.matthew.
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- Joined
- Jan 12, 2020
- Messages
- 1,156
So, I'm nearly done with the first edit pass on a novella I've been working on, mostly just toning down the flowery language that left my beta reader a bit miffed.
Being a short story I chose to have the background details of how they ended up at this point in short flashback scenes between chapters. This way I could show how the friendships were built, throw in a little magic system stuff that the characters would already know by the time of the main thread, and show the event that motivates their present behaviour. Technically the story works without them, and I'm not a fan of the flashback in general but I want to keep them in if possible.
The main piece is told in first person and I did the same for the flashbacks, but used them to explore other POVs (rather than the sole protagonist in the story). Reading through them in the editing feels there's something not quite right with some of them (not all, there's one I really like). I'm not sure whether to change the flashbacks to third person to make it more clear and to separate them from the present story.
Anyone with experience of flashbacks that'd care to share?
Being a short story I chose to have the background details of how they ended up at this point in short flashback scenes between chapters. This way I could show how the friendships were built, throw in a little magic system stuff that the characters would already know by the time of the main thread, and show the event that motivates their present behaviour. Technically the story works without them, and I'm not a fan of the flashback in general but I want to keep them in if possible.
The main piece is told in first person and I did the same for the flashbacks, but used them to explore other POVs (rather than the sole protagonist in the story). Reading through them in the editing feels there's something not quite right with some of them (not all, there's one I really like). I'm not sure whether to change the flashbacks to third person to make it more clear and to separate them from the present story.
Anyone with experience of flashbacks that'd care to share?