Flashbacks in Fiction

[BronxWench]

Flashbacks. They can be a wonderful way to bring in some back story, or illuminate a character's motivation or reasons for reacting a certain way. But I need to rant just a teensy bit...

Flashbacks should not need to be announced. Please. It's disruptive, and drags me right out of the flow of a story. I'm reading along happily, and there it is. The clue-by-four, in all caps and bold lettering. FLASHBACK. Now I've come to a full stop, and I'm yanked right out of my immersion in the story, and that's not fun at all.

If you've been using a regular font, italics can serve to highlight a flashback. Really. It's how it's generally handled in the books you buy in bookstores. Or set it off another way, if you've already reserved italics for characters talking to themselves and bold lettering for mental telepathy. But please... no great big warnings that we are entering the flashback zone.

[DemonGoddess]

agreed. quite annoying isn't it?

[Melrick]

It's just bad, lazy writing.

[Danyealle]

Showing whose point of view they are using when switching isn't much better. Going Harry's Point of View or Ron's Point of View is enough to completely throw you off as well. Just a line break of some kind, a very simple one, is all that is needed.

[JayDee]

I've never encountered this. There's a published author who does silly underlined subheadings in the text before flashbacks but that seems to be for humor value and works quite well. I guess a heading just of FLASHBACK would annoy.

[BronxWench]

The POV markers are indeed just as annoying. We're actually being treated like we're unable to gather that the POV has changed, and I was well past the "POV For Dummies" stage when I was ten. If you feel the need to put something in case we've missed the obvious change in tone between characters, be creative. Put a date, or something equally probable, followed by just a name. It's still an interruption but not as jarring.

[RogueMudblood]

I've never encountered this. There's a published author who does silly underlined subheadings in the text before flashbacks but that seems to be for humor value and works quite well. I guess a heading just of FLASHBACK would annoy.

I'm honestly amazed. But then, If you don't like the writing at the beginning, I suppose it isn't likely you'd make it to that part of the story.

For an example, you can look at this story - this one also has the "POV for dummies" thing Bronx is talking about above. (It's about 2/3 of the way down - I suggest searching for "flash;" it's the third hit (though the first one is an annoyance as well.)

[Melrick]

And there's an author's note in the middle of that story, as well, just in case that POV change crap didn't yank you out of the story hard enough. Those are things authors really need to learn to abandon very quickly.

[Keith Inc.]

I can see dates. Those are useful. Especially if the flashbacks advance the narrative.

One week before..

Ten years before...

Half a rat tart later...

I actually enjoy NOT putting chapter headers in when the POV changes. I should hope that i've created reasonably distinct characters so when i shift from third person to first, they can figure out who's talking from his or her established traits. And there are clues that fit in, too. If i've shifted from the owner to the hamster, i'll throw in a line of 'so the view from the cage never changes....'

It's a little more difficult to carry off, but as someone said, the other way is just lazy writing.

But what gets me REALLY going are stories in first person where they narrate things they couldn't know. I mean, it's one thing to some time later ask someone what was going on and getting details. "What i didn't know was that they were sneaking up on me at the time..."

But someone on AFF wrote about running and hiding, and some distance away, (down the hall, around a corner and down another hall) his enemies have a detailed conversation. "I was in the library. I couldn't hear what was going on in the gym. Jenny said 'We have to find him' and Sheila said 'And quickly!'

Fleh. Lazy, lazy writing.

For sheer, wonderful technical writing, the opposite of such laziness, i love Soldier of the Mist. The character suffers a head blow and loses his long-term memory. The story is his written journal, and only records what he could remember when he had the opportunity to write in it. Gene Wolfe had to carefully lay out the adventures, keeping the need for record keeping in mind, and situations where details would be lost. It's also a pretty fun fantasy, but i've always been impressed by Wolfe's dedication to the narrative's credibility.

[BronxWench]

Gene Wolfe is utterly incredible and that book is simply breathtakingly good. And yes, he carries his narrative flawlessly in terms of his character's amnesia.

Another writer who handles both POV changes and flashbacks wonderfully is Mary Doria Russell. The Sparrow and Children of God are among my favorite books ever.

[Melrick]

Oh man, don't get me started on that "character's knowing things they shouldn't know" business. That irks me no end!

[Asexual Biped]

And there's an author's note in the middle of that story, as well, just in case that POV change crap didn't yank you out of the story hard enough. Those are things authors really need to learn to abandon very quickly.

Gawd, I know! The author's notes almost jarred me more than the lame POV markers did! D:

[DemonGoddess]

how about author's notes that end up being longer than the damn chapter???

[Asexual Biped]

how about author's notes that end up being longer than the damn chapter???

There are people who seriously do that?? I hope I never find one!

[DemonGoddess]

Yes, there really are. We've seen chapters with ANs running upwards of 1k words, and the actual chapter is maybe 500 words

[Asexual Biped]

Oh, dear Lord, help us. WHY is it illegal to maul those people??

[Nerys Dax]

I've seen authors describe the same things from every bleeding POV available, and after that, there was an A/N stating: "And this is what the character meant... *insert dreary description of everything that was just told in the chapter already*."

Seriously? I wanted to pull my hair out. How freaking condescending can you get?

So yes, I want to know, too, why it is illegal to maul those people. XD

Edited November 16, 2011 by Nerys Dax

[BronxWench]

Honestly, I've come to the conclusion that they are not readers. They cannot possibly be readers, unless one counts graphic novels as a literary achievement. Let me say that I've enjoyed a graphic novel or two in my time, lest I be thought elitist, but one should be able to read something meatier before one decides that one is a writer.

The endless author's notes, the announced flashbacks, the incessant shouting out of a point of view change... these read like bad screenplays for an episode of a television show that should never, ever leave the editing booth.

Mauling should be mandatory.

[Asexual Biped]

Well put BW! Well put, and probably scarily accurate...

[DemonGoddess]

...let the mauling commence...

[naturechild02]

Dear God, yes!

I recently read a story that I really liked except the author's note at the beginning of each chapter explaining new characters introduced, when there would be flashbacks, when there would be a rape scene, etc.

Then again right before that part! Annoying!

FLASHBACK

WARNING: RAPE SCENE

Seriously? Couldn't you just put the damn flashback in italics or something? If I ever do that on accident, someone please send me a nasty email so I can smack myself.

[Tigro Spottystripes]

Stories written kinda like screenplay style usually doesn't bother me as long as it is well written in general and the story itself is good as well.

[Danyealle]

The whole LEMON STARTS HERE and LEMON ENDS HERE bit is enough to make me want to take a bat to someone. I'm sorry, but if I'm reading on here I rather expect smut to come into play somewhere unless there is a nosex tag on it. Nor am I going to have vapors and faint dead away if I find said smut in a story somewhere. If you're posting on AFF and reading on here then the fact that a story contains it isn't going to come as a complete and utter shock <sarcasm> though if it's well written by someone who has working knowledge of sexual escapades and the mechanics there of might</sarcasm>. Nor do you need to warn minors its there (let's face it folks, even the kids on The Pit read the crap and putting that up just draws them like flies to shit).

Massive authors notes are another thing that make me want to beat people with something that causes an immense amount of pain. The truth? I don't read them unless I'm working in the archive or if it's an author that NEVER leaves a note, which generally conveys that it's something important I might need to take a gander at, and generally just scroll to where the story starts or leave it when the story part ends. Most of it isn't anything I need or want to know and is more BS than anything else (don't get me started on that as I've seen things like people bitching how their sister is screwing their husband and she's mad about it... no joke!). If you need a massive authors note to explain your story, plot or something in it that means you didn't write it correctly to impart those kinds of things. And if you did write it properly and someone didn't get it, it's their issue, not yours. Even worse than that is when they scream at you (via all caps) in the note or to leave a review. There is a special place in hell for these people, I swear it...

[BronxWench]

I must whimper and share...

"You mean the one with the short blonde hair and grey eyes," Draco said looking at Harry suspiciously.

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What," Harry finally asked.

"Nothing," Draco sighed.

The Manga School of Fan Fiction Writing needs to be razed to the ground.

[Danyealle]

I must whimper and share...

The Manga School of Fan Fiction Writing needs to be razed to the ground.

THIS!