Stephen King/Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

Novella, originally published in Different Seasons.

Wikipedia contains spoilers

Format of the story

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is presented as a document written by Red, a lifetime convict of Shawshank prison. We don't find out until towards the end, but all of it is written when the things described have already happened, so he's looking backward over a period of 25 years when writing. Because of this, the text is written as it would be told from one person to another, rather than as a straight novel.

Another notable thing is that Red often writes about things that he has not witnessed himself. Since it's a story about prison life, many of the important characters are limited in who they can meet and what they can do. Thus his account sometimes relies on information retold one or more times and general hearsay (although he does acknowledge this himself).

Red tells the story in more or less chronological order, but he also puts in explanations of concepts and people where needed.

The story

later...

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption has been filmed as The Shawshank Redemption (1994), directed by [Frank Darabont]?.