I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I wanted some fresh opinions. Nonlinear plots - how do you feel about them? Do they enhance the story? Detract from it? Are they overused? Any good or bad examples? On the same note, what exactly do you consider a nonlinear plot? Does having a one-off flashback here or there disrupt the entire narrative? As for me, I love them if they're used correctly. It's the same story for just about any plot device, but used correctly, I feel like they add an element of suspense and just enough confusion to discomfort the reader from their safe little story. I use them heavily. Pulp Fiction and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind both make heavy, HEAVY use of nonlinear storytelling and are both two of my favorite films of all time. I don't read that much, so I can't speak for literature. Done rambling, what do you guys think?
A great example is the screenplay Pulp Fiction. Let's see the framestory, Merrick by Anne Rice. Both are very different examples of non-linear stories.
it's probably as common a technique for both prose and film as the linear method... and, like anything else in both life and art, when it works, it works... when it don't, it don't! i don't judge either novels or films by the method that was used, but only by how well it was... or not...
i don't see that there are any 'best' ones, other than where it works best for each writer, on a story by story, book by book basis...
