What kind of flashbacks do you like/dislike and why? Do you put them in your writing? Why? Why not?
If yes, then how long, how many?
What kind of flashbacks do you like/dislike and why? Do you put them in your writing? Why? Why not?
If yes, then how long, how many?
Eight questions in twenty-seven words? Why? Now it's ten including the opening rhetorical one here. Or eleven including the next one.
What was the first question again?
Not sure what you mean by "what kind."
I'm asking because I'm at the editing stage in my novel and I've rewritten a narrative-recollection of a scene in the form of a flashback (show not tell, you could say). And then I saw people mention it several times around here that flashback were irksome, so I started to doubt the choice and decided to get more general opinions
I've written 1 flashback in the novel so far, and I've probably done it in a way that would have an editor (or anyone conscious about the use of formatting) eat wool.
It's a first person PoV, and there are digressions the character sometimes makes, remembering things, or thinking about this or that. It's not philosophical debates or munching on internal dilemmas. Sometimes they are events from the past, sometimes a story something reminded him of, sometimes an opinion about X or Y. Rarely more than few lines straight.
The flashback I included is actually in the form of such musing, it flows from a thought into the memory, and the dialogues are not put in quotes, but in italics, since nobody says it and he's just remembering the thing, not going to another scene to relive it. Flashback includes his current opinions and surroundings.
Have I committed a huge writer's sin?
Personally, if the flashback covers a really important, compelling event, I'd rather see it shown, not told.
I've written 1 flashback in the novel so far, and I've probably done it in a way that would have an editor (or anyone conscious about the use of formatting) eat wool.
It's a first person PoV, and there are digressions the character sometimes makes, remembering things, or thinking about this or that. It's not philosophical debates or munching on internal dilemmas. Sometimes they are events from the past, sometimes a story something reminded him of, sometimes an opinion about X or Y. Rarely more than few lines straight.
The flashback I included is actually in the form of such musing, it flows from a thought into the memory, and the dialogues are not put in quotes, but in italics, since nobody says it and he's just remembering the thing, not going to another scene to relive it. Flashback includes his current opinions and surroundings.
Have I committed a huge writer's sin?