Whew!
At long last I've finished another chapter in my novel-in-progress. Chapter Fourteen begins the final day of the story and had me hung up for months. Finally overcame (I hope) the challenge of getting my main character going without it being a "he woke up and brushed his teeth" kinda deal.
It opens with pain (always popular) and then a series of flashbacks as he reconstructs the night before. Anyone have a good suggestion for a book that handles mini-flashbacks well? Or shows how to integrate a summary scene into a story during the straight-ahead sequence of events? It's been brought to my attention I have a habit of switching to flashback mode while characters do mundane tasks like sitting in a waiting room (I finally read your feedback, Angie; thanks!) or, in this case, ironing. Seems to me the guy's got to do something, but if this is poor technique someone point me to a master craftsman to get me some schoolin'.
Still, the chapter is done (crit partners, brace yourselves). And I'm pumped about the next one. And the one after that. And then things are gonna get messy. Heh, heh, heh.
It opens with pain (always popular) and then a series of flashbacks as he reconstructs the night before. Anyone have a good suggestion for a book that handles mini-flashbacks well? Or shows how to integrate a summary scene into a story during the straight-ahead sequence of events? It's been brought to my attention I have a habit of switching to flashback mode while characters do mundane tasks like sitting in a waiting room (I finally read your feedback, Angie; thanks!) or, in this case, ironing. Seems to me the guy's got to do something, but if this is poor technique someone point me to a master craftsman to get me some schoolin'.
Still, the chapter is done (crit partners, brace yourselves). And I'm pumped about the next one. And the one after that. And then things are gonna get messy. Heh, heh, heh.
posted by Mikesell | 12:07 AM
1 Comments:
I think mundane tasks are a natural place to put some (especially night-before) flashbacks - people's minds tend to wander when their hands are busy but not their brains. The exception to this would be the emotionally-charged flashbacks, where something triggers a vivid memory. There needs to be a reason for the flashback to come into the character's mind - whether it arrives consciously (analyzing a past event) or unconsciously (something related to the memory triggers the flashback).
Probably butchered both spelling and grammar in that paragraph - sorry!
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