Question for you… Are writing flashback scenes cheating?
Having just written the lone flashback in The Hushing Days (freshly
flowered with historical tidbits, trivia and scholarly knick-knacks), I’m
wondering if I could have done more with it?
Make no mistake. I very much liked what I wrote and how I wrote it. In
fact, a “Cheers, Chloe!” might have been said in the mirror after the whole
birthing of the thing.
But…
The missed opportunities inherent in flashbacks are troubling me.
By having a character recounting
an event instead of simply remembering
it, a whole layer of subtext is added to the scene. For example…
A flashback: Jack and Jill
went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown
and Jill came tumbling after.
A recounting: “Stupid Jack
dragged me up the hill, all because he wanted an equally stupid pail of water.
He then, of course, fell down the stupid hill and stupid me fell on my ass
after.”
See what I mean?
Color is lost for the good of clean lines of fact.
Although I know necessity dictates the use of flashbacks in certain
novel situations, I still find myself mourning the lost stupids.
Until tomorrow…
Chloe
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