Theflashback vs linear storytelling

And yet you don't think it slows the pace when you show it as a 4 page flashback? Must be riveting.

Your original post has gone, but I think I meant - If it slows the pace down, it will do so no matter where you put it - no?

earthshoes said:

Excuse me?

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That depends on how interesting the reader finds the character in the first place, doesn't it? If I've done my job and they like the character enough to see where she's come from as well as she's going

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Except, even though everyone knows character = story, which would support your theory, that adage is only a starting point. More accurately, Story = character IN CONFLICT. Readers want to see what happens next, not what happened before the story started, b/c they know that turned out okay (since they liked the character as they first met her). They're anxious to see if she's going to move closer to her goals, not to wallow in her past.

Really, a good rule of thumb is "just say no to flashbacks." I didn't read your scene, so it's not a comment on your actual writing, just a reminder that there's usually a better way to present any necessary information than resorting to a flashback. Of course, I say that as I'm working on a story where the first scene involves a flashback. Sigh. Do as I say, not as I do.

JD

Well, if character=story, then that means you can do whatever you want, doesn't it? Flashbacks, non-linear storytelling, introspective personal scenes, and they will work, doesn't it?

I sound like I'm being snide, but I'm not. If your characters are interesting enough and solid enough and..well, mostly interesting enough, then your reader will follow you through flashback, hell, and high water.

I'm not fond of them personally, but if I'm interested enough, I'll read a flashback contentedly.

JanDarby said:

Readers want to see what happens next, not what happened before the story started, b/c they know that turned out okay (since they liked the character as they first met her). They're anxious to see if she's going to move closer to her goals, not to wallow in her past.

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I disagree with this as a generalization. Used at the right juncture, as a way to layer information in a specific order, a "flashback" can be implemented to deliver information at the most affecting moment for the reader. Maybe I missed something, since the original post is gone, but there are plenty of works in which the past did not resolve in an "okay" fashion, despite the fact that the protagonist has moved on to "the present."

PeeDee said:

Well, if character=story, then that means you can do whatever you want, doesn't it? Flashbacks, non-linear storytelling, introspective personal scenes, and they will work, doesn't it?

I sound like I'm being snide, but I'm not. If your characters are interesting enough and solid enough and..well, mostly interesting enough, then your reader will follow you through flashback, hell, and high water.

I'm not fond of them personally, but if I'm interested enough, I'll read a flashback contentedly.

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Then there are books like Dahlgren, by Delaney where it is effectively impossible to tell what's a flashback and what's not. He even has marginal notes beside the narrative for the last third of the book in such a way that the notes and the main body must be read seperately from page to page as they are two different narratives--the character is using a notebook and running out of pages.

Regards,
Scott