Opinions are like assholes; everyone got one. It seems like when it comes to the book community; the views get bigger and louder. Maybe it’s just because it’s my community, so I pay more attention but anyone who said a creative soul is quiet and meek hasn’t met a romance writer with an opinion.
Todays Wednesday rant is one of my book-peeves, flashbacks. Ugh! Insert eye-roll, long sigh, and slapping my hand on my forehead. This opinion stems from a reader perspective. God knows if I ever write a book I’ll probably put a damn flashback in it and someone out there will come back and say. “You remember when you wrote that blog post about book-peeves, and you said you hated flashbacks. Well, you’re a hypocrite because you just wrote a flashback.” So possible future douche bag, calm your shit. I am currently giving an opinion based on my reading preference.
Flashbacks can be useful. I’ve read some books that used flashbacks. Sparingly and I didn’t hate it. But seriously, when the first twenty chapters are a flashback, every couple chapters jumping a certain amount of years and the information in them doesn’t even matter to the book? COME. ON. Let us be honest with each other; it’s filler.
Also, flashbacks that are every other chapter. Chapter One, twenty years ago, Chapter Two, present. Chapter Three, three years ago, Chapter 4 present, Chapter 5, seventeen years ago, Chapter 6, fifty years in the future. HUH? Okay, maybe not fifty years in the future but you get what I am saying.
Now, I know what you are thinking. “B, sometimes flashbacks are totes aprop.” And I would agree with you. I love a small-town romance, primarily when the couple has known each other their whole life. So when I am reading, and the writer puts small flashbacks to a scene that happened that is poignant to their relationship, it’s okay. I adored Nicole Dykes July release, Standstill. The beginning is technically a flashback, but its the prologue and you can’t have the flashback because it is the driving theme of the story. TOTES APROP! Twenty chapters of non-sense information, no. Every other chapter this weird back and forth and I am lost and confused the whole book? Don’t worry about a bad review, I’m not going to finish it anyway.
So how about you? Are you okay with flashbacks in your book? Any other strong book-peeves? Maybe even one you’d like me to do on a Wednesday rant? Give me a shout I am ready to discuss!
