Flashbacks: yes or no?

[Jada59]

IKR? And once upon a time prequals didn't exist, and now they do, so I support your right to write a sprequal. Paving the way, Bisque-H stylez.

Sweet!

 

[BiscuitHammer]

IKR? And once upon a time prequals didn't exist, and now they do, so I support your right to write a sprequal. Paving the way, Bisque-H stylez.

Yeah, in my sprequel, the plot moves forward in the present day. In the flashbacks, things leafing to present day circumstances are explained. It all ties together neatly, for anyone reading beyond Grade 5.

Or with an understanding of Calabi-Yao Manifolds.

But never mind that. This is about spequels.

Which probably require quantum physics in order to happen.

So mind the Calabi-Yao Manifolds? Fuck.

I need absinthe.

 

[JasonClearwater]

Yeah, in my sprequel, the plot moves forward in the present day. In the flashbacks, things leafing to present day circumstances are explained. It all ties together neatly, for anyone reading being Grade 5.

Or with an understanding of Calabi-Yao Manifolds.

But never mind that. This is about spequels.

Which probably require quantum physics in order to happen.

So mind the Calabi-Yao Manifolds? Fuck.

I need absinthe.

The problem I have with Calabi-Yao Manifolds, and I'm not ashamed to admit this, is that as our understanding's evolved, they've gone beyond my mathematical ability to visualise them properly. Now, back when they were originally defined as compact Kähler manifolds with a vanishing first Chern class and a Ricci-flat metric, well, I mean, that made sense. But now? Yeah, those K3s do my head in.

But when I come to Lit, what am I here for, if not to improve my algebraic understanding of quantum physics?

Pass. The. Fucking. Absinthe.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

The problem I have with Calabi-Yao Manifolds, and I'm not ashamed to admit this, is that as our understanding's evolved, they've gone beyond my mathematical ability to visualise them properly. Now, back when they were originally defined as compact Kähler manifolds with a vanishing first Chern class and a Ricci-flat metric, well, I mean, that made sense. But now? Yeah, those K3s do my head in.

But when I come to Lit, what am I here for, if not to improve my algebraic understanding of quantum physics?

Pass. The. Fucking. Absinthe.

Dude, my two main characters in my sprequel are theoretical physicists, and they're discussing Calabi-Yao and Kahler manifolds in the chapter I'm writing at this very second! I wish I could send you a screen shot!!!! That's hysterical!

 

[JasonClearwater]

Dude, my two main characters in my sprequel are theoretical physicists, and they're discussing Calabi-Yao and Kahler manifolds in the chapter I'm writing at this very second! I wish I could send you a screen shot!!!! Tha's hysterical!

Well, of course they are! But, the real question here are, are they doing it in a flashback?

 

[BiscuitHammer]

Well, of course they are! But, the real question here are, are they doing it in a flashback?

Most of the discussion takes place in the mid-80's, when Calabi-Yao was all the rage in the quantum community. It also continues in the 'today' timeline, but working on the principle that it's not as ground-breaking and a much wider field.

'Calabi-Yao is life!'

 

[BiscuitHammer]

I may have also cheesed out and made some Schrodinger's Cat jokes in there.

Maybe.

Every time I check, I can't tell... :/

 

[JasonClearwater]

I may have also cheesed out and made some Schrodinger's Cat jokes in there.

Maybe.

Every time I check, I can't tell... :/

At least you're thinking outside the box.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have flashbacks often and when least expected. Good or bad, they happen.

Too much acid, mate .

 

[Hypoxia]

Sorry I'm late here. Flashbacks are a tool. Any tool can be used or abused.

Short flashbacks can be great info dumps. So can chats where players tell each other what's happened. Long flashbacks in long stories annoy me. That's not the same as a piece with parallel timelines, like 15th and 21st century persons walking the same paths, each timeline carefully distinct. But if I'm in the middle of a car chase and the author runs two pages of italics about last year? Fuck it.

One trick I like now is the circular flashback. An image opens the tale, which is the backstory of the path to that image, which closes the story. Example: start with the MC hiding under a car as a pursuing mob rages past. She recalls all the missteps that led to the chase. It ends with a face peering, a mouth shouting, HERE SHE IS!

Or use a constant stream of mini-flashbacks to show the MC has mental issues. The PTSD'd veteran walks a suburban street, wary. [Are snipers hiding in the trees?] She jumps at a car backfire, groping for a weapon she's not carrying. [Where the fuck is my rifle?!?] She stares at kids in a park. [Where are their hidden guns and grenades?] Too-sudden flashback paragraphs litter the story and fucking set the mood.

Or less violently, every current fuck recalls a past fuck, described in detail. This tongue work is SO nice! [Flashback to prior oral delights.] Oh, the penetration! [Compare with a recalled gangbang.] Sure, break up the rhythm, or syncopate.

 

[psiberzerker]

IKR? And once upon a time prequals didn't exist,

When? Before the Hobbit? For example, no once apon a time, they weren't called "Prequels." Sophocles wrote them. So, before Antigone? Oedipus Rex was a "Prequel." So, once apon a time, before that. (Probably also In a Land Far Away.)

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.

 

[JasonClearwater]

When? Before the Hobbit? For example, no once apon a time, they weren't called "Prequels." Sophocles wrote them. So, before Antigone?

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.

Yeah, I studied Classics too. But if we're talking about the evolution of language, which we are, then I defer to Wikipedia, the God of all Knowledge:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word "prequel" first appeared in print in 1958 in an article by Anthony Boucher in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, used to describe James Blish's 1956 story They Shall Have Stars, which expanded on the story introduced in his earlier 1955 work, Earthman Come Home. The term came into general usage in the 1970s and 1980s

 

[psiberzerker]

Yeah, I studied Classics too. But if we're talking about the evolution of language, which we are

Jason wasn't. Whether you call them prequels or not, he said before they existed. Which is basically before we had stories written down. Every creation myth is a prequel, but if you want to change this into an etymological discussion.

Okay, I suppose it started out a semantic argument, so. As you were...

 

[JasonClearwater]

Jason wasn't. Whether you call them prequels or not, he said before they existed. Which is basically before we had stories written down. Every creation myth is a prequel, but if you want to change this into an etymological discussion.

Okay, I suppose it started out a semantic argument, so. As you were...

Jason wasn't? Jason bloody well was, you know.

Christ, if we talk about anything to do with storytelling, then yes, good luck inventing something new. As the song says, ♫ it's all been done.♫

I think the mistake here, is thinking there's an argument, when in fact, there's just a statement.

Bisque has invented a new term. All hail the mighty spequal! I'm off to Urban Dictionary to let them know. Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!

 

[psiberzerker]

I think the mistake here, is thinking there's an argument, when in fact, there's just a statement.

Bisque has invented a new term. All hail the mighty spequal! I'm off to Urban Dictionary to let them know. Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!

~Ace Rimmer. Okay, then if you, as a writer, want to talk about the term Prequel, then talk about the term prequel, instead of the Existence of prequels, existing. "Once apon a time." Basically, as long as there have been written works, Sophocles was the Shakespear of his time. So much so that Shakespear idolized him.

No, I don't went to argue, we were having a nice discussion, until you used the wrong word, and confused the matter. Naming a thing does not mean that it never existed before. We only recently started Caring if it was a prequel to that. Before that, we could just enjoy a good story.

 

[psiberzerker]

Red Dwarf, including the Grant/Naylor novelization made great use of Flashback throughout. What do you expect, from a series which starts with Episode 1: The End.

 

[Polyacrylate]

So, I'm late to the party here, but I absolutely love flashbacks, especially nested flashbacks, unreliable-narrator flashbacks, and organic flashbacks that flit through a character's mind in a particular scene, giving two narrative threads at once.

Is using flashbacks pretentious? Sure, but so are most literary techniques, and it can be damn fun to parse, especially when it is done well. And an appropriate bit of foreshadowing or laying a trail of breadcrumbs, and it can go from a bland technique to something indispensable to the story.

Full disclosure: I've submitted just two stories, both of which feature flashbacks prominently. One is in a character's mind, while the other is a story one character tells another. I'm making it a point that my next story doesn't feature one, just to break the habit.

 

[Hypoxia]

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.

You probably know the one about Jean Cocteau and Henry Fonda.

Meanwhile. For fun, write an erotic prequel to Genesis. With sexy flashbacks.

 

[TxRad]

You probably know the one about Jean Cocteau and Henry Fonda.

Meanwhile. For fun, write an erotic prequel to Genesis. With sexy flashbacks.

Hasn't that story been written? It started with a big bang that made everyone see stars.

 

[FaeLissa]

The chaotic void was amusing, but there are only so many times you can watch subatomic particles smash into each other joyfully only to vanish in a cloud of different subatomic particles. Not a word, not a thought, not even a mild exclamation of delight.

Separating them a little might work. Push a few together here - oh, interesting! They bonded without annihilating each other!. Hm ... perhaps if things were spinning a bit there would be more action.

Ah yes, the swirling is working! Look at them little buggers coming together into ... rather large families. Light and dark! The little buggers have made something really interesting here.

Oh - there is some order forming ... there. Need a word for that. Aha, down. Down there.

The complexity!

........

 

[RetroFan]

Flashbacks work well if you want to get the writers inside the minds of your characters, if you are writing comedy, or from an erotic perspective if you can think of something hot that wouldn't fit in with the storyline.

For example, in my story 'Bridget the Bossy Bridezilla' one of the characters, a 42-year-old MILF named Tracy, describes in detail how at the age of 18, she saw the nerdy 18-year-old son of her parents houseguests getting her knickers out of the laundry hamper and smelling them and how it turned her on. The main function of Tracy in this story is of a cougar seducing a much younger man, however I figured many of the readers of the story would be turned on by an 18-year-old boy smelling an 18-year-old girl's knickers, so I put that passage in there.

Flashbacks for comedy purposes is also good. For example, in 'The PTA Queen Bee & The Teen Rebel', a fat bully named Todd has a habit of wrecking a real estate brokers chances of selling a house across the street where his family lives, and I describe some of the things that had happened before, such as Todd (through stupidity and ignorance rather than true racism), severely insulting an African-American couple who proceed to drive away without even looking at the house.

 

[psiberzerker]

Meanwhile. For fun, write an erotic prequel to Genesis. With sexy flashbacks.

Fap fap fap fap fapfapfaPFAP!

...9

~God.