Thread: Including a flashback

I want to include a flashback that explains why the villain is doing what they are doing. Would it be a good idea to put this at the end?

Better to just have the hero at some point discover the dastardly plot and what it's purpose is.

Really though, could you give a little more information? Why would you want to put it at the end- is the section supposed to try and make us sympathize with the dearly departed planet-rapist?

Originally Posted by Vertigo

Better to just have the hero at some point discover the dastardly plot and what it's purpose is.

Really though, could you give a little more information? Why would you want to put it at the end- is the section supposed to try and make us sympathize with the dearly departed planet-rapist?

I am trying to do a thriller or at least have suspense and would prefer the villain be mysterious. It just fills in what drove him to do do what he did. I could put it at the begining, but that would give it away. I want to include some history on the villain the villain.

Not knowing what you are working on how about something like this.

As >villain< tightened the ropes he couldn't help but think back to his youth...

"Not this again, dad?"
"Shut up and pay attention! To tie a good knot you need to learn how to get out of one. Now, you're the damsel and I'm the one with the moustache. What happens next?"
"I scream for a hero as the train approaches."

>villain< snaps back to the task at hand, he hated his dad for forcing him to play those games. This should show him!

Originally Posted by Potty

Not knowing what you are working on how about something like this.

As >villain< tightened the ropes he couldn't help but think back to his youth...

"Not this again, dad?"
"Shut up and pay attention! To tie a good knot you need to learn how to get out of one. Now, you're the damsel and I'm the one with the moustache. What happens next?"
"I scream for a hero as the train approaches."

>villain< snaps back to the task at hand, he hated his dad for forcing him to play those games. This should show him!

I am trying to do more of a flashback to why the villain became the villain. Could this work at the end?

Could you give us an example? What has the villain just done? What is he trying to achieve and why? tell us this and it might be easier to think of something

Originally Posted by Potty

Could you give us an example? What has the villain just done? What is he trying to achieve and why? tell us this and it might be easier to think of something

Lets just say he wants to unleash a dangerous weapon on people. He wants to do this thinking humanity would be better off. His alienation from humanity led him to do this. I have some idea more specifically what the flash back will be, but I was wondering if it is a good idea to put this at the end. I want to do this to add suspense and keep the villains identity a secret.

You could always have more than one flash back. A little snippet of juicy back story in each snippet spread out throughout the story coming to a big climax and tieing it all off at the end of the story.

I think I know what you're trying to achieve, and in my opinion little flashes would work well as he is bringing all the elements of his plan together and having the final flash back at the end tell the reader who the villain is.

You could have the villain leave out some vital clue that links him to the upcoming climactic weapon unleashing. The investigators will connect the dots because they'll know the history of the villain, and they can then share it with the readers. Not quite a flashback, but a way to get the history out there and make it integral to the plot.

I think if you put it at the end it would work better if the hero discovers this history after putting the villain away. I don't think it would work if the villain has a flashback at the end while he is imprisoned or whatever.

I would have the hero overcome the villain, put villain away, then the final scene could show the hero coming across something that makes him look at the villain with a new understanding. Perhaps something to make the reader sympathise a little with the villain.

Maybe you could just allude to it in the first book, and then in the second book (negotiated with a great advance because of the wild commercial success of the first ) you could have the heros need to the help of the villain, who is then fleshed out. If the history gives some "reason" why the previous antagonist did what they did, it mike make it easier to transition them to a protagonist. Voila! Back story leveraged, and a "dark her" character recycled into the second novel!

What we are really talking about here is backstory, and there are many way to handle it. You can go the easy route of showing the antagonist's backstory through a prologue, or you can dish it out in small slices throughout the book (this method has the advantage of leading the reader along with a trail of bread-crumbs and building suspense), or you can dump it out at the end. The end-dump seems problematic to me; either you interrupt the pace of the story at its peak to go back and explain things, or you wait until after the climax to cover the backstory. As a reader, I don't think I'd care much after the action is over. I also wouldn't like having the story's pace broken by a flashback during the climax.