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Stylistic question: A small section (possibly two) of the story I am writing now is a flashback, and I am not sure how to lead into it without coming right out and saying "Hey guys here's a flashback", which of course I don't want to do. So far I am planning on switching from past to present tense for that section and doing the "scene break" (not sure what the actual term is for this?) I mean where you separate paragraphs like this: blah blah regular paragraph ----- Flashback ----- Back to regular stuff Is that all I need to do, or should I put the flashback scene in italics as well? I think I've seen authors do that on multiple occasions, but I'm not sure what the "correct" way of doing it is, and Strunk & White doesn't say anything about it.
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Aug 8, 2012 06:21
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 22:16 |
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T-Bone posted:I would think past tense would be enough (definitely don't do italics). Will it not be evident within the text that it's a flashback? What's the length/tone/genre? I'm not sure how evident it will be in the text, since right now I don't have any obvious line like "She remembered a summer day from her childhood..." and don't want to include one because it seems kind of ham-fisted. It feels obvious to me, but then I wrote it and know what my intentions are so that isn't really a good metric. I'm hoping the scene break and tense switch will get the idea across. It's not completely finished yet but it will probably end up around 3500-ish words, and the genre is "literary", for lack of a better category.
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Aug 8, 2012 07:33
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T-Bone posted:Two flashbacks within a 3,500 word story? I'm guessing they're pretty small? Yeah, I'll probably end up cutting it down to one (the other I liked but looking at it now it seems to be a little too much exposition and I figured out how to get the same idea across without it) and the flashback is only a paragraph. Bulk of the story is in third person. I had thought about doing the flashback in first, but I guess I should actually try writing it out and seeing how it works. Thanks for the advice, I'm always afraid ideas for scenes I have only work since I know everything about them already, but I probably need to give the reader more credit.
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Aug 8, 2012 08:00
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What are people's thoughts on epigraphs, particularly for short stories? I don't plan on using them all the time, of course, but sometimes I'll be reading something and come across a quote that just perfectly summarizes the "heart" of a story. Is it considered pretentious / looked down upon to use them for shorter pieces? And would it cause any trouble if I ever wanted to ship a piece around for publication?
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Feb 5, 2013 03:53
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My intent with this particular piece (I'll toss it up for crit when I finish, since it would be easier to judge then) is for the quote to suggest a new perspective by which to view the narrative from. In other words, reading it normally will give one impression, while reading it with the epigraph in mind would (hopefully) give another. Then again I suppose leading the reader by the nose like that might be a bad idea, and I definitely don't want it to come off like I'm trying to make some dead guy shill for me.
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Feb 5, 2013 04:25
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Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but are there any literary journals worth subscribing to floating around? I know there is stuff like the New Yorker, but it's a bit pricey considering I don't really care about 3/4 of the content. If I am just interested in reading some good fiction, what's my best bet?
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Mar 4, 2013 18:48
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There was a discussion in my American lit. class today about whether "good writing" can be taught (as in through creative writing courses) or whether trying to teach it just squeezes the creativity out of the process. I'd love to hear some opinions on this. And probably a long shot, but are there are any articles / opinion pieces written on the subject worth reading?
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Apr 5, 2013 16:29
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I like his blog, but isn't Chuck Wendig the dude that self-published, then once he got an actual deal with a publishing house went around poo poo-talking self publication? Doesn't invalidate what he has to say at all, but I've got kind of mixed feelings about the dude himself. Unless I am thinking of somebody else.
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Jun 26, 2013 19:09
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 22:16 |
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Ah ok, must be thinking of someone else then. There's somebody that got started by self-pubbing, got a contract, then turned around and poo poo all over self-pubbing and was basically making fun of people that did it. Glad it wasn't Wendig since he's a lot of fun to read.
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Jun 27, 2013 01:04
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