Flashbacks - good or bad

A flashback is “an interruption of the chronological sequence (as of a film or a literary work) of an event of earlier occurrence.”

There are so many blog posts and articles out there on flashbacks. People have different views on them. Here, on a blog with posts written by agents, is an interesting post on the effective use of a flashback. Some of the advice is write it as a complete scene, don't put it in the beginning of the book, insert a flashback after a powerful scene in the novel, give the time and place in the first sentence so as to not force your reader to try and guess it.

Then there's a different take on flashbacks. Not that they're necessarily wrong, but there is a different way to structure them and use them. Kristen Lamb – an author who if you're not already following her blog I'd start following it as soon as possible – has her own viewpoint on flashbacks. You can find her posts here,  here, and here.

There are several questions you need to ask yourself before inserting a flashback. You can find a good list of them here, but let me share just a couple with you: do you need to explain the character this much; will your story work without the flashback; is there any other way you can fill your audience in on the info.

I've run into a little of a quandary with Marked. Other than it's getting a total rewrite because it turned into goo in the middle and ended up making a mess of itself, I start the book with a flashback. It's in the form of a nightmare, a dream that has come to herald something bad happening to Aisling and those around her. Now, do I cut that and do it another way? I have her explain it later in the story when she's asked. Do I leave it in? What do I do with it? Right now...I don't know. I'm going to have to sort that out when I get back to it.

What are your views on flashbacks? Do you get jarred out of books or films when they're used? Have you used them yourself?

Reviews - the problems that can arise because of trolls and what we should do

So many people have already talked about this, but I'm going to put in my two cents' worth too. Book reviews. Book reviews are not for the author. They are for other readers. They tell us people's opinions and why they thought that about the book. Whether it's a one star, a five star, or something in between, it's to let people know the writer's opinion. It's not to bully the author or badmouth them.

Then we get to the cyber bullies. The ones who post one star reviews that blast the author as an individual. They threaten physical harm or post personal insults to the author themselves. They are there only to drive down the author and damage his/her ranking online, to injure their self esteem, and to bring others into their damaging mindset.

There are also author bullies. They are the ones who go batshit crazy about a negative review. They go off on the reviewer and start a flame war that leads to people chiming in about the author's bad behavior. This just leads to more drama from the author to the point where people are put off from their books because of this behavior.

The truth of it is reviews can lead to many different things. We need to stop and take a look at what we're doing. Are we reviewing the book because the author insulted us in some way? Then we probably shouldn't post it. Are we reviewing it honestly because of our opinion? That's a little better. Do we disagree with another reviewer's opinion? We keep our mouths shut and respect that it's their opinion. The only time we intercede is if it's a bullying opinion. Then on Amazon we can vote it down. Goodreads we can report it (as far as I know...I haven't been on there in a while because of the cyber bullying). There are ways we can bring these to the attention of those in charge of the website and hopefully someone will take care of it.

To summarize, be respectful of the author but don't be afraid to voice your opinion. Make sure it's on the book and not on the author. Authors, don't answer reviews. Keep your mouth shut and let your readers speak their minds. If you see someone cyber bullying another person, report it.

Gender imbalance

Today I read an article that was linked in one of the various Twitter chats I follow frequently.  It was to this post:

Type M for Murder - Gender Balance

I find myself disagreeing with the author of that post.

What brought this to mind is that on the way to Dorothy’s on Friday I listened to a radio interview with the British writer David Mitchell. When Mitchell said, my wife is an early reader of all my work and she helps me with the books, I rolled my eyes. But then he went on. Men, he says, can’t write women well, but women can write men because they grow up paying attention to men’s behaviour, whereas men really don’t notice or care the way woman act or think. 

I’d expand that thought a bit. Women not only grow up having to closely observe the men they encounter in life (primarily a safety issue, but still our model of ‘success’) but women are constantly exposed to men’s world-view in movies, TV, books. Men might pick up a book written by a woman with a female protagonist, but not often. Remember that Harry Potter is a boy so that boys would read the books and Joanne Rowling is J.K. so they don’t know the author is a female. 

 That is a direct quote from the post, for those of you who might not be interested in reading the whole thing.  I didn't grow up having to closely observe the men I encountered.  I ignored them for the most part, actually, unless it was my dad or church authority figures or my teachers at school.  Anyone else tended to be chalked up to being one of the faceless masses.  I was cautious, of course.  I paid attention to my surroundings and if something did seem off I'd focus on that person - but that could have been either a man or a woman...or another teenager.

Yes, I'm exposed to a world where the views of men are given more airtime than the views of women.  But here again, I don't analyze the way these ideas are presented or how they might have been conceived of in the minds of those who thought them.  Instead I look at if I need to incorporate them into my own worldviews or if I can file them away as "interesting but not my cup of tea" moments.

I can't argue the point about books written with female protagonists.  But I'll tell you right now, I know a LOT of guys who own books by female authors.  Fantasy and science fiction readers tend to be an expansive lot.  I don't know if in other genres it's different.  I'll read just about anything that looks interesting and pay attention to the author later.  That's how I've found some of my favorite authors, in fact.

I got into the Harry Potter books well after the 3rd or 4th one came out.  I knew by that time that Rowling was a woman.  I found it interesting to note that most of the boys (and adults) reading the books talked about Ms. Rowling quite cheerfully.  Many of them wanted to meet her - several still do.  I know I owe her a debt of gratitude.  She's the one who convinced my nephew that video games are all well and good, but books are AWESOME.  He's been an avid reader since the day he picked up the first Harry Potter book.

Another point I have is the author of the blog states "...men really don't notice or care the way women act or think."  I'd like her to meet my husband one of these days.  He's got a lot of good insight on the way people - all people - act and think.  Same with several of my male co-workers, a few of my friends, etc.

I dislike generalizations like what came out of that blog post for a reason.  Not everyone fits inside that kind of worldview.  I need my husband's eyes on my early manuscripts because he's the one who tells me if the voices of the characters are off, if I'm too pretentious and verbose, if a guy "just doesn't think like that", etc.  Without him I doubt I'd have gotten very far with any of my projects because I'd have been perpetually confused.

So whether you're someone who relies on critiquing groups for help, your wife, your husband, or your kids...whoever you trust enough to read through your early manuscripts is the right one for you.