Flashback Question

I'm torn about it.
Iused a flashback sequence in Sword of the Dajjal, but it was suggested that it was too long, so I re-wrote it into sections throughout the first chapter. It helped character development as well.

I think you need to provide a reason for the flashback (bookends, as it were), as long as you do that I can't see a problem. Different bookends can be used if it needs to be broken up.

Regards,
Scott

I've been staring at my bookshelves, hoping for a good example to answer your questions, Tri.

Unfortunately, I'll just have to go with my instincts.

If this is your only flashback, and the information is necessary to the telling of the story (and it is necessary that we, as readers, get it all at once), then leave it as the second chapter. If it seques nicely, that's great!

I would only break it up if that added some layer of mystery to the story. Feeding the reader little bits and pieces of the past, letting them know something happened, but not exactly what that something was until much later in the story.

If your agent recommends it and you think it's a good idea too, go with it and see what happens. You can always do a rewrite.

Don't worry about chapter length, no one's counting. I've got books with 40-page chapters and one of my friends has books with no chapters at all.

Those are a device leftover from the days when a chapter a week was put in a newspaper and penny dreadfuls that issued a weekly pamphlet with one chapter.

The smart writer (paid a penny a word if he was lucky) could keep his serial going for years.

That's how Dickens got rich and why his books are so freakin' long.

triceretops said:

Question: Should a flashback chapter always follow the hook chapter? I think it's much more convienent this way. Can you cite an example where the flashback chapter is way off somewhere else deep in the book? I want to play it safe. I want to avoid scattering bits and pieces of the flashback throughout the book, although I'm aware that this is also a accepted means of filling in backstory.

Tri

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My first impression is to start the main story right off with the introduction of your protagonist, then scale back to tell some back stories. I do think two chapters of 38 and 34 pages are a bit too long, especially IF it's non-stop wham-bang action. You may have a hard act to follow (meaning, your mid-book might be boring in comparison after almost 75 pages).

But it's hard to judge since I've read your ms. To answer your question: sure, many books open with the main story, then fall back on a chapter or two of back stories, or have the flashbacks scattered throughout the main story. It can be done, and it has been done, many times.

With my own book, I had a back story "buried" in Chapter 9. But my main story REALLY started in Chapter 8, so I ended up cutting the first seven chapters. By then, the structure looked a little odd -- a 20-page first chapter, followed by a 20-page back story. So what did I do? I spliced the back story into about 5 parts and alternated the main story with them for about 7 or 8 chapters. It seemed to work just fine.

So one thing to consider: Can you break the chapters apart? Say, if your first chapter is 38 pages long, can you break it at some kind of mini cliffhanger, then do a flashback chapter (short), then go back to the main story... I don't know if this can be done in your ms., but it worked for me, and it's also a common technique in films. However, to make it work, your "back story" has to have an arc as well. So it becomes two parallel stories -- and in my case, the two stories merged at one point and everything made sense by Chapter 8.

IMO, if you have a clear structure of alternate timeline, it's not too bad, especially if the two parts are highly related. Yes, it can be disorienting at first and it depends on how well you do it... but if you have a few chapters doing that and if they're not exceedingly long, and if they converge at some point, then I think it's possible. Mitch Albom's Five People You Meet In Heaven sprinkles these flashbacks throughout the first half of the book as alternative chapters, and they work just fine.