Me too, erika. This time she's being an awful bully, though. I'm used to her piping up 5,000 words in and telling me the 2nd paragraph is crap and needs to be addressed RIGHT NOW. I'm not used to her rising to the fore and deleting everything I've written. I wish I could get her drunk without getting me drunk (because I've written drunk and it in no way enhances my thinking).

How come you're up so early?

ACK! Don't DELETE!

Or at least, put it in a separate file. You just never know what the lizard brain is up to.

Oh my god, I never delete anything more than a word. If it's a scene or even a few paragraphs, I save it to a new file called "Bits and Pieces" or something similar, and save it in case I need it later.

::fans self::

Mom's back at work and high school starts crazy-early. Which I never really noticed when I was in one...I guess I became a night person when I was older. But it sort of feels like that old commercial "We do more before 11 than some people do all day."

I never used to delete. I think I got in the habit with recaps. The deadlines are short (since I supposedly "weecap" most of my shows -- which for me, just means my time and paycheck is wee, not my word count). Either a thing works or it doesn't.

Historically, I've pasted stuff I've removed onto the end of a doc, so it's all right in there. I just got out of the swing of doing it.

I have a new question about flashbacks, time jumps, and similar devices. How do you all feel about them as readers? And, as writers, if you use them, what are your guidelines.

For example, I want to start my story in the present day, with my main character as adults, but they've known one another since childhood and some of the conflict has its genesis in their childhood. Now I could just cover that in narration I suppose, but sometimes, I like the flashback. It seems more like showing, whereas exposition is almost always telling.

I was recently reading Stephen King's On Writing, though, and if I recall correctly, he thinks flashbacks are generally a bad idea. (Although I swear I've read books of his where he's used them).

There are no absolutes in writing. Which is my biggest issue with On Writing, although overall, it's a good book. But if it works for your story and your characters, then by all means, use them. One of my favorite uses of the flashback is in The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood which flows back and forth and tells the story of Siddalee and her mother, Vivi's relationship. What's brilliant about how Rebecca Wells tells the story is you see Sidda's interpretation of events, then you see how they unfolded in "real time" via Vivi and the rest of the Ya-Ya's recollection and in doing so, it renders an EXTREMELY unsympathetic character (Vivi) very nearly sympathetic. Or at least, understandable.

Long convoluted way of saying a) I don't mind them, and b) use 'em if they work for you.

That's how I think this story wants to be told. Have you used the technique much, Barb? Are there any pitfalls of which I should be wary?

Don't worry about the books...I've driven myself insane(r) trying to follow all the different tv-script writing books, but they contradict each other constantly. So I'm not reading any more books. Although everyone and their brother wants me to read "On Writing," I hope it's not a "Take the hint," thing like giving soap to your secret santa with BO.

Flashbacks are hard, because you need a definitive way to show you're doing them. There's the chapter heading method, ie "2 Years Ago" or something. I don't think there's a specifically graceful way to do them, because it's an obvious story construction device, not a flow of narrative.

That's how I think this story wants to be told. Have you used the technique much, Barb? Are there any pitfalls of which I should be wary?

So far, I've only used the "flashback" per se, in one manuscript, the 1960s set women's fiction that's been trying to kill me for the past couple of years. While it's set primarily in 1965, I do have to show some scenes set in 1959 and 1960 and I think the thing I've tried to be careful with is to not overuse it-- but it has been an integral component in showing events that shaped the main character that couldn't have been shown any other way, other than a massive backstory dump of "telling."

Something I've been using throughout as chapter headers is headlines from the time period-- and when I flashback, I use one from the year I'm flashing back to, such as:

CUBA REBELS KILL HIGH CASTRO AIDE

Bombs Rock Havana

R. Hart Phillips

The New York Times

December 1, 1960

I then reinforce it with an italicized December 1960 just before I go into the meat of the chapter.

That's just one way. I'm sure there are others.