So today I read a really promising story. What was refreshing was character A (a disabled vet) had a story wasn't drawn around his misery in being disabled, when he meets up and starts a romance with character B, (the man who saved him) he's grateful for being rescued.
It appeared that this story was character driven and as charactersation was natural, therefore it was interesting to read and become invested in the characters and their world.
Sadly, this all went south after the first few chapters. Side characters were introduced that were thinly drawn, the story became soap operatic (plot driven). We discover B has a long-lost sister, and the backstory is told not only in flashback but in long chunks of exposition.
Flashbacking as a technique, rarely helps a narrative, while the reader tries to scan back and forth figuring what's going on, the momentum is stopped and key scenes have no energy.
Another poignant side-story was utterly lost this way, apparently when A first came back from the war, B looked him up and gave him a talisman which helped him in his recovery.
BUT the talisman is never referred to up to that point, we didn't know A wore it or that it was important to him, so when we hear the story we have no emotional response. (other than confusion)
Suffice it to say, please don't use flashbacking as a device unless you are very good at it, making sure it helps, not hinders your story. The author should know where the story is going from beginning to end, to know when to go back, so it's not that great a technique for WIPS. Make sure to have a few people beta it, to know that it scans well, and the reader is not lost or confused.
Steven King has said this before and better than I could, anyone who wants to write, in whatever genre, can take a great deal from his book 'On Writing.'
Thank you!
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