologue or epilogue. And having both a prologue and epilogue doesn’t mean you have a framing device.
- Mirroring your opening and closing scenes or “bookending” does not mean you have a framing device. “Bookending” only applies to framing if it is the same narrator in the same time period telling the same story.
- Maintain coherence between the frame story and any nested stories.
- Take care to make your framing fresh and new.
- Modern framing can help connect a modern reader with a historical event through survivors.
Conclusion
Not all stories require a framing device to complete them. Often just mirroring the opening scene and the closing scene is enough to give a story that feeling of completeness to the reader. Fictionary software, editors, and instructors can help you give depth to the mirroring of your scenes.
However, if you do choose to use a frame, remember that it must close out the end as well and tie things together, otherwise it was likely just a fun prologue.
Paintings on the wall have frames that go all the way around them. That is what makes the center “pop” and grab your attention.
As the author, it is up to you to determine which literary devices work for your writing style and your specific story.
Ask yourself why you are using framing and if it is the best way to get across your story. And as with any writing “rule” this is only recommended guidance. You have to know why if you decide to break it.