Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Flashback or dream as a means of hinting at more going on than meets the eye

I plan to use a dream or flashback as a way to show the reader the story has more going on behind the scenes. As well to sprinkle in a little of my main characters back-story. I haven't written i...

1 answer  ·  posted 11y ago by Lokiie1984‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:44:36Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/7312
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Lokiie1984‭ · 2019-12-08T02:44:36Z (over 4 years ago)
I plan to use a dream or flashback as a way to show the reader the story has more going on behind the scenes. As well to sprinkle in a little of my main characters back-story.

I haven't written it out yet so I can’t post a piece of it for people to see. However, my real question is if I should inform the reader that it is a dream or should I just open the chapter with it.

The flashback will take place directly after the end of the third chapter, which was a large action scene. My main character ends up knocked out, but saved by her companion. My plan was to open chapter four with her dreaming. I wanted it to be kind of a surprise to the reader, explaining that the small scene was a dream at the end of the flashback. However if that will confuse or anger readers I don't want to do that.

Either way the flashback will happen, I just wonder if I should "inform" the reader that it's a dream to start with or just jump into it?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2013-02-19T17:18:48Z (about 11 years ago)
Original score: 3