ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on structural devices for composing narratives, but there are also content-driven patterns that characterize particular genres of narrative. There are three temporal “places” from which authors of these narratives construct “beginnings” and make use of set-ups. They are entry into the initial setting or situation; entry into the middle of the story; and entry from the end of the action. As Scott Gust rightly acknowledges, stories often have multiple beginnings, and one task for an author is to select from among them the beginning that best fits the narrative she or he wants to write. In Gust’s case, this selected beginning also allows him to return to this theme at the end of his performance, thus wrapping the narrative in a circular pattern that further reflects the continuing and circular nature of his remembrance.
