A Goodreads user
asked
David Wong:
What are your feelings on flashbacks? I'm writing a story and I'm not sure how to work in a character's -relevant- backstory in a way that won't be clunky and distracting.
David Wong
Personally, I think they only work when they up the stakes of the main story that's being told - like say the main story we're following involves a mysterious suitcase and the good guys have it in the trunk ... and then the flashback reveals one of their friends is a double agent and the suitcase has a bomb in it. If we're leaving the main story only to circle back and talk about the character's childhood (in a way that doesn't directly influence the main plot) then I feel like my patience is being tested.
Like in my last book I knew I wanted to work in some backstory on the origins of the suits but I also wanted the nature of the organization to be part of the mystery at the beginning since that's part of the situation the main character has to navigate. So I waited for the exact moment when her trust in the group was stressed to its limit and then paused to briefly circle back and shed a little more light on who she was dealing with. Not that this is the exact "right" way to do it, that's just what I was trying to keep in mind.
Keep in mind you're talking to someone who writes genre fiction and has a very short attention span, serious writers of great literature would surely give a different answer. I write as if two boring sentences in a row will cause the reader to toss the book in the trash.
Like in my last book I knew I wanted to work in some backstory on the origins of the suits but I also wanted the nature of the organization to be part of the mystery at the beginning since that's part of the situation the main character has to navigate. So I waited for the exact moment when her trust in the group was stressed to its limit and then paused to briefly circle back and shed a little more light on who she was dealing with. Not that this is the exact "right" way to do it, that's just what I was trying to keep in mind.
Keep in mind you're talking to someone who writes genre fiction and has a very short attention span, serious writers of great literature would surely give a different answer. I write as if two boring sentences in a row will cause the reader to toss the book in the trash.
More Answered Questions
Ebony-Rose Ellis
asked
David Wong:
Yo, so I was wondering how you research for the books you're writing? Does it come from already existing knowledge or do you research as you go along? Wew. Also, JDatE was seriously life changing. I don't know what it is about it but it changed my perspective on a lot of things. I use brute force to get everyone I meet (including my mum) to read it and when they do, they love it just as much (also including my mum) <3
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