[rant*]
I have a pet peeve.
It goes something like this:
So, I'm reading along with your fic, and maybe it's good/awesome/mediocre with a splash of interesting or I'm-just-that-bored. You've managed to get my attention for the first page, which usually means I'll keep going until something tosses me out of the story completely. It might be really spectacularly bad characterization or a constant misuse of words that eventually makes me pinch the bridge of my nose and wander off to find something else to read. But sometimes things are going fine, right up until I hit a huge speedbump.
[flashback]
Wait, hold on. What was that? Did you just ANNOUNCE a flashback? Seriously?
Here's the thing: if you're structuring your story right, this is something you should never have to do. First of all, flashbacks in fiction are terribly common. They've been around a long time and most readers are well aware that sometimes they happen. In general, if you're going to flashback to something that happened before your story (or chapter) took place, and it's a long flashback, you can give it its very own chapter and if you have to, maybe a heading in italics that says something like "six months ago..." or "last Wednesday..." just so we're clear on the When.
Sometimes, however, flashbacks are literally just flashes, in which case most readers understand that if something is set in italics that it's a flashback (unless it's a letter, or possibly a dream sequence). In any case we know that italicized sections are Special, and it should be fairly obvious from what's going on in them that we're dealing with a flashback to a prior event or conversation.
There is no need to ANNOUNCE them. Honestly, I worry that these authors, if they could, would put in finger wiggles and a fading echo soundeffect in the same spots, just so we're clear on what's happening.
Nothing throws me out of a story like suddenly slamming into a [flashback] announcement.
And nothing cements my disgust with them like skimming through the thing I've just lost all interest in reading and finding at the end:
[end flashback]
Thank you, Author, for closing your code. Like your computer I might not have realized that the flashback was over unless I was explicitly told. The fact that we're now picking up where we left off a moment ago wouldn't have clued me in at all.
If you read a lot, or even a little, there are certain writing conventions that you understand and immediately recognize. Like using quotation marks around dialogue, using em-dashes to indicate an interruption and ellipses to indicate a trailing thought, we recognize italicized text as being a text apart. Either it's a dream sequence (often preceded by a sentence telling us that the character has gone to sleep, or followed by a sentence indicating that they've woken up), or it's a thought (which we usually get because it's formatted just like regular dialogue only without the quotation marks, meaning that only the character whose POV we're in "heard" it), or its a flashback. There's no need to herald its arrival with trumpets and cheers or a warning that can be seen three miles away.
We'll catch on. Honest we will. Trust that your readers are intelligent enough to follow along with you and don't pad the sharp corners that you want them to turn. We're smart enough to figure it out, really.
[end rant ;) ]
*No, I'm not a writing guru, nor am I perfect myself. I don't pretend to know everything there is about writing or grammar or spelling. I make more than my fair share of mistakes, as well. I'm just saying that this is one of those things that drives me nuts and makes me want to stab my computer screen.
It goes something like this:
So, I'm reading along with your fic, and maybe it's good/awesome/mediocre with a splash of interesting or I'm-just-that-bored. You've managed to get my attention for the first page, which usually means I'll keep going until something tosses me out of the story completely. It might be really spectacularly bad characterization or a constant misuse of words that eventually makes me pinch the bridge of my nose and wander off to find something else to read. But sometimes things are going fine, right up until I hit a huge speedbump.
[flashback]
Wait, hold on. What was that? Did you just ANNOUNCE a flashback? Seriously?
Here's the thing: if you're structuring your story right, this is something you should never have to do. First of all, flashbacks in fiction are terribly common. They've been around a long time and most readers are well aware that sometimes they happen. In general, if you're going to flashback to something that happened before your story (or chapter) took place, and it's a long flashback, you can give it its very own chapter and if you have to, maybe a heading in italics that says something like "six months ago..." or "last Wednesday..." just so we're clear on the When.
Sometimes, however, flashbacks are literally just flashes, in which case most readers understand that if something is set in italics that it's a flashback (unless it's a letter, or possibly a dream sequence). In any case we know that italicized sections are Special, and it should be fairly obvious from what's going on in them that we're dealing with a flashback to a prior event or conversation.
There is no need to ANNOUNCE them. Honestly, I worry that these authors, if they could, would put in finger wiggles and a fading echo soundeffect in the same spots, just so we're clear on what's happening.
Nothing throws me out of a story like suddenly slamming into a [flashback] announcement.
And nothing cements my disgust with them like skimming through the thing I've just lost all interest in reading and finding at the end:
[end flashback]
Thank you, Author, for closing your code. Like your computer I might not have realized that the flashback was over unless I was explicitly told. The fact that we're now picking up where we left off a moment ago wouldn't have clued me in at all.
If you read a lot, or even a little, there are certain writing conventions that you understand and immediately recognize. Like using quotation marks around dialogue, using em-dashes to indicate an interruption and ellipses to indicate a trailing thought, we recognize italicized text as being a text apart. Either it's a dream sequence (often preceded by a sentence telling us that the character has gone to sleep, or followed by a sentence indicating that they've woken up), or it's a thought (which we usually get because it's formatted just like regular dialogue only without the quotation marks, meaning that only the character whose POV we're in "heard" it), or its a flashback. There's no need to herald its arrival with trumpets and cheers or a warning that can be seen three miles away.
We'll catch on. Honest we will. Trust that your readers are intelligent enough to follow along with you and don't pad the sharp corners that you want them to turn. We're smart enough to figure it out, really.
[end rant ;) ]
*No, I'm not a writing guru, nor am I perfect myself. I don't pretend to know everything there is about writing or grammar or spelling. I make more than my fair share of mistakes, as well. I'm just saying that this is one of those things that drives me nuts and makes me want to stab my computer screen.