I don't like flashbacks while reading. If I love the author, I'll skim. If not I'll look at the pages and see if anything worth reading pops out at me. Usually I just full-on skip them.
It's hypocritical, of course, because I have a big flashback scene that I feel is absolutely necessary. And, of course, like the ones I don't like to read, it's a bit info-dumpy. Some info is necessary to dump sparingly, however to illuminate characters and settings.
In my case, a woman is in a coma and having lots of weird dreams that are relevant to her personality and the crucial decisions she will make when she emerges from the coma. Other characters are doing other things while she dreams.
The question:
I was thinking of having her dream scenes happen in 2 page-moments, maybe even in between chapters of the other action, rather than have whole chapters of her dreaming. Could that be a palatable way to manage this? Any other ideas?
It's hypocritical, of course, because I have a big flashback scene that I feel is absolutely necessary. And, of course, like the ones I don't like to read, it's a bit info-dumpy. Some info is necessary to dump sparingly, however to illuminate characters and settings.
In my case, a woman is in a coma and having lots of weird dreams that are relevant to her personality and the crucial decisions she will make when she emerges from the coma. Other characters are doing other things while she dreams.
The question:
I was thinking of having her dream scenes happen in 2 page-moments, maybe even in between chapters of the other action, rather than have whole chapters of her dreaming. Could that be a palatable way to manage this? Any other ideas?