Structure

As You Wish is divided into 13 chapters, plus a foreword, introduction, and epilogue. There are also a series of brief interviews from prominent cast and crew members interspersed throughout the book. As You Wish has a non-linear structure. The book’s introduction opens at The Princess Bride’s 25th anniversary celebration, where Elwes is onstage with the cast and crew. The text then flashes back to the pre-production days where Elwes is fresh out of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and is newly cast in The Princess Bride. He is a relatively unknown actor and the film’s success is heavily in doubt. Elwes uses the storytelling technique of in-media res, meaning dropping the audience in the middle of the narrative before flashing back. By opening the story at the wildly successful 25th anniversary celebration and then returning to the origin, he creates a...