I have an idea for a short piece in which I would like to open the story with a story. The story is written by the main character's husband and will serve as a metaphor of their entire relationship up until the point when we meet them.
My question is two fold. Has this been overdone? And could anyone furnish me with examples in which it has been done well.
And just so you know, the main character's husband is not a writer and has no aspirations to be one (I KNOW that's overdone). The whole purpose of his writing is to communicate to her on paper what he can't verbally and so there is a potential for exerpts from other stories that he writes.
Posted by autumnmuse (Member # 2136) on :
I'm not sure if this is the same kind of thing as what you are trying to do, but The Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey opens with a story that you find out a couple pages in is the book the heroine is reading, and has significance later on in the story.
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
There's a cost to doing it, I think: a reader has to be hooked into both. But I can see that it might be worth doing.
I don't know about in print, but the film Mishima comes in 4 parts. Each part shows a section of Mishima's life AND his last day alive, and each one also has one of his plays to set the theme for that section.
Posted by dspellweaver (Member # 2133) on :
Thanks for the input.
Unfortunately I won't be able to reply or visit the boards for awhile for personal issues.