Frame Story

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Synonyms:	story within a story, nested story
See also:	Fourth Wall, Metafic
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A frame story is also known as a "story within a story" or a "nested story." Essentially, the frame is a narrative structure in which a character tells a story nested within the larger story, which can be a film, book, game, or any other work of fiction. Sometimes the viewer/reader/player is the only audience of this narration; other times, one or more additional fictional characters also inhabit this larger frame and serve as the immediate audience. The technique serves much the same purpose as a "flashback" in a film.

The frame story can serve many functions. For example, the idea that fictional characters themselves read, play, or tell other stories can be experienced as an extra layer of reality. Alternatively, the presence of an external frame may be read as blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Very often, the external frame also introduces contextual material that deepens the internal story.

Illustrative examples include Carnacki The Ghost Finder (book), The Sign of Four (book), The Princess Bride (book and film), One Thousand and One Nights (book), Titanic (film), The Blind Assassin (book), Fallout Four (video game) and Hamlet (play).