A review by mariebrunelm
Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

The subtitle of this essay says it all: “Design and Pattern in Narrative”. Jane Alison explores how authors have taken inspiration, consciously or not, from natural patterns to structure their stories. More precisely, Alison looks at patterns different from the classic wave or three-act structure that implies a swelling wave, a climax and the… aftermath, which is a rather phallocentric way of building a narrative structure and, what’s more important, certainly not the only one. The author looks at wavelets rather than one wave, at spiral patterns, cellular, or meandering. She takes extensive examples from novels or short stories from a range of different authors. I was particularly excited when she illustrated the pattern of the fractal with David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, a book I thoroughly enjoyed and plan to re-read.

I’d say this book is written more from the perspective of a reader than a writer, or rather it’s not written as a textbook on story structure. It opens perspectives and suggests ways of doing without giving you tools like other books about writing do. I underlined a few passages that I’m looking forward to thinking about and I’d recommend this book as a good starting point, for instance in a writing group.