Below i have written some variations of my story using different narrative structures such as linear, episodic, non linear etc.
Original/Linear:
A disease has killed thousands of people so a doctor has began human trials with a drug he thinks will cure it. A women widowed by the disease volunteered for the trials. Everything was going as planned, she was reacting as expected and she wasn't showing any signs of the diseases until things start to change. Paranoia and hallucinations set in. Blackouts became part of her regular schedule and horrific things started happening. Her nightmares seemed to be connected with the horrible incidents that had been happening around her. She realised that during her blackouts she was the one causing the incidents. She tried her hardest to control the blackouts but she had no luck. Eventually the doctors realised that its the cure that is causing these occurrences and try to remove it from her system. (plot spoiler) Awake she is disease free but asleep she is a killer.
Episodic:
If the story was episodic the first 'episode' of the film would be titled "The Outbreak", in this the narrative would focus when and how the epidemic began. The second episode would focus on the fiance's death and would be titled "The Tragedy". The next would be "The Trials" and would focus on the trial part of the story up until things start being abnormal e.g blackout and paranoia (the 'exciting incidents'). The narrative would continue in episodes for the rest of the film separating it similar to chapters. The narrative is different to the others and it has more focus on life before the outbreak and what drives the main character. This is different to a non linear structure as it is still chronological but separated more defined sections.
Non-linear:
If the story was in a non-linear format the narrative would start with the current state, where her fiance has already died (Present), then it would jump to a flash back to the first outbreak and how the world reacted, another flashback would be when her fiance died and maybe another before the disease, when life was normal (Past). The narrative would jump between present and past when the event is pivotal to the story. For example if a doctor were to interview the woman and ask if she has had contact with anyone who had the disease there would be a flash back to her life with her fiance or when she realises that she is the one killing people and causing horrific incidents there are flashbacks to when she commits the acts.
A film that presents this non-linear narrative is Slumdog Millionaire. When the main character is being interrogated about how he knew all the answers on Who wants to be a millionaire. He’s suspected of cheating, but when asked how he knew the answer to each question, he tells the story via flashback to a time of his life where he learned the answer to the question.
Multi-Strand:
A multi strand narrative follows multiple characters/story's. Most of the time the story's connect or the characters near the end of the story. As my story has very few characters it would be difficult to have this narrative format unless i create more characters.
If i were to adapt my story to fit this narrative structure i would add more characters that are in the drug trial. The story would follow 4 participants in the trial and how they react differently to the drug. The woman's (main character in the other narratives) story is still the same. There are 2 more male participants and 1 other female. The extra characters would slowly die off, possibly by the woman, side effects of the cure or from the disease. When a character dies their story would get cut. If the story was multi strand i would end the film with the woman dying and her story getting cut.
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