The circular narrative is a story that often ends where it starts and starts where it ends.
Once again, this structure utilizes elements from the Fabula/Syuzhet Structure. The syuzhet is more represented as a Mobius Strip, as if the story were a single flat line of paper that is twisted in the middle and then joined at the ends, creating a circle—albeit with a twist. At the same time, the fabula is like an ouroborus symbol—a snake or dragon eating its own tail.
Time travel stories are the most prominent circular structure narratives and utilize the circular aspect of the narrative in the most literal of ways. Movies like Back to the Future, Primer, 12 Monkeys, and Looper showcase characters that go back or forward into time, affecting their past or future selves or events — usually showcased by playing with the paradox visuals of ending and beginning with the same scenes, moments, and locations, or variations of them.
Beware of spoilers.
But non-time travel stories can embrace this structure as well, in almost any genre, and can handle the circular aspect in more loose fashion. Homer’s The Odyssey opens with Odysseus leaving Ithaca to go to war and then later closes with his heroic return to the same location. It’s a subtle circular narrative, but circular nonetheless.
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