A Look Into the Past

I've had some realizations about flashbacks. Mainly, that yes, I can have them. All the advice I'd read cautioned against flashbacks,  saying that there was surely a better way to show backstory. That you should sneakily ease in that exposition throughout the story. That flashbacks break up the narrative flow, and readers can't wait for them to be over.

But you know what? Fuck that.

I recently read Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. It's mainly about a heist, but it uses flashbacks to reveal the histories of the main characters, and they are so good. You get just enough of the backstory to wonder what happened next, and then it cuts back to the present.

Now, I know this is something I can pull off in Cold Blooded, because I already did. Even in the first draft, the flashbacks were broken into bite sized pieces, telling only a fragment of the story, and cutting off at a sort of cliffhanger. I was going to cut them all, because the internet told me that flashbacks were bad.

I'm not saying all flashbacks are good and necessary, but clearly they can be done well.

It seems to be a balance of creating characters that make you wonder how they got the way they are, and having tasty flashback nuggets that answer those questions, bit by bit.

This might not seem like a grand revelation, but any little thing that gets me excited about writing this book again, I'll take. And also, yes, maybe I really liked Six of Crows and wanted to talk about it. (Don't get me started, we'll be here all day.)

Anyway, you may recall my corkboard from the last post. On there are a couple of points that say "reveal some backstory," but not which piece of backstory. So that's a thing I'll need to add on there. I have… maybe four or so pieces of backstory. And those are just the ones I already had. I might find that I need more later, as I introduce new ideas to the story's present. Hmm… maybe the character needs to have more backstory…

I've got work to do. I'll see you next time.