Flashback, dream, and the italic to go with it

In general everything that happens in a character's mind is in italics. Long sections of italics can be hard to read. My manuscript has them two - it has a parallel fantasy that is the protagonists fantasy. It's all in thought. I try to keep the sections short early on, but at some point it has to have longer pieces. An editor or book designer may decide to change the font instead of using italics, but that's up to them, not me.

Can you make the dreams reality? I'm concerned that a battle in dreamland won't have the tension of a battle in the real world. Perhaps they need to be written differently. You could try setting them off with blank lines instead of italics as well.

It is hard to judge how well this works without reading some. Try doing some critiques and commenting helpfully in other threads to get your post count up to 50 so you can post a chapter in Share Your Work.

I hope this helps.

In the book I'm reading right now there are long flashbacks and they are all done in italics and it hasn't thrown me off any.

I dislike reading more than about a paragraph in italics. I find it very tiring, distracting and annoying. I was also reading a short story the other day where the remote end of every telephone conversation was in italics, and I found that annoying and distracting, too. There just didn't seem any reason to do it. It made no difference to the story that the narrator was on the telephone, and they'd already told us they were on the phone anyway....

So no, I don't think you should put flashbacks and dream sequences in italics. I also suspect you don't need the flashbacks as much as you think you do. Perhaps you need to read more widely in order to see how quickly some authors can establish the relationship between two people without flashing back.

Why do they have to battle the forces keeping them apart in dreams? Is it SFF? Why can't they do the battling irl?

Bullshit. All flashbacks and dreams do not have to be in italics. Sometimes they are- sometimes they are not- sometimes a character's thoughts are in italics- sometimes they are not -it's all your choice.

Whatever they are simply has to be clear to the reader.

Clarity is the target - not conformity to tittle-tattle.

If you have a strong POV these issues shouldn't be a problem because what they are should be obvious from the narrative and context.

Ooops- and a belated friendly Hi, Lurosa

Lurosa said:

Good day all. This is my first post, so if the topic has been discussed before, my apologies. I am on the home stretch of my first book. My problem is this: I have been advised that flashbacks and dreams are a no-no. My story, however, is about 2 people meeting after a long friendship. The flashbacks are therefore necessary to create the image of their bond. The dream sequences are where they battle the forces keeping them apart. What to do?

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Flashbacks and dreams are not a no-no...well, I think dreams have more limited uses than flashbacks, but neither is automatically "bad."

Nothing is automatically "bad" in writing except being boring or obfuscating or unintelligible. (I still have problems with the third thing.)

For me personally, the problem with flashbacks is that they have the power to remove me from the present storyline, which, depending on how it's done, can be disengaging or screw up pacing. Done well, however, it won't do either of those things, and actually enhance the tension and richness and whatnot in the present story. (And sometimes flashbacks *are* part of the present story...I've read books that took place on multiple timelines that wove together later and did it well...)

The problem I have with dreams is they're frequently misleading, and can often consist entirely of unneeded fluff. A bunch of awesomely horrific stuff happens and then the reader learns none of it was real. Not only does the tension deflate instantly, it tends to annoy me. Feels like a waste of time.

Sometimes both things are used to infodump stuff. Sometimes they're used as unnecessary crutches. But sometimes such things are totally necessary and enhance the story. It's up to you.

I don't know what you mean by the dream sequences being part of their battle and stuff, so I don't know if they're necessary. I feel that dreams are often less necessary than people think, but...sometimes they are.

The second is the italic issue. A person (editing student) advised that all fb's and dreams should be in italics. I did it like this, and even when editing, it looks terrible. My characters speak to themselves and I have used inverted italics to show that eg: "How could she do that to me?" I know that it is up to each individual, I just don't want to destroy a brilliant tale with unprofessional techniques. Comments pleeeeez!

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You certainly don't *need* italics, especially for flashbacks (I can't recall seeing them used for flashbacks, but that could just be my crap memory and the fact that I haven't read any significant fraction of the books on the planet)...the italics thing is one of the means that can be used to inform the reader that they're reading a dream and not actual *story*. If you can inform the reader otherwise, do so. "He was dreaming" could work fine.

Personally, I don't particularly like long chunks of italics, but meh. Preference and all that.

Lursoa.

A person (editing student) advised that all fb's and dreams should be in italics.

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Nope. That student is wrong. Flashbacks do not stand out as such but blend in with the story. I've read many flashbacks where they were so well done that I didn't realize I was reading.

The Historian has multiple long flashbacks in italics and I could not read it all the way through because it drove me nuts.

I've used italics for flashbacks, brief ones; dreams, also brief; and for part of a letter which a character has found and is reading. The publisher kept them the way I wrote them.

In other words, for anything that takes you out of the main storyline, but again, keep it brief as some readers don't like reading italics.

They don't bother me, but one must be mindful of one's reading audience.

You need to make clear to the reader those things that are important for the reader to clearly understand. That doesn't mean you have to put them in italics. In general, I can't actually think of a book where I've read flashbacks in italics.

As for them being a "no-no" - BAH! Some of the best books published have brilliant flashbacks.

They should be left out when they are just there for the author to show off how detailed the world and character are. Every scene needs a purpose - preferably more than one. If a flashback drives your plot forward and builds setting or character, then it's doing it's job. If the story would be undamaged by removing the flashback, take it out.

I have a novella, Autumn Magic, where exactly half of the chapters are dream-adventures. My editor initially started putting them into italics, but I pointed out that half the book in italics isn't doing anyone any favors.

Back then I couldn't even understand why she would consider that at all, but now I realize that there are certain 'rules' circulating, and sometimes it takes some effort to stamp that out.

As Bufty said: bullshit. Nothing is a no-no, except huge chunks in italics. I put direct thoughts in italics. Many authors don't even do that.
Graham Masterton's horror epics Night Warriors and Death Dream culminate with battles in dreams.

Dreams and flashbacks are fine, anything is fine, if you can swing it. Most writing rules are made to keep one from venturing into difficult territory and that's it. Anna Karenina, Dune, and any Stephen King are head-hopping like mad. The most popular authors from Daniele Steele to Sidney Sheldon to Koontz tell much more than they show. So? They can swing it and everyone puts it in their pipe and smokes it.