Flashbacks: spread out or all together?

[ThisAdamGuy]

[THIS POST HAS BEEN CONSUMED BY THE VOID]

 

[Eldoria]

I like to gradually incorporate flashbacks as the lore expands as the main conflict progresses. My own novel structure also tends to be non-linear—moving forward and backward. Because I'm taking the timeline seven years after the world's amnesia, for every forward-moving conflict, I have to include flashbacks to set the scene and provide character background. This way, the story's conflict becomes more vivid. However, I know the pacing becomes slower.

 

[Placeholder]

... it depends.

Banks's Use of Weapons is ABABAB and that's why it works.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

I've read part of XNPC... in this case spread it out...

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Varies, but most likely a mix - if a flashback covers multiple chapters (a risky thing in webnovels, by the way - audiences can step away for a few days and forget they were reading a flashback, get confused, and lose interest) then those chapters should be kept together, perhaps with a few framing moments to remind the reader that they ARE flashbacks/memories/dream sequences that may or may not have happened exactly as recalled.
Shorter moments, though, should show up in the text where needed, as they happen.

 

[Author_Riceball]

XNPC's main character more or less enters the story in the middle. To him, everything is brand new, but everybody else has been living in this reality for over a decade. There are things that happened in the past that are going to effect him, but rather than just have the other characters exposit it to him, I decided to actually show these things happening as flashback chapters. Right now there are eight of these chapters, and there's going to be another two or three by the time the book's finished.

How would you rather this go? Have all the flashback chapters together, or spread them out through the book? Right now I'm leaning toward spreading them out so that my readers won't feel like I'm keeping them away from the main plot for too long, but I'd also understand if they'd prefer to just get them over with.

If the flashbacks are going to be long spread them out

 

[Arkus86]

Personally I generally agree with spreading them out. Reveal a backstory or context as it becomes relevant, or just introduce it gradually, rather than dumping it all in one go.

 

[ken.cheney]

The backstory reveal is something I struggled with as well. I wove the backstory throughout the first half of my recent book, using it to inform/reveal information in a timely manner.