[Procyona]

We were attending a story telling session just recently, and stared talking about how different speakers go right to the story, while others seem to have a description first. But the thing is - you definitely new when they started telling the story. And you also know wery well when it was finished.

Therefore I wondered how we sometimes know - even with a separate sentence from a book - if it is the last one, first one or if not. Or do we? Once upon a time and happily ever afters are, at least to me, very clear examples, as they clearly define an ending and starting point. Also, if there is a closed circle between ending and beginnig (something that stared it all has ended) you can easily recognise the ending. But only if it is the ending.
Best stories have a clear beginnig and ending, but this of cource is not the case with every one of them.

I would be glad to hear your opinions. Thank you in advance!   

[Haveunique]

I think it helps when the story has a clear structure, unless the author meant otherwise, then it is good to know the story won't have a structure at all. It also depends who is the author and/or story performer. Sometimes the performance is so great that the story structure itself may not matter that much =)   

[Gra-ach]

It really depends on the mastery of a storyteller, I think.

I read books where they started from the middle, then went back to the beginning and through middle they ended. And it was really interesting to see what led to the first chapter and to keep reading to understand how it ended.

But in general I prefer the story to be clear, so author clearly stated the beginning, the main idea is clear and the end.

You post reminded me of one of the tasks in Reading paper in English exam. It had a text with 8 paragraphs missing and these 8 paragraphs were given at the end with 1 or 2 extra. And I had to put the right paragraphs in the right places. And sometimes it was kind of tough, because the original author didn't put everything in order, so to speak. After that I decided that it's always good to be very clear in my speach - meaning that it has a clear structure, understandable to whoever I'm talking to and the parts of it is clear as well.   

[Procyona]

[Gra-ach]