flashback question

Rhush · Jun 12, 2005

I've got an idea for a short story that will come in somewhere under 10,000 wc and spans a time of 15 yrs. It's a mother explaining three crazy events (it's a fantasy) that have happened to her in a letter to her daughter. It starts with her "first memory as a child", a horrific event, then leads up to her daughters "in secret" birth. What I'm having trouble with is what to write this peice in. I use first person on the letter parts, which come in and out as a sorta segway between events. But should I use an ominpresent approach on the flashbacks? It's a pickle because in the first scene the mother is only around 4yrs old and in the last she is 14. I'm not certain how to progress from beginning to end. First person in the first scene would be from a four yr old's perspective, which is not really what I want there, and I also don't want the sound of the flasbacks to blur with the letter part. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have no idea how to write it effectively.

sjanssens · Jun 13, 2005

If it's in past tense then the first person narration is not that of a four-year-old. The jumps in time would make present tense awkward, at least for this reader. Although a story in future tense told from a four-year-old POV could be very interesting indeed.

Just write it. If it doesn't work, rewrite it until it does.

FYI: segway should be segue.

BlueTexas · Jun 13, 2005

I'd do first present for the letters, past third for the flashbacks.

Mike Coombes · Jun 13, 2005

sjanssens said:
Just write it. If it doesn't work, rewrite it until it does.

QUOTE]

I agree totally. My observation, though, is that at 10k words you're creating a tale that will be difficult to market - unless you have somewhere in mind. The long short/short novella is a hard sell.

flashback question

Rhush

Slave to the metal

sjanssens

BlueTexas

Back from self-exile land.

Mike Coombes

Guru