: Re: Is it common for flashbacks to not to follow a chronological order? I'm writing a short story with the following structure: Scene 1: Deshi and Yuqi are in a mountain searching for an abandoned

@Lee1909368

Vote Up Vote Down

There's nothing inherently wrong with having a conceptual sequence rather than a chronological one. The important point is that you have some really clear signposting so the reader doesn't get confused.

In a book you can have little titles telling people when things happened. e.g. Oregon, May 1986 | Portland, Nov 1991 etc.

Some people tend to blank over these though so it's not foolproof. Also you are having people talk to one another about things in the past so it may not work out.

However you can use this limitation to your advantage. Just as real people could be confused about the sequencing so the characters in the story may not get it first time also. For those that are keeping up such dialogue should be snappy to make it 'invisible' e.g.

[Out of flashback in which Professor Quimby first gains sight of the
Forbidden Temple]

"That was when I first saw the Forbidden Temple in Q'zuhnchuaat
Valley," Professor Quimby explained.

"So was it a surprise, finding this temple in the valley?" Smith
asked.

"No, I had suspected, even though I didn't tell the Colonel," Quimby
replied. "You see it was the first time in 10 millennia that any man
had laid eyes on the Temple, but I had read accounts of it. These
stories were passed down as myths from the pictographic writings of an
obscure valley tribe. I had studied these legends for my thesis at the
Academy nearly a decade previously, although my studies proved
somewhat dangerous, even then..."

[Into flashback that takes place a decade previous to the earlier
flashback while the professor is still at the Academy]

(0)

Login to post a comment!