That said, I’m a reader who constantly challenges herself to become immersed in stories that are so beautifully complex, a linear timeline won’t do it justice. No, it needs a nonlinear timeline. A nonlinear narrative can manifest in many ways, but put simply, it’s a story that’s told out of chronological order. Authors employ various literary forms in order to achieve this. Some popular forms include flashbacks, flashforwards, foreshadowing, and even dreams. Fantastical and science fiction elements can also be used, such as time travel and prophecy. When I was younger, I found this form to be unnerving because I had to recalibrate my brain from one time period to another. But once I got used to the format, I found it to be rewarding. This is because not all stories are meant to be told chronologically. What happened in the past influences the present that the characters are living in. A good writer will dig into details and motifs to evoke a sense of time, even though their story isn’t being told in chronological order. Here are eight books that feature nonlinear timelines and employ various forms to show an asynchronous passage of time. Looking for more books that play with time and structure? You might like these Young Adult Books with Unconventional Narrative Structures, A Guide to Hypertext Literature, and The Best Time Travel Books.
