How about another article about first chapters and knowing when to stop editing/revising? I know I'm on the right track because I have hints at things and didn't info dump, just mentioned a few things in passing. Some online cridics are going nuts wanting to know what happened and trying to get me to put it all in the first chapter. Um .. NO lol XD So, ya this needs to be talked about there's got to be some way to make it clear to these writers that this is a good thing, they just don't get it.

the otehr cridics love it. ^^

I wish i could find some that can see what ism doing and point out the real faults not the fish hooks I added in. *sigh*

Love this blog going to go read more. 🙂

Well that is why I used Easter Egg FLASHBACK to denote a particular flavor of a flashback. Now, these are simply teaching metaphors to help you guys understand what I am talking about and so I can distinguish this “type” of flashback from others.

Well, I enjoy them, LOL. And YOU enjoy them, so there is at least US 😀 .

Seriously, your BBT term helped me recognize a character that I hadn’t been giving any credit to because they didn’t appear in the movie or in the book for a significant amount of time. I’ve struggled in the past when there has been a BBT, and now I realize that my own story has a BBT. I’ve been spinning my wheels but getting nowhere because I was looking for a solution I didn’t even need. I’ve been trying to find ways to give my BBT more of a starring role, but it never seemed to work out. Now I know that she can do her thing and create the overall story problem without having to also be my main antagonist or villain. Thanks for that big Aha moment.

I’m looking forward to your story. I hope you are close to completing it. You hooked me with your Easter egg flashback – the kid trekking through the swamps and bayous in Louisiana. I grew up trekking through the cool and eerie Louisiana bayous ( not dead) so I’m eager to read your finished book.

I have a question about Easter egg flashbacks. What about the use of a trial transcript. Let’s say my MC, a lawyer is stumped about a murder conviction and believes she is on to something like a cover up – someone framed for murder. While trying another case, she reads a trial transcript from a past case. The reason she reads it will be clear, she is looking for impeachment evidence for a certain witness. What she reads, however occurred in the past . It occurred years ago and the incident is shown through the transcript she reads. It’s three pages of technically – flashback. My MC is reading the transcript for a current purpose that moves the story forward. While reading it we learn something that won’t seem
Important or significant at the time, but will
Become crucial to solving the current murder and discovering who the murderer was years ago and how the two crimes are connected. This won’t be evident until the last quarter of the book. Is this an Easter egg flashback? I was worried about including it because it creates more questions that won’t be answered right away. But, after reading your blog post and what you wrote about Koonz’s Easter egg flashback, I feel better about it and I got so excited I have my notebook and laptop open now – ready to revise my drafted flashback scene.

I was hoping you could tell me ( and I realize you don’t have nearly enough to go on to give me an in depth answer, but could the MC reading a trial transcript – which goes back and is then shown as if happening in the present , could be an Easter egg scene.

Thanks. I enjoyed this post and leaned quite a bit.

What is wild is I just started with the standard, “WHY FLASHBACKS SUCK” but then, like you said, I really started pulling them apart and am all, “This could be its own BOOK!”