Frame story

A frame story is an outer narrative that sets up and surrounds one or more inner stories, usually by having a character tell, write or find them.

Scheherazade tells the king a story each night to delay her execution. The tales inside are many. The reason for them, a woman talking for her life, is the frame.

How it works

A frame story has two levels.

• The outer story. The situation in which the telling happens, such as a group of pilgrims on a road or a ship's captain writing letters.
• The inner story or stories. The tale or tales told within.

The outer story gives the inner one a listener, a purpose and a lens. Frankenstein sets Victor's story inside Captain Walton's letters, and the creature's story inside Victor's. Each layer adds distance and a fresh voice.

What a frame can do

• Explain why the tale is told. A reason to speak is a reason to listen.
• Link separate stories. The Canterbury Tales turns a set of tales into a journey with a cast.
• Colour the telling. A narrator may shade the story, as in an unreliable narrator setup.
• Add tension. The audience wonders what the telling costs the teller.

Why it matters to a writer or editor

A frame is a structural promise: the outer story must matter too. Editors check that the frame is returned to at the right moments and closes. A frame that opens and is never revisited feels forgotten. A frame that interrupts too often kills momentum. Check that the movement between layers is clear to the reader. Compare the epistolary form, which often uses a frame of found documents, and the briefer flashback.

Frequently asked questions

What are famous frame stories?

The Canterbury Tales, One Thousand and One Nights, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, The Princess Bride and Heart of Darkness.

Why do writers use a frame?

To give the inner story a reason to be told, to introduce a storyteller with a personality, to add distance or doubt, and to link tales that would otherwise stand apart.

How is a frame story different from a flashback?

A flashback is a brief jump into the past within one narrative. A frame story has a full outer narrative with its own characters and situation.