Dream Sequences and Flashbacks

M. Frebronze said:

So my novel, as most of you know, is a supernatural thriller. The main character is a sorceror (mage, wizard, whatever). One of the big things that comes with the magic is an eidetic memory. This means I am opening up my MC's past and history by using dream sequences and flashbacks.

However, as I understand, this method is frowned upon.

So my question is, how many is too many? Since the novel is first-person past-tense, isn't it basically being told as a flashback, anyways?

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I applaud you for what you are doing, and I wish you a speedy sale on your manuscript when it is completed.
The very thought of going through a dream sequence in my reading choices makes my blood curdle; and, no, not in a good way.

I also can't stand Free Verse.

This means I am opening up my MC's past and history by using dream sequences and flashbacks.

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My problem with dream sequences is that they seem too 'on-the-nose'. The dream explains, points out, reminds, etc, in every way acting as a really annoying mentor, the character's own subconscious spoon-feeding the character information exactly when needed. This is not helped by the fact that most dreams aren't really relevant or interesting, so when a dream is described, or a character remembers the whole thing, exactly, in perfect, comprehensible detail, it's a huge, honkin' signpost that 'THIS IS IMPORTANT'. Again, leading the character, and the reader, by the hand.

So my question is, how many is too many? Since the novel is first-person past-tense, isn't it basically being told as a flashback, anyways

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How many flashbacks were you planning? How much time is the reader expected to spend reading backstory and history instead of the actual story? Sometimes 'telling', especially if it's the character itself who's doing the 'telling', can be better than re-enactments (showing).

Agree with everything frimble said. If you're going to spend significant time in flashback, I want those flashbacks to have their own plot etc. - for them to be a complete story. That could be each one as a short, or connecting many of them together

M. Frebronze said:

So my novel, as most of you know, is a supernatural thriller. The main character is a sorceror (mage, wizard, whatever). One of the big things that comes with the magic is an eidetic memory. This means I am opening up my MC's past and history by using dream sequences and flashbacks.

However, as I understand, this method is frowned upon.

So my question is, how many is too many? Since the novel is first-person past-tense, isn't it basically being told as a flashback, anyways?

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No, first person, past tense is not a flashback, it's just a person telling us about his past. This is not what a flashback is.

It is, however, assumed that every first person narrator has an eidetic memory, unless the writer deliberately sets the character up as an unreliable narrator.

So the real question is why try the story through dream sequences and flashbacks when you can simply tell it the same way other first person. past tense novels are told? What do these things bring to the story that you won't have without them?

Jamesaritchie said:

What do these things bring to the story that you won't have without them?

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JAR asks a good question. How much of what you want to reveal really needs to be done in a flashback?

onesecondglance said:

Agree with everything frimble said. If you're going to spend significant time in flashback, I want those flashbacks to have their own plot etc. - for them to be a complete story. That could be each one as a short, or connecting many of them together

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Yes to this approach. It gives all of those scenes greater import if you can knit them all together.

Just my personal reaction here, but I hate dream sequences and skip them when they turn up. For me, the problem is that, like dreams in my own life, they have no real, external consequences. They're usually a way of telling the reader something that could probably be communicated in a tenser, more lively way in the character's real life.

Hope it goes well, M!