It is one example, Mr. Buckingham said, of how historical narrative shapes geography.

How he does this, and at what cost, provides "My Left Foot" with its narrative shape.

The narrative shape of a Dexter novel often resembles a squid, solid and contained up front, a mess of squiggles in back.

But generally the narrative shape and momentum these forms demand is missing.

She has become so fixed on the overall sequence of her novels, that the narrative shape of this one book is no longer a concern.

Life itself can be, after all, hectic and layered, its narrative shape becoming clear only in retrospect.

Everything else, he argues, is about him inhabiting characters created by others - ie the "book writers" who provide his shows' narrative shape and dialogue.

But if it asks an audience for patience, the narrative shape, seemingly indifferent to conventional peaks and valleys, also contributes to the idea that real lives are being glimpsed.

In this account, the brooding music with its arm-blurring octave outbursts had a cogent, almost narrative shape.

It wasn't until they came to me with the tablecloth that I realized there could be a narrative shape.