- some ways in which storytelling can be more than just a narration.

Be it movies , novels , short stories , folk tales or just comics - its all about storytelling.
Of course stories stand out in our memories on the strength of their content.
Content really is the king, but human creativity, at times,transcends creating content alone.
Most of the time, creativity begins and ends with the routine "Twist in the Tail".
You can perhaps give me innumerable examples for it but one of the many that strike my mind
is "The Sixth Sense". The twist works best when you do not expect it to be there at all.
However, there are other, more intriguing ways to tell a great tale.
Check out these vastly unconventional ways of storytelling that stand out because they make you say -
"why could I never think of anything like that myself ?"

# Perspective: The world and events as seen by the narrator. While many movies and novels pretend to present a story as seen by a character, they invariably lose all the nuances associated with it and end up as any other story told in the third person.
The "First person" effect would invariably twist the world to go along with the character's perception of it. For a real life person, the world seems to revolve around him; his ideas and beliefs seem better than anyone else's and he sees his actions as invariably the right thing to do.The comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" is a classic example of how genuine "perspective" can be used to its full potential as opposed to the myriads of lame attempts at this form of styling.The artist shows us the world as seen from the eyes of a child, even to the extent that the child's toy tiger appears to him (and us) as real. Another good use of this style can be found in the classic book - "The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins where the author uses this style to pack more punch into the final revelation. The movie "Zubeidaa" takes a stab at this style in telling the story of the central character as seen through the eyes of others. A literary device generally known as the "unreliable narrator" is an interesting twist to the perspective style wherein the narrator misrepresents facts to the reader, sometimes deliberately.

# Retrospect:  In a story like this -- one using the format of telling the story in reverse (that is, each flashback is set earlier than the one before) -- the previous scene takes on new, perhaps even different, meaning in light of new revelations.
Of course, it needs a lot of skill and inspiration to create a story like that ! Watch the movie "Memento" to see how retrospect works.

# Epistolary: Written in the form of or carried on by letters or correspondence. The novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker is a famous example of this style of writing [ There was a movie of this style mentioned by my friend, in which the sequence of letters take the audience beyond the death of the characters. Need to ask my friend to fill me in on this one. ]

# Allusive: Yes, indirect references to well known artifacts from within the story can be a very enriching experience. A story written in this form delights the reader by teasing him/her with subtle references to stuff the reader may be expected to know.It also opens the door for the reader to investigate and explore
beyond the covers of the current book.The 'Sandman' series of comics by Niel Gaiman
is one of the most celebrated form of this art.

# Snake's hands: The tales-within-tales could be called "snakes'-hands," a term coined by John Crowley in his novel Engine Summer to describe those parts of a story that diverge from the main narrative but are fascinating in their own right. Crowley's narrator even suggests that "sometimes the snakes'-hands in a story are the best part, if the story is a long one." The "snakes'-hands" in Panchatantra actually form the main body of this collection of folk tales; and the tales within tales are nested so deep that they continue to fascinate every time you read it.

So what is it that make these stories stand out - the novelty of the idea or the clever way of presentation ? Whatever be the case, the world of imaginenation is richer because of these creative ways of styling.

Footnote: If you have come across any striking form of creative styling , do share it with me too so that we may add it to the list.

Photo: Jackson Pollock's Galaxy, a part of the Joslyn Art Museum's permanent collection qualifies as fair use